FIRST LEVEL OF LOVE – EVER BE UNBIASED: NICODEMUS – OUR EXAMPLE:
John 7: 40-53 (Please read this text first)
A lot of issues for us are raised from this Text that especially captivated the person of Nicodemus and the integrity he portrayed:
- In a society filled with biased persons, he stood against their bias and prejudice.
- While some people were busy debating about where Jesus came from, others like Nicodemus were already sure that He is the Christ.
- While some were held in bondage by the tradition which says that Christ must be descended from David, some others who have outgrown conventionalism like Nicodemus have known Him to be greater than David and that He is The Savior who has come from Heaven above.
- While the chief priests and the Pharisees were concerned about arresting Jesus on baseless claims hinged on their corruption and dishonesty, it is obvious to the officers that no one spoke like Jesus.
There is always the division. But why is it that the biased camp, the corrupt camp, the prejudiced camp always outnumber the unbiased?
Thank God for the person of Nicodemus:
- He will not judge without hearing and learning what the person does.
- He is not interested in where one comes from and what people are saying about him.
- He doesn’t take decisions based on hearsay and gossip.
- He is not biased by personal jealousy, pride, or greed.
- He is not blinded by love for power or personal intellectual perspective – be it social, racial or tribal, or economic status.
- He was inviting the officers, the chief priests, and Pharisees to have a personal encounter with Christ to have an objective idea of His Person.
- He was warning them to be upright and just. He was telling them: be just; don’t destroy the innocent; know what you say about others; the cry of the innocent reaches our Heavenly Father.
We are invited today to consider:
- What has this person done to merit what I am about to do to him, what I am doing to him, and what I am allowing people to do to him?
- Does he deserve it? Does he deserve the things I am saying against him? Does he deserve the treatment I am giving to him?
- What is my basis for treating him the way I do? Am I acting based on inherited hatred? Am I acting a script given to me by a wicked director?
- Am I punishing and fighting that person for no reason or because of fear of whom he has become or what he will become?
PRAYERS
- Our Heavenly Father, Almighty God – forgive us for the times we have allowed our bias and prejudice to make us arrest the good in others and stifle YOUR blessing from shining in the people around us.
- Heavenly Father, bless His word in our hearts.
- Oh God, we live with biases and with biased persons. Give us the grace to live above the judgments that are not divinely inspired.
- Heavenly Father deliver us from being in the party of those who fight against the bearers of light.
- Pour your Grace of Goodness upon us to be ever able to stand against evil plots against other people no matter where they are coming from through Christ our Lord. Amen