Tuesday of 2nd Week of Easter A 2026

Gospel 

John 3:7b-15

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“‘You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to him,
‘How can this happen?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen,
but you people do not accept our testimony.
If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

 

When I listen to people argue about the existence of God and what can be proved or reasoned into acceptance I remember this text. For Jesus points out how closed mind people can be that they choose to believe in the wind or love while rejecting the God who is love and the Spirit who moves like the wind. They exclude from their minds the Holy Spirit that enters a body and transforms their lives. They reject Jesus Christ because he doesn’t fit into their own mortal views of the world.

It’s not just Nicodemus that struggles with believing. For so did the disciples when Mary told them he was resurrected. So did Thomas. So did those on the road to Emmaus until he revealed himself in the breaking of the bread.

 

And so do a lot of Christians and even many Catholics who see the Eucharist as nothing more than a symbol.

 

Anyone who attends Mass and doesn’t believe in the Eucharist is wasting a good morning. They have not studied the Gospel, certainly not John’s Gospel and while they may spend time solving complex mental challenges for work, they don’t even try to use intelligence and truth to understand what John is saying. What Jesus is saying.

 

For Christianity without the Eucharist is a shadow of the Church Jesus founded. It has no substance or body. The body of Christ is the living and breathing church that does what Jesus said to do at the last supper.

 

Yet millions do not believe and still go to a church trying to obtain feel good rewards when they could have joined with Jesus as one body.

 

Anyone who believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and does not believe in the Real Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is a lot like Nicodemus. Who believed in the wind but not the Spirit.

 

The question to ask today is what do I really believe in? We believe in money and work each day for our wages. Money satisfies a worldly need for a way to buy food and housing and clothing. There is no other way to physically live but to gain money.

 

We believe in nature. That the sun will rise and set. That rains will come. We rely on gravity and water and the laws of nature so we can move about and exist.  We must have water and sun and rain to live.

 

But do I really believe in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit? Do I really believe in the resurrection and the Eucharist or am I just focused on ideas and symbols and feel-good moments?

Without Jesus Christ there is no salvation. Without eating his body and blood we have no eternal life.

 

If we are not living with Jesus Christ held above all else, we are not living the life we were created for. We are just living a life in shadows. And it is gray and dark and shallow.

What do we believe today? No one is asked to do more than use their mind and heart and soul to seek the truth and grow in understanding.

To treat our relationship with God as the most important thing in our life. With that focus we will see the truth and the light of Jesus shining in our life. Showing us the way home.