John 3:8 - The Unexplainable

 

If you see an American flag flying from a flagpole, what is your first thought?

It's probably something like, "United States" or "patriotism," maybe even, "I wonder what their politics are?" If it's at half-staff, you ask "Who died?" Unless the flag is flapping violently, your first thought is not "wind." Even living in an area of Iowa with constant winds, we don't think much about the wind until it picks up speed, or increases the windchill in winter.

Science can explain the wind patterns that surround our rotating planet. Meteorologists can predict when the speed of wind and when tornadoes or hurricanes might be destructive. We can manufacture commercial wind tunnels. We buy fans for our homes, but we cannot create wind.

Solomon compared wind to the development of an unborn baby.
"Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things." (Ecclesiastes 11:5, New Living Translation, 2015)

Jesus also compared wind to spiritual rebirth when he told Nicodemus that he needed to be born a second time. When Nicodemus didn't understand, Jesus explained it as something that is ultimately unexplainable--like the wind.

"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." (John 3:8, NLT)

Jesus illustrated the idea more by referring to a story from ancient Israel:
"And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up..."

There's not time to retell the whole story, but the basic plot line was this:
The Israelites majorly rebelled while traveling in the wilderness.
God sent lethal snakes to get their attention. Some died.
They cried out for mercy.
Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole.
Anyone who merely looked at the snake was forgiven and healed.

If that story sounds harsh, it's actually a story of hope. Jesus went on to say,
"... the Son of Man must be lifted up 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:14-17, NLT)

Father in heaven, We can't fully understand and appreciate the sacrifice the death and resurrection of Your Son any more than we can fully understand how we can share in that sacrifice and resurrection. It's as inexplicable as the wind. But we trust Your forgiveness and Your healing, through the Christ who was lifted up on the Cross, Amen.