Have you ever looked at someone and thought they have everything?  It seems they have no needs!  Nicodemus was a man like that – well known, a member of the Jewish Council, a religious teacher and wealthy.  Yet he had deeper needs, and Jesus knew that.

 

When Nicodemus comes to Jesus one night, Jesus speaks into that need.  “You must be born again.”  Like so many today, Nicodemus was knowledgeable, but he didn’t understand spiritual truths. So Jesus speaks to him about something he would understand.  History! 

 

He reminds Nicodemus of the time when his ancestors were living in the desert and many died from snake bites.  It happened because of their sin.  God told Moses to make a bronze snake and lift it on a pole.  By looking at this bronze snake, anyone who had been bitten, would live.

 

Jesus goes on to explain the significance of this. 

 

‘That’s a side I haven’t seen before!’  Have you ever said that about someone?  It’s when you see them act in a different way to what you have seen before.  We think of Jesus as healer and miracle worker, as one full of love and compassion.  And he is!  However there is another side.

 

Some time after the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine, he went up to Jerusalem for the Passover.  What he sees in the outer courts of the temple grieves him.  This is his Father’s house.  This part of the temple is where everyone could come and worship God. It was where men and women of all races were welcome.  However, it was now like a market.  Sheep, cattle, cages of doves and tables for the merchants, filled the space.

 

Suddenly we see a different side of Jesus.  He makes a whip and drives the animals and merchants out. 

 

“Do whatever he tells you”.  This is what Mary said to the servants that day.  She was attending a wedding in the small town of Cana, along with Jesus and his disciples.

 

Having an abundance of food and drink is important at any wedding.  However the wine had run out at this one.  Mary was concerned.  Although she expressed the need to Jesus, notice that she never told him what to do.

 

Why did Jesus respond to Mary, even though he said it wasn’t time for him to begin his ministry?  Was it because she was his mother?  No doubt that is partly true.  Yet Jesus later says that anyone who does the Father’s will is like his mother or brothers.  Jesus responds to our concerns and needs in the same way he responded to Mary’s.