The gospel is for admitted failures, for confessed incompetents, in short, for people like all of us when we are honest. The incomprehension and incompetence, almost the rudeness and even perhaps the slight contempt detectible in both Nicodemus and the Samaritan Woman may all be intended by John to say to readers: Jesus’ promises are for problematic people; get used to it; be grateful.
Bruner, F. D. (2012). The Gospel of John: A Commentary (p. 250). Grand Rapids, MI;Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans.
They are, though, different manifestations of the same thing: people’s misplaced and misinformed insistence that their personal beliefs exempt them from the scientific evidence to the contrary, even if that means consequences for people who don’t share their beliefs.
“Harvard was founded to prepare ministers of upright character,” Derek Bok, president at Harvard University (1971–1991), penned these words in his annual letter to the Harvard Board in 1987. Candidly, he examined the storied history of America’s most prestigious university.
