God seems to send unexpected people to give leadership in times of crisis: Amos, King David, Francis of Assisi and Joan of Arc spring to mind. Cyrus, King of Persia, is another example. He seems to have been a just ruler, who respected the religions of his subjects. Though he was a pagan, God inspired him to allow the Jews to go home from their captivity in Babylon, and he helped them rebuild their temple. Jesus of Nazareth must have seemed an unlikely Messiah. When He returned to his home people said to one another: "Is this not Joseph’s son?” (Lk 4:22) In other words, he was the village carpenter’s son, and his family was well known. In John’s gospel Nathanael exclaimed: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46)
From the very beginning of his gospel John sets out to reveal the identity of Jesus, God’s Word Incarnate, in all his glory. Often he skilfully uses the characters that encounter him to further reveal who he was. In today’s gospel Jesus speaks to Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. Unlike his fellow rulers, however, though he was a educated man, he recognised that he had much to learn from Jesus. In the dialogue that followed Jesus was able to impart the knowledge of God’s great love for humanity. He used the beautiful image of the bronze serpent to describe the healing that will be brought about by his death on the cross.