The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus continues in varying degrees today within all of us. At one time or another there is doubt. At one time or another we all want something concrete, something definite and visible to our eyes. We live in a time of information overload. We live in a time of outrageous claims and scary warning labels providing a litany of possible harmful side effects. We want to believe in Heaven, we really do! We want to believe in God, his love and mercy for us! Our secular world tries to convince us that there is no God, asks us to consider other ideas about creation, other ideas about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The reasons often cited is that there is no scientific evidence to support these theories. The secular world likes to provoke and promote this warfare between science and our Faith. We accept scientific evidence only because some learned men and women write learned documents contained multisyllabic words which other learned men and women read and pronounce true because the claims sound true and are temporarily demystifying. We must remember that neither science nor our religion are enemies. We must remember that the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus will continue within ourselves, within our world forever.
Our lives have purpose and meaning when we believe. Our lives inspire goodness, holiness, love when we are obedient to God. When guided by humility, charity, and obedience our intellectual activity leads us toward God. We do not need to see volumes of raw data, we do not need to see petrie dish samples. We simply need to look within our hearts and souls to feel the presence of God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, God’s love.
Non-believers will continue to present their opinions, their evidence challenging our beliefs. As Christians we must continue with our prayers, our fasting, our almsgiving. We must continue being humble, loving, obedient servants for God. That is our evidence, our good works, our love for our neighbors. We live in a time where opinion masquerades as fact. Truth is often distorted. Everyone challenges everything that they dislike or do not want to accept. Authority is routinely challenged. Traditions and rituals are ridiculed and criticized. So irrational is the realm of the secular world, that extremism falls in and out of favor quickly. There will always be learned people, so enamored with themselves and their predetermined theories about God, Jesus Christ, Christians, that they miss the truth, the reality and beauty of believing.“If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”
The truth is that there is evidence of God that can be readily, easily studied. It is right in front of all of the learned people. The evidence is also right in front of each of us, right next to each of us. Look around and see the evidence of God’s love and mercy. Look around and see the evidence of Jesus Christ’s life, crucifixion, and resurrection. We are all evidence. As Christians, we are believers in something which we can not see with our eyes but which we can feel and accept with our hearts and souls. Our good deeds, our words can inspire and encourage goodness, holiness, and love in others. We are not trapped within a petrie dish of tradition and ritual. We are God’s living, breathing, praying children who allow our free will to guide us toward heaven.
“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
The learned men and women will always require new evidence, not truth. This is neither good nor bad. For our Faith to continue to grow there must always be debate, dissent, communication. Science simply creates a series of questions, a series of possibilities for us to consider. As Christians we are always asking ourselves questions about love, fairness, social justice. Following in the footsteps of Christ present us with many possibilities to experience and share goodness, holiness, and love. Each day, our choices should reflect and renew our baptismal promises. Our lives should present our love and reverence for God. Through all of our good works, all of our conversations Jesus Christ should be seen. The splendor of our love for God and our love for all mankind should always be felt. Our lives must have the splendid order of humility, charity, obedience to God, to God’s will, directing us, guiding us, protecting us.
“You must be born from above.”
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