Keeping An Eye On the Ball

 

Monday, March 15, 2021

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.  After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.  “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us.  Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”  Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus.  “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”  Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.  So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’    The wind blows wherever it wants.  Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”  “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.  Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?  I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.  But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?  No one has ever gone to heaven and returned.  But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.  John 3:1-15

It was 1964, time for spring baseball practice at our high school.  Our coach began the infielder’s practice by having us throw the ball around to each other.  I was positioned at third base, and, from first base on the other side of the diamond, Greg threw the ball to me.  Greg was also a pitcher, so that ball got to me in a hurry.  I stuck out my glove to receive the incoming meteor and felt nothing, except the meteor’s wind path as the ball whizzed past, in-between my glove and left ear.  My first thought was:  If Greg throws that thing at me again there’ll be no place to hide.  My second thought:  Gotta tell Mom to get my eyes checked.

So, what does a 60-year-old memory of high school baseball have to do with Nicodemus?  Well, for starters, he and I had the same problem.  No, he didn’t play shortstop for the Hauppauge Eagles’ baseball team.  But Nic did have a problem with his sight, his spiritual sight.  He got the basics right, figuring out that what Jesus did on a regular basis, healing the sick, blind, and even changing water into wine; these were not your normal things.  He went further, understanding that God was at back of Jesus’ doings.  What whizzed past Nic’s glove and left ear was the point of it all…he failed to see why Jesus was doing what He did.  With each miracle on earth Jesus was pointing to a reality in Heaven.  Jesus was revealing His Father’s loving heart, showing the kind of life that was possible for those who would believe.  Nicodemus saw the miracles; Jesus told him he was blind as a sixteen-year-old third baseman who needed glasses.

If Nic had gotten his spiritual eyes checked, he could have recognized that Jesus was telling him the origin of this miracles and messages fastball, and where it was going after it whizzed past his left ear.  Listen again to the last words Jesus spoke to the curious (but spiritually dull) Pharisee about the meaning of the cross he would bear, and upon which he would bring the greatest miracle:

…the Son of Man has come down from heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

To Nicodemus’ credit he eventually “got it”.  He spoke-up in Jesus’ defense as a voice for reason when the Pharisees started plotting to kill Jesus.  And I’m certain, God used Nicodemus’ words of truth as convicting evidence of the Pharisees’ sin.

Nicodemus finally recognized this was a move of God showing all humanity the pathway home to their Heavenly Father.  And when he realized the truth, he was not ashamed to speak it.

For You Today

When the fastball of truth whizzes past your left ear it’s time for an eye exam.  You can’t stay in this game of life without keeping an eye on that ball.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©