"3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:1-8
Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews, a master in Israel, and we are probably meant to think of him as representative of the best in Pharisaim rather than of the worst. That he came to Jesus by night is an indication of his caution, and of how careful he was of his reputation and standing with his fellow-Jews. He was non-committal, and this helps us to understand our Lord's devastating broadside in 3. There is no room for neutrality in the kingdom of God. It is interesting to compare Nicodemus' words in 2, 'We know...' with what the Pharisees said of Jesus later in 9:29, 'as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is'. To begin with, the Pharisees were quite polite to Jesus, recognizing the authority in the signs He performed; but when they began to see only too clearly that what He stood for challenged the very heart and core of their religious life, contempt and loathing filled their hearts against Him. A question seems to have been implicit in Nicodemus' words, for Jesus makes answer in 3. Whatever the ruler had expected Jesus to say, he could hardly have expected to hear these words. He was clearly shaken by them, for they demolished his whole position from the outset. It was 'shock-treatment' par excellence, and doubtless very salutary for him. Luther comments on Jesus' insistence on new birth: 'Christ is saying, My doctrine is not of doing and of leaving undone, but of being and becoming; so that it is not a new work to be done, but the being new created - not the living otherwise before the being new born'. That is sufficient for one day's meditation.