Well, here goes my reflection.
Since no one is posting, I'll begin the domino effect, 'hopefully??' :)
As we read in John 3, we find Nicodemus approaching Jesus. As we learned last week, Nicodemus was a well-to do man. He was very wealthy, well-educated, and he was a pharisee. He was looked up upon and respected, as a teacher of the law. Now then, what was he doing at Jesus' place?
He was there for one reason. He wanted to ask Jesus to tell him the truth. And he was there at night, so that other people wouldn't find out that he had visited Jesus. Here, I want to pause... Yes, Nicodemus was, maybe we can say, embarrased, to be admitting he didn't know the whole truth. Perhaps he was scared of what other people would say about him. Perhaps, well we can't really know everything that was going through his mind. But one thing that we can see is that, as a learned man, he wasn't satisfied with 'not knowing.' He was scared of people, of others' thought, but not scared enough to keep him away. All these fears could have and would have loomed in his mind, but he was not overtaken by these fears. Instead, he did overcome them.
Although it isn't something that I'm proud of, I'm a scaredy-cat. I'm afraid to fail. I'm afraid of not being accepted. I'm afraid that people will think negatively about me. And many times, that has kept me from doing what I've wanted to do. It has kept me from being myself, and acting freely, doing things. Whatever I do, I know, cannot remain hidden from the public - so I choose not to do it.
When circumstances arise, what we usually label "holy discomfort," I think there is a lot of meaning in the fact that we take into action to do something about that discomfort. Of course, it would be most optimal if we could rid ourselves from being burdened by other people. But to say that what other people think about me doesn't matter would be a straight-out lie. And I cannot, especially right this moment, say that I will work to change my attitude 180 degrees starting from now on. Change is still change, even if it happens in incremental stages.
Going on, as Nicodemus asks Jesus, whether or not he is the Messiah, we see him fumbling for words. He doesn't and can't finish his question. He's scared. Either way, the answer will affect him in some way. But towards Nicodemus, God doesn't play around. He knows what it is Nicodemus wants to ask of Him. He knows the core of the question. And He starts off at the core. He answers our deepest questions, even when we don't know how to ask Him.
