Nicodemus comes in search of truth but has difficulty in accepting who Jesus is. He struggles to reach beyond the understandings of his upbringing within Judaism. In a sense, Jesus’ words to him are a reassurance that if he publicly embraces faith in Jesus, his life will be saved. Condemnation only comes to those who have had the opportunity to embrace faith but have refused it. In John’s Gospel, the greatest moment in Jesus’ life is the moment of his death on the cross. This is not simply a moment of suffering and death but a spiritual exultation because it is at that moment that God’s love for the world is made manifest. ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son’ so that we could have life. The only proper response to this great love and gift of life is to choose light and not darkness. What have been some of the moments of exultation in your life? What have been the periods of darkness? Is there a struggle in coming into the light?