A Story: Nicodemus and the Night Wind
One night, Nicodemus, a respected Pharisee, slips through the darkness to find Yeshua. He cannot risk being seen, but something in Yeshua’s words has pierced him.
“How can anyone be born again?” Nicodemus whispers.
Yeshua smiles with patient compassion and clarifies the meaning of the term “again” (men derish) that in Aramaic has a double meaning.
“You must be born from above,” he says.
Not born again physically.
But born into awareness.
Born of the purifying water of a longing heart.
Born of Spirit into the consciousness of union.
Spirit . . . Yeshua tells him, is like the wind:
“You hear its sound…
but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going.”
You cannot force it.
You cannot control it.
You can only open to it.
This is the new birth.
This is awakening.
This is salvation.
Wholeness as the Healing of Vision
Again and again, Yeshua healed people by restoring sight.
Restoring sound.
Restoring their body.
But these moments were not only physical.
They were symbols.
To see again is to remember.
To hear again is to awaken to the truth.
To be made whole again is to come into alignment.
In every healing story, Yeshua is restoring not just eyes, or ears, but vision and the hearing that comes from the heart—the ability to perceive reality through the lens of Love instead of fear.
Salvation is clarified vision, understanding, and action.
To truly experience oneself, others, and God rightly.
Wholeness and the Restoration of Identity
Perhaps the deepest meaning of salvation in Yeshua’s teaching is this:
Salvation restores the true self.
The image of God in each person may be obscured, but never erased.
Wounded, but never destroyed.
Forgotten, but never lost.
Salvation is:
the return to identity
the remembering of origin
the rediscovery of the divine image
the reawakening of the soul
the healing of the fractures within
the undoing of fear
the freeing of Love
This is why Yeshua sought out the excluded, the broken, the weary, the ashamed.
He saw the divine spark in them even when they could not.
He saw who they truly were.
And his presence called that truth forth.
Salvation as the Return to Love
At the center of everything Yeshua taught—every healing, every parable, every word—was this fundamental truth:
God is Love.
And salvation is the return to Love.
Being born again is what occurs in that transformative moment of grace when we truly realize this.
Love is not earned.
Love does not come through appeasement.
Love does not come through bargaining.
The return to Love has always been there, freely waiting.
Waiting for us to wake up.
Waiting for us to remember.
Waiting for us to come home.
This was (is, and always will be) the heart of the Way.
In the next post: We will begin Chapter Four and explore the deeper meaning of the title “Messiah” and what it means for us today.
In the days and weeks that follow, I’ll continue to post sections from the new book as I craft them, or as they craft me. Your thoughts and comments, as always, will be greatly appreciated.
~ Christopher Harding
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.