‘…born again?’

March 5, 2023

Scriptures: Genesis 12:1-4a, John 3:1-17

        It seems that it is not all that uncommon, and especially so today, for someone to support an idea or an individual, but not to be able to do so publicly, as the idea or the individual in question stands in opposition to their particular group of friends or associates. Surely we have all had an occasion to ‘hold our tongues’ upon hearing something we profoundly disagree with, as the one who spoke may be a close friend or even perhaps a family member. 

        This was surely the case with Nicodemus as he made his way through the darkness of night over to the house where he heard Jesus was staying.  As a leader of the party of the Pharisees, he had to be very careful not to be seen or associated at all with the young preacher who had been stirring up so much excitement among the people, and such resentment from the Jewish authorities.

        However, Nicodemus was no ordinary Pharisee.  I imagine that he was intellectually curious by nature and not willing to just accept someone else’s word on the merits of a particular individual, but rather preferred to make up his own mind on matters as important as what to do with this young rabbi who was causing such a stir.

        Drawing near to the little house where Jesus was staying he saw that the lights were still burning within and knocked softly on the wooden door.  After a moment the door slowly opened revealing a circle of men all seated on the floor, appearing to be in some sort of discussion.  The one who had opened the door recognized Nicodemus as one of the rulers of the Pharisees and stifled a gasp as he turned and looked back at Jesus, unsure of what to do next.  Hearing his concern Jesus looked over, and looking past his disciple to the one standing in the doorway, he motioned for Nicodemus to enter.  ‘Come in my friend, what is it you have come out to see me about at this hour of the night’, Jesus gently chided him.  For he knew who Nicodemus was and knew that he was visiting under the cloak of darkness in order that his illicit visit would not be detected.  But he also knew that Nicodemus came in good faith, responding to the deep unrest within his own soul, as he wrestled with who it was he felt Jesus was, and the very different views of Jesus held by his fellow Pharisees.

        ‘Thank you for receiving me Rabbi’, Nicodemus began.  ‘I have been wanting to come and see you for some time.  You see, there are a number of us that believe that you surely are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do the things you have been doing unless that were so.  Truly you are acting on behalf of our God…’.  And with that last remark, Nicodemus just sort of trailed off, not sure what to say next or exactly how to begin the conversation regarding why there was such a gulf between the teachings of Jesus and those of the Temple proper.  Sensing his discomfort and the awkwardness of the moment for his guest Jesus spoke saying, ‘Truly I tell you Nicodemus, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above’.

        Surprised that Jesus knew his name but even more puzzled by what he had just said to him, Nicodemus replied, ‘But Jesus, how can anyone be born again after being born and growing old?  Surely it is not possible for one to re-enter a mother’s womb in order to be born a second time.’  Unfazed by Nicodemus’ lack of understanding and simplistic response Jesus continued saying, ‘I tell you truly Nicodemus, no one…no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born both of the water and of the Spirit.  For what is born naturally of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be so surprised when I tell you that you must also be born from above…in order to be fit to enter the Kingdom’.

        Still puzzled but beginning to grasp that Jesus was inferring that there was a difference between being alive physically and being alive spiritually, Nicodemus was brought back to the conversation as Jesus continued saying, ‘The wind blows wherever it chooses, you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from, or where it is going.’

        ‘This is how it is with all who are truly born of the Spirit from above.  Where they are coming from or where they are being led to you do not know, for they are under the guidance of the wind of the Spirit of God itself.  It is this Spirit that guides those who have been born into fullness of service of the will of the Father’.

        His mind reeling with what he had heard and how much it seemed to conflict with all he had previously thought and understood, Nicodemus could only murmur, ‘How can this be so, how is this possible?’  Having spoken plainly to Nicodemus, Jesus pressed his case further asking, ‘Are you truly a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand what I have told you’?  Lowering his head Nicodemus waited as Jesus continued, ‘Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen.  We only share what we know to be the truth through our experience of God and yet you, seeing the same, refuse to receive my words.  If I have told you this about things here on earth and you do not believe, how will you ever believe me if I tell you about the things of heaven?’  Looking up Nicodemus seemed to be at a complete loss for words, not knowing how to reply to Jesus whatsoever.

        Jesus continued, ‘No one has ascended up into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And just as Moses lifted up the serpent on a staff in the wilderness that all who looked upon it might be healed, so too must the Son of Man be lifted up, in order that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so deeply and so completely loved the whole world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.  For I tell you in truth, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but rather that the whole world might be saved through him.’

