member of His mystical Body on earth, which is the Church, and told him: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man be born again [1] of water and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” These words referred to the Sacrament of Baptism.
He next instructed Nicodemus in the mystery of the Redemption. “As Moses”, said He, “lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up[2], that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge[3] the world, but that the world may be saved by Him. He that believeth in Him[4] is not judged[5], but he that doth not believe is already judged.” In these words the Saviour taught Nicodemus[6] that He would redeem the world by His Passion and death upon the Cross.
- ↑ Born again. Jesus meant to say: “You think that the kingdom of the Messias is to be an earthly one, in which the Jews will reign supreme; but it is a spiritual kingdom, and mere blood-descent from Abraham does not give admission to it. He who wishes to belong to this kingdom, must be created anew spiritually, and become, interiorly, a new man, this new birth being given by the Holy Ghost by means of water, i. e. by Christian Baptism.”
- ↑ Lifted up. Our Lord pointed to the raising up of the brazen serpent (Old Test XLII) as a type of Himself raised up on the Cross. Our Lord calls Himself the “Son of Man” to show that He is a true son of Adam — and that seed of the woman which was one day to crush the head of the infernal serpent Jesus, therefore, meant to say to Nicodemus: “You think of the Messias as a mighty king, who will make Israel great in the eyes of the world, and free it from the power of Rome: but I say to you that even as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent on the tree, so shall I, the Messias, be lifted up on the Cross and die. And as in the desert all those who, full of faith and confidence, looked up at the brazen serpent, were healed from the deadly bites of the fiery snakes, even so all those who believe in the crucified Messias, shall be saved from the bite of the infernal serpent (i. e. from sin and from eternal death), and made participators of eternal life.” But why has faith in the crucified Son of Man such saving power? This Jesus explains in the following part of His discourse.
- ↑ To judge. God might have sent His Son to judge and condemn the sin-laden world; but no! He did not send Him to pass sentence, but that through Him the world might be saved from being condemned, and might be given eternal happiness.
- ↑ Him. The Divine Redeemer.
- ↑ Not judged. The believer is not judged, i. e. condemned, but the unbeliever judged, because he stands self-condemned by the very fact that he does not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God who is truth itself.
- ↑ Nicodemus. We shall see in chapter LXXV that this teaching was not thrown away on Nicodemus.
