When Nicodemus came to see Jesus he left bewildered. He was there to see where Jesus was coming from but Jesus turned the conversation by talking about the necessity of being born again, born of water and the Spirit and Nicodemus had no earthly idea what that meant. In our epistle (Philippians 3.4-14) Paul says, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." By "whatever gain I had" Paul meant all he had by birth as a Jew, circumcision on the 8th day, legal righteousness, all Nicodemus and Paul held dear, he meant being born again. Paul understood what it meant to be born again, all that mattered to him was Jesus since had that encounter on the road to Damascus when he heard the voice from heaven which said, "I am Jesus."
In our Exodus lesson (Exodus 20.1-20) we see the formation of the covenant community and the primary thing in evidence is fear. The sight of the mountain smoking, lightnings, the mountain covered by cloud and smoke as well as the sounds of thunder, the shofar, and, ultimately, the voice proclaiming the Ten Commandments provoked the people to fear and they plead with Moses to speak with God and then to them because they are afraid an encounter with God will kill them all. He has shown them grace in delivering them from Egypt now He shows them the importance of truth and in that they have fear.
Jesus tells a parable (Matthew 21.33-43) about a landowner who plants a vineyard, builds a fence around it, a tower so that enemies can be seen coming, and even built a winepress to extract the liquid and then leased it to tenants. When it comes time to pay rent, the tenants refused, violently, when the landlord sent his servants to collect. Ultimately he sends his son whom they also kill. Jesus asks those listening what will happen when the owner himself comes to collect and the answer is, he will toss them out and find others to take over. Jesus says, you're right and the parable is about you, the people of Israel.
What happens to a people who no longer fear the Lord. They lose their faith and they no longer serve as His representatives and He throws them out. We can only have that role if we keep grace and truth in balance. We can only do it if we keep Jesus first and foremost in our lives.
