--- title: Daily Readings Reflection for 4/21/09 description: Daily Readings Reflection for 4/21/09 --- [![catholic-mom-logo-v2](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/images/catholic-mom-logo-v2.svg "catholic-mom-logo-v2")](https://www.catholicmom.com/) [![facebook](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-facebook.svg)](http://www.facebook.com/CatholicMomCommunity) [![twitter](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-twitter.svg)](http://twitter.com/CatholicMomCom) [![instagram](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-instagram.svg)](http://instagram.com/catholicmomcommunity) [![youtube](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/social-icon-youtube.svg)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuUqHCVPDzyMgSMaMZxxug?view_as=subscriber) [![search-icon](https://www.catholicmom.com/hubfs/_catholicmom/icons/search-icon.svg)](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/2009/04/21/daily-readings-reflection-for-42109#) # Daily Readings Reflection for 4/21/09 Apr 21, 2009 4:00:58 AM  |  by [Guest](https://www.catholicmom.com/articles/author/guest) Reflection on the Daily Readings for 4/21/09 by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM [Today’s Readings](http://www.usccb.org/nab/) Scripture: Tue. of Easter second week. Acts 4:32-37. Psalm 92:1.1-2.5. John 3:7-15. Lectionary # 268: Nicodemus comes secretly to Jesus at night. This happens in Jerusalem because Nicodemus is a leader among the Pharisees and a member of the Sanhedrin.  This Council consisted of seventy-one members and met in the Hall of the Hewn Stones in Jerusalem.  We actually have more information about it from the New Testament and Josephus than from the Rabbinic literature which is much later. Nicodemus may have been a member of the smaller court Sanhedrin consisting of twenty-three members. It is he who speaks on behalf of Jesus to have a fair hearing (John 7:50). He takes part in the burial of Jesus and brings a large and costly quantity of spices for Jesus' burial (John 19:39).  These are the only lines we have about him but they point toward his becoming a disciple of Jesus after the Resurrection. In the first great dialogue and monologue series that we have between Jesus, Nicodemus is searching to find out more about who Jesus is.  Jesus begins to explain to him how those who believe in Jesus' authority must be "born from above"; the word in Greek can also mean "born again."  This later seems to be the way Nicodemus understands it but Jesus is looking at what he tells Nicodemus from another perspective.  Jesus speaks of his being from above: "No one has gone up to heaven except the One who came down from there--the Son of Man (a title used by Jesus for himself)--who is in heaven." The entire passage is easily understood by the first audience of this Gospel as pertaining to Baptism and the Paschal Mysteries.  That is where we too are being given Jesus' revelation to us about the importance of Baptism and a lifetime commitment to Jesus and his deeds and words.  It is the Risen Lord who speaks to us through this Gospel.  The Paschal Mysteries are referred to when Jesus says for the first time in the Fourth Gospel: "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that all who believe may have eternal life in Him." Each Gospel has three dimensions to it and in this one we see first, the time of Jesus when he speaks to Nicodemus, then the time of the oral tradition in the community when this story was remembered, and finally the time of the Evangelist who speaks not only for the people then involved but for all of us who believe in Jesus.  Jesus then is alive in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist and whenever we gather together in his Name.    Jesus as we know from the Prologue of John is the great Apostle sent from the Father to become one with us by coming down from heaven that he might lift us up to be with him eternally in heaven.  The peace and joy of Easter are present once we start to realize this through our own faith in him and commit ourselves to him by living out our Baptismal promises. 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