Jesus, the Provacateur

Lately, I’ve been kind of “stuck” in the 3rd chapter of John. We always seem to go directly to the 16th verse and just camp there, but Jesus starts talking in verse 3 and continues talking to Nicodemus for another 4 verses.

The words of Jesus have always amazed me. NO ONE speaks in the way He does!

For example, in verse 2, Nicodemus says, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”

Notice what Jesus says next – He immediately challenges everything that Nicodemus THINKS he knows about God and the Scriptures!

” Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus answered a question that Nicodemus didn’t even ask! And not only that, what He says is not just a paradigm shift, but a completely new concept altogether!

It’s been my observation that Jesus NEVER answered a question directly, and often deflected the conversation to the real heart of the matter.

Nicodemus was wanting to talk about Jesus authority and He turns it around and confronts his preconceived notions. That’s why I don’t understand why people have such a hard time with The Shack and its depiction of God as a black woman. In the book, “Papa” says to a shocked Mack that He can choose to appear however He wishes, but their "meeting" was about shattering preconceived notions about who Mack thinks God is.

Jesus was always provocative in His speech. I believe that’s why we so often misunderstand them – they are much deeper than they appear on the surface and often answer a question we didn't even know to ask.