        At that last remark Nicodemus felt a pang of guilt for he knew that he and his party often stood in a place of judgment regarding those they considered less worthy of God’s favor. And here Jesus seemed to be saying that everyone who was willing to let the Spirit direct their thoughts and actions was holy and forgiven in the eyes of God.  Nicodemus was not sure what to do with Jesus’ apparently flippant attitude towards his understanding of God’s judgment, for he was unsure of how such a God, who stood always ready to forgive anyone, might conflict with his own understanding of his faith, power, and worldly authority. Still quite unsteady in terms of how to engage what Jesus was saying, Nicodemus kept silent as Jesus continued on.

        ‘Those who believe in the Son of Man are not condemned, but those who do not, have already condemned themselves through their unbelief.  For you see, the light has come into the world, but many have chosen darkness instead, for they know that their sinfulness will be revealed in the light of God’s love.  Those seeking the truth seek the light, learning to live such that their words and their works are done in and for God.’

        Now fully convicted in so many ways for his own as well as his party’s beliefs and understandings, Nicodemus could only sit and look longingly at Jesus, wanting so much to give it all up and to follow along after him.  Jesus looked back at him gently, filling the young ruler’s soul with both conviction and a certain sense that this was a relationship that would somehow find a way to continue on after this night was over.

        Slowly Nicodemus made his way back over to the doorway to the house.  The room was silent, for the disciples knew that the words Jesus had spoken were both profound, as well as dangerous…especially so having spoken so clearly to a member of those sworn to oppose him.  Looking back one last time, Nicodemus made his way out into the dark and chill of the night, convinced now more than ever that this young Rabbi possessed a sense of God’s truth that needed much more investigation.

        Little did Nicodemus know that in a scant few days he would actually find the courage to speak out in defense of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, reminding his colleagues that the Law actually called for one accused to be granted a hearing before being judged as guilty.  His plea however was cast aside as the others ridiculed him, accusing him of taking Jesus’ side and asking if ‘he too was from Galilee’, reminding Nicodemus that nowhere in the scriptures did it ever speak of a prophet coming from that lowly region.

        Unbowed and now more than ever convinced of Jesus’ closeness to God, Nicodemus kept quiet, secretly siding with this one who had opened his eyes to the real truth of the scriptures.

        Once more, Nicodemus would have a chance to show his support for this rabbi he had come to honor and respect so deeply. Unfortunately however, it was far too late to make any difference.  And yet, though he probably had a very heavy heart that Friday evening, as he assisted Joseph of Arimathea in preparing the body of Jesus for burial, just recently removed from the cross, the story of this one who stole out into the night to meet Jesus in secret, remains.  And his love for his newfound Savior still speaks deeply of the effect that the wind of the Spirit can have on one born again from above.  This is the word of our Lord for today…thanks be to God…amen

*****

        ‘Born again’, is such a strange idea to contemplate. In fact, I am not surprised that Nicodemus had such a problem with it himself.  On the surface it seems odd enough, but when coupled with the reputation the term has acquired over recent decades as some sort of defining mark or test of whether or not one is ‘spiritual’ or at least spiritual enough to be accepted by God, it is no wonder that it raises an eyebrow or two whenever it is mentioned.

Throughout the course of my life I have made my way through several understandings of what I think Jesus meant when he said that we each ‘must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God’.  In the beginning I was curious, and in my early forays into charismatic prayer groups and the like I tried to understand what it all meant…even willing myself into believing that I was in fact ‘born again’, as my Christian companions had assured me it was mine ‘simply for the asking’.  However, that scenario also came with a feeling that you had to be able to demonstrate or to prove this ‘born-again-ness’ for it to somehow be real or authentic.  And on that account I always came up short, because like Nicodemus I think I wanted to hear directly from the One who surely knew the answer to my questions.

        And so for a time I was, or at least I thought I was a ‘born-again believer’, trying to act just like my born-again friends acted…but it still felt somehow shallow or made-up. Can you see here how what is supposed to be a beautiful part of one’s relationship with God can get so tied up in legal or ‘religious’ knots?  Anyway, as I grew older and went off to college leaving my prayer fellowship behind, I also left behind my confidence that I actually qualified as one who really was ‘born again’.

