Sermon Tone Analysis

Nowhere in the Old or New testament did an angel ever greet  another human being with a title and not their name.

The angel says, hail full of grace.

We can say without fear of contradiction that Mary’s love for Jesus was unique and that the love that Jesus had had for Mary was unique.

A son’s love for his mother and a mother’s love for her Son.

In the Gospels one of the ways it points to Mary is as the model disciple.

To say yes to God .

A courageous thing to do.

Words of Scripture; Luke Ch 1:28 The Angel said “Greetings, most favored one.

The Lord is with you.”

Mary was deeply moved at these words and wondered what a greeting like that could mean.

The Catholic Church throughout the centuries has also joined with the Angel Gabriel in declaring that Mary is full of grace and the one who is highly favored .

Words of Scripture.Luke:Ch 1:38 : Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant.

Whatever he says, I accept.”

And the angel went away from her.

we too must have the faith and acceptance of God’s will in our life as Mary had .

Mary’s submission is a very lovely thing.

“Whatever God says, I accept.”

Mary had learned to forget the world’s commonest prayer—“Thy will be changed”—and to pray the world’s greatest prayer—“Thy will be done.”

Words of Scripture.

Luke Ch 1:41 And  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the child leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she lifted up her voice with a great cry and said, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Blessed is she who believed that the things spoken to her from the Lord would find their fulfillment  The voice of prophesy and has joined with Elizabeth in declaring that Mary is blessed among women, that she is the chosen one , the one who will always remain blessed for she believed in the fulfillment of God’s promise .Words of Scripture.

Luke Ch:1:48.

In response to Elizabeth, Mary filled with the Holy Spirit declared: “from now on all generations shall call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me and his name is holy.”

The Catholic Church fulfills the prophesy of the Holy Spirit who spoke those words through Mary.

The Church  through the centuries  has been faithful in declaring Mary is forever blessed.

Nowhere can we better see the paradox of blessedness than in her life.

To Mary was granted the blessedness of being the mother of the Son of God.

Well might her heart be filled with a wondering joy at so great a privilege.

Yet that very blessedness was to be a sword to pierce her heart.

It meant that some day she would see her son hanging on a cross.

To be chosen by God so often means at one and the same time a crown of joy and cross of sorrow.

The piercing truth is that God does not choose a person for ease and comfort and selfish joy but for a task that will take all that head and heart and hand can bring to it.

God chooses us so that He may build up the kingdom of God through us.

Someone once prayed: “ May God deny you peace and give you glory.”

A great.

modern preacher said, “Jesus Christ came not to make life easy  but to make men and women great.”It is the paradox of blessedness that it confers on a person at one and the same time the greatest joy and the greatest task in all the world

* *John 3:1-15 (NET)

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee1 named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council,2 3:2 came to Jesus3 at night4 and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.

For no one could perform the miraculous signs5 that you do unless God is with him.”

3:3 Jesus replied,6 “I tell you the solemn truth,7 unless a person is born from above,8 he cannot see the kingdom of God.”9 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old?

He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?”10

3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth,11 unless a person is born of water and spirit,12 he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh,13 and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

3:7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all14 be born from above.’15

3:8 The wind16 blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”17

3:9 Nicodemus replied,18 “How can these things be?”19 3:10 Jesus answered,20 “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?21

3:11 I tell you the solemn truth,22 we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but23 you people24 do not accept our testimony.25

3:12 If I have told you people26 about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?27 3:13 No one28 has ascended29 into heaven except the one who descended from heaven – the Son of Man.30 3:14 Just as31 Moses lifted up the serpent32 in the wilderness,33 so must the Son of Man be lifted up,34 3:15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”35

[1]

1 1 sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

2 2 tn Grk “a ruler of the Jews” (denoting a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

3 3 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

4

4 tn Or “during the night.”

sn Possibly Nicodemus came…at night because he was afraid of public association with Jesus, or he wanted a lengthy discussion without interruptions; no explanation for the timing of the interview is given by the author.

But the timing is significant for John in terms of the light-darkness motif - compare John 9:4, 11:10, 13:30 (especially), 19:39, and 21:3.

Out of the darkness of his life and religiosity Nicodemus came to the Light of the world.

The author probably had multiple meanings or associations in mind here, as is often the case.

5 5 sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, sēmeia) forms a link with John 2:23–25.

Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed.

Nicodemus had apparently seen them too.

But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God.

His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

6 6 tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

7 7 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

8

8 tn The word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v.

ἄνωθεν).

This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point.

John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23.

In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.”

Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.”

Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old?

He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”

The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

sn Or born again.

The Greek word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) can mean both “again” and “from above,” giving rise to Nicodemus’ misunderstanding about a second physical birth (v.

4).

9 9 sn What does Jesus’ statement about not being able to see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel?

John uses the word kingdom (βασιλεία, basileia) only 5 times (3:3, 5; 18:36 [3x]).

Only here is it qualified with the phrase of God.

The fact that John does not stress the concept of the kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however.

Remember the messianic implications found in John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple.

For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring.

But Nicodemus had missed precisely this point about who Jesus was.

It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking.

Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words.

He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth.

10 10 tn The grammatical structure of the question in Greek presupposes a negative reply.

11 11 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

12

12 tn Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”).

sn Jesus’ somewhat enigmatic statement points to the necessity of being born “from above,” because water and wind/spirit/Spirit come from above.

Isaiah 44:3–5 and Ezek 37:9–10 are pertinent examples of water and wind as life-giving symbols of the Spirit of God in his work among people.

Both occur in contexts that deal with the future restoration of Israel as a nation prior to the establishment of the messianic kingdom.

It is therefore particularly appropriate that Jesus should introduce them in a conversation about entering the kingdom of God.

Note that the Greek word πνεύματος is anarthrous (has no article) in v. 5.

This does not mean that spirit in the verse should be read as a direct reference to the Holy Spirit, but that both water and wind are figures (based on passages in the OT, which Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel should have known) that represent the regenerating work of the Spirit in the lives of men and women.

13 13 sn What is born of the flesh is flesh, i.e., what is born of physical heritage is physical.

(It is interesting to compare this terminology with that of the dialogue in John 4, especially 4:23, 24.)

For John the “flesh” (σάρξ, sarx) emphasizes merely the weakness and mortality of the creature - a neutral term, not necessarily sinful as in Paul.

This is confirmed by the reference in John 1:14 to the Logos becoming “flesh.”

The author avoids associating sinfulness with the incarnate Christ.

14 14 tn “All” has been supplied to indicate the plural pronoun in the Greek text.

15 15 tn Or “born again.”