Lenten Devotion – Day Five

Monday, February 23, 2015

Today’s Scripture Reading: John 3:1-17

“Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." (John 3:3)

What "born again" in the gospel means, however, is literally to begin all over again, to be given a second birth, a second chance. The one who is born again doesn't all of a sudden get turned into a super-Christian. To be born again is to enter afresh into the process of spiritual growth. It is to wipe the slate clean. It is to cancel your old mortgage and start again. In other words, you don't have to be always what you have now become. Such an offer is too good to be true for many, confusing for most, but for those who seek to be other than what they are now, who want to be more than the mere accumulation and sum total of their experiences, the invitation, "You must be born again," is an offer you cannot afford to refuse. — Peter J. Gomes, The Good Book: Reading the Bible With Mind and Heart (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1996), 188.

  When Nicodemus came to Jesus, he said that no one could help being impressed with the signs and wonders that Jesus did. Jesus’ answer was that it was not the signs and the wonders that were really important; the important thing was whether a person’s inner life had experienced a new birth. In verse 3:3, Jesus tells us new birth is necessary to see the Kingdom of God and later in verse 5, he says that new birth is necessary to entering the Kingdom.

  When Jesus said that a man must be born anew or born again or born from above, depending upon the translation you use. Nicodemus misunderstood Jesus’ description. Nicodemus took Jesus too literally. The Greek word used here is challenging to translate into English. In English, it comes across to our understanding in different ways, meaning; from the beginning, anew, a complete radical change or it can mean again, or the sense, for the second time or from above, therefore from God. To undergo a radical change, like a new birth. It was based not on human achievement, but exclusively comes from the grace and power of God alone.

  This being born anew or above runs throughout the New Testament. Peter speak of being born anew by God’s great mercy “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Peter 1:3) