The letter to the Ephesians puts us all on an equal basis.  Through sin, we are all dead.  That reminds me of what Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said,

"In the past, Catholics believed our Lady was immaculately conceived, but now we believe we’re all immaculately conceived." 

No!  We are all a bunch of sinners.  It could be that some might grade themselves.  Maybe I have one mortal sin or one venial sin or mortal sin.  Smart or not smart, we are all sinners.  That letter to the Ephesians puts us at that.  Moreover, because of that the question is, “Who will save us?" or, "What will save us?” 
 
Some Christians say that it is what they do which will save them, meaning they put emphasis on their good works.  They cling to those good works and say, “This is what will save me.”  Is that right?  I don’t know, we will see.  Well, if you cling to that very much, the condition is that you might fall into one of the heresies called Pelagianism.  Pelagianism was a heresy, which emphasized that I can obtain salvation through personal effort without the grace of God.  You put the grace of God there.  Personal effort, beware if you cling to that. 
 
Now other Christians say, “Well, we will be saved by faith alone.  Just believe and do nothing and that will save you.”  Is that correct?  I don’t know.  However, St. James puts sanity, he puts a balance, he says; listen to what St. James says:

“Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith that underlies my works” [Js 2:14, 17, 18].

Faith and works are two sides of the same coin, the coin of salvation.  James says, what will save us is not, I would like to borrow a few words from Dietrich Boenhoeffer, what will save us is not cheap grace but costly grace.  He puts it beautifully saying:
 

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate”.

“Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it, a man will go and sell all that he has…it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him…It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life….  And above all, it is costly because it costs God the life of his Son… and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us”.

 
What will save us is faith in Jesus, not a Jesus of our own making, but the Jesus of the cross.  Well, I just wanted you to have a little taste of what the letter to the Ephesians is saying.  In the gospel today, we encounter that conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus.  As you all know, Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a strict practitioner of the Jewish law.  He felt that emptiness, which we feel at times, something in us, we don’t really feel it.  Imagine a religious, a devout religious Jew, feeling that emptiness.  Seeing him, what do we see?  I think he is an inspiration to each one of us here in the sense that in him we see a man who is searching for God, in as much as we are all searching for God.  Here is a man who is searching for the truth, searching for the light.  He was drawn to Jesus.  He wanted to meet him personally to talk to him and to hear from him because he knew that if you hear it from others it might be spoiled.  You had better hear from him and he wanted to do that. 
 
In a way, I would say Jesus’ miracles had made a grip on this man.  In fact, I would say, Jesus touched Nicodemus.  That in itself, reminds me of a song which I heard elsewhere.  It might not be a Catholic song but I would like you to listen to it.  As Jesus touched Nicodemus, you need to give Jesus a time to touch you.  Listen to this: (song is sung)

He Touched Me
Shackled by a heavy burden
'Neath a load of guilt and shame
Then the hand of Jesus touched me
Now I am no longer the same. 
He touched me, oh He touched me
And oh the joy that floods my soul
Something happened and now I know
He touched me and made me whole.

If Jesus touched Nicodemus, why don’t you give Jesus a chance to touch you?  That touch led Nicodemus to meet Jesus by night, so that he could find enlightenment.  Jesus’ challenge to him was this: that he should be born from above, that he be born through water and Spirit and that in itself would enable him to be open to the promptings of the Spirit, to be open to the Holy Spirit.  What do we see in this man?  We see that he has faith; that that faith was only half-way.  I would say it was half a faith.  He was a man who saw the miracles but he missed the Messiah.  He was a man who was paddling, I would say, in the shallows.  He needed to go a little bit deeper, to stretch out into the deep.  He needed to move out of darkness, not only the darkness of the night but also the darkness of perception, the darkness of unbelief, which each one of us has to move.  We have to move that step.  Jesus challenged and invited him to believe in him and that belief in him, that belief in Jesus would lead to eternal life.  That is the wish of God: that all who believe in Jesus be saved.  Yet, on the other hand, not believing in Jesus will lead, as we have heard, to condemnation.  Here we see clearly the two ways: the way to salvation and the way to condemnation. 
 
Now my question for you is this: Which way are you taking?  Believing in Jesus is more than, I’ll put it, an internal assent, believing in Jesus is something which is observable in one’s life.  Believing in Jesus means choosing light, not only that, but walking in the light.  That reminds me of yet another song and the song is one that I do not know whether it is Catholic or not Catholic but we used to sing it.  It’s something like:

“The spirit lives to set us free, walk, walk in the light.  Jesus came to save us all, walk, walk in the light.  Walk in the light walk…”

I don’t know it very well but it is something like that.  The point is we should walk in the light.  If we really believe in Jesus, it means we should really walk in the light and not choose the darkness and be walking in the darkness.  Therefore, living and believing in Jesus, means living in the truth.  Such life choices of walking in the light, living in the truth will lead to eternal life.  The other side is, if you choose darkness, you choose to do evil works, you are living by your own choice and it is leading you to the other side. 
 
Where are we?  What life choices are we making?