And then slowly, and with such a measure of grace the Holy Spirit went to work, and over the course of a number of years I came to suspect that ‘born again’ was not in fact some ‘magical condition’, but rather simply a description of one who had truly decided to walk as closely and fully in the Lord’s ways as possible for them.  I came to realize that it did not have to be a legal thing at all, nor even something to worry or fret about, but rather, it simply meant living one’s life within a dependent and loving relationship with the Lord. 

And while I am not sure if it was this scripture that threw me originally, or the kinship I felt with Nicodemus’ questioning heart, it was still quite some time before I let go of my previous ‘understandings’ altogether, as I searched anew for the Kingdom of God with the eyes of one who was in a deeply personal relationship with God.

        And so, when this scripture turns up again in the week’s readings as it does every three years, I am reminded of my own journey through what at first may seem like a rather challenging set of verses.  And I am also reminded each time, that there may be others who still struggle with these words that had given Nicodemus such a problem. How many today either have no idea or perhaps even no interest in what it means to be ‘born again’? And how much hesitancy or lack of interest have its roots in past church teachings that tended to confuse this issue, or at the very least gave it an air of either unattainability or radical craziness?

In other words, perhaps it is a good time to look again at what Jesus was trying to share that evening with Nicodemus.  What did he say that was so challenging and ended up sending this Pharisee back out into the night even less sure of what Jesus was all about?

        As our reading pointed out, all of us are originally born of the water…that is, born by natural means, each of us a child of our mother and father. And that birth sets us on a path towards increasing maturity and growth eventually unto adulthood. That is life in the world, life as functioning parts of the order of Creation, as members of the body of humanity.

        However, that is not all that God intended for us. I firmly believe, that God created humanity as an object of his love, and intended that we participate in that love by loving God and all of Creation in return.  I also firmly believe that God loves all of humanity, every single person totally and completely, and has set no one individual higher than another, asking all who follow after him to do the same.  Remember John 3:17 at the end of our reading, the ‘forgotten verse’ in my opinion, which says that God did not send Jesus into the world to ‘condemn the world’, but rather, that ‘through him the whole of humanity might be saved’…that through him, all of humanity might be brought forward into the kingdom of everlasting peace and overflowing joy…that place the prophets spoke of where ‘justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream’ (Amos 5:24).

        So, when I look at today’s gospel reading and its call to be ‘born again’, I see it as an invitation to love, not as a badge of membership or qualification.  I see it as a call to allow the Spirit to birth within you a newness of purpose, and a renewing of your ability to see and to hear all that God asks of us, in our shared work as a part of the ongoing salvation of all humanity.

        I see ‘being born again’, as a willing surrender of control over one’s life…allowing the Holy Spirit to take up residence within the inner workings and understandings of one’s mind, actively teaching, guiding, directing, and on occasion ‘correcting’ one’s thoughts and behavior in ways that are pleasing to God, and which bring the promised advent of the Day of our Lord one day closer.

        Being born again of the Spirit means simply that one has chosen to put the Lord in place as ‘Lord over’ one’s life. It is a decision that compels us to seek first the kingdom of God in all our deliberations, and to strongly resist anything that would set that same cause back or hinder it in any way. 

Which may sound daunting and seem like something that might be hard to do, but I don’t think that has to be the case.  For we all worship the same God, and there is one Spirit of love that seeks to guide and direct each one of us.  So, any and all who have truly surrendered their lives the Lord and have given up efforts to guide and direct their own lives…all those who have given up trying to be their own ‘lords’, seeking instead a oneness of relationship with the Lord shall walk in peace, as well as side by side.

        So…are we willing to be ‘born again’? If we are already in a place of relying on the God whom we have already seen bless each one of us…then I would submit that we already are.

In our reading today, Jesus is simply telling us that though we have much in the way of intelligence and reason as a result of being born by natural means…it is only in truly surrendering, seeking, and following after the guidance of the Spirit who we have invited to dwell within us, that we can begin to see as our Lord sees, to hear as our Lord hears, and to respond with love towards our brothers and sisters in need as our Lord would have us do.

Being born of the Spirit is simply the first step in building a relationship with the One who loves us most deeply, and who cherishes each and every one of us so profoundly. 

Allowing oneself to come under the guidance and lordship of the Holy Spirit by the intentional surrender of control over their life is the path to true freedom and the way of deepest joy.

And so as we leave this place and go back to our work-a-day lives, as we trudge our way back to our  ‘Monday-through-Saturday-selves’, let us look for those ways in which our behavior, our attitudes, and our interaction with others might be more loving, more compassionate, and more reflective of the truth that it is the Holy Spirit, who is in control of our lives…

…amen