The one who comes from above is above all.
Jesus is the one who came from above. It is for this reason that he speaks about being born from above. He was the only one qualified to do so since everyone else, even great prophets like John the Baptist, were ultimately still from earth and therefore were constrained to speak of earthly things. Only Jesus himself had first hand experience of heavenly things. Yet Jesus want to lead us to the understanding of heavenly realities just as he did with Nicodemus. His Kingdom was a heavenly Kingdom, with a heavenly way of thinking and a heavenly way of acting. It was not something that could be puzzled together from earthly puzzle pieces. The gateway from earthly things to those of heaven was to be the Sacrament of Baptism, by which believers were born from above, and enabled to think and act in a new and heavenly way.
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life (see Romans 6:4).
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (see Romans 12:2).
“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ (see First Corinthians 2:16).
The difficulty with the testimony about heavenly things was that it didn't admit of an empirical test. People were used to testing to validity of earthly propositions by earthly means. But what if there really was a heavenly realm, an elevated spiritual dimension of reality into which earthly methods of proof could generated no insight? Many would be quick to reject such a proposition. They were used to being the arbiters and masters of what constituted truth. They would not readily yield to the need for a mediator in such matters. They often asked Jesus for a sign that would prove he was qualified to speak of heavenly things. But their requests were always insincere, as we can see from the fact that they did witness many signs done by Jesus and yet both them and he himself.
Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy.
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
When we place our faith in Jesus we are doing something more and greater than giving merely intellectual assent. We are in fact making the decision that God's word is trustworthy. We can then have something like the simple assurance popularly repeated: 'God said it. I believe it. That settles it'. But this entails more than just the comfort of reassurance. It means that faith entails and cannot be separated from obedience.
Since faith is a personal act of yielding and obedience, Jesus can contrast belief with disobedience: whoever disobeys the Son will not see life.¹
There is apparently no upward limit to how much we can appropriate the life of heaven and see it work in our daily lives. There are no restrictions or limitations on who is invited to the baptismal font of regeneration. And baptism is only the beginning of a new life that is meant to be lived entirely under the influence of the Spirit. We might worry that Jesus has better things to do than help us, or that if he assisted with our needs he would not have enough time or power to help someone else. We often proceed with this scarcity mind when actually, "[h]e does not ration his gift of the Spirit". How powerful is the influence of the Spirit meant to be on us? Saint Paul's contrast to drunkenness with wine gives us a hint:
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (see Ephesians 5:18).
No wonder people suggested that the Apostles were drunk on that first Pentecost morning. They were filled with the sober intoxication of the spirit. And so, given all that is available, we too should seek to have the encounter with Jesus where he leads us from the things of earth to the things of heaven. This will not actually render us so heavenly minded as to be no earthly good. Rather, we will draw all of the genuinely good things of creation with us into a higher orbit.
1) Martin, Francis; Wright, William M. IV. The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture): (A Catholic Bible Commentary on the New Testament by Trusted Catholic Biblical Scholars - CCSS) (p. 79). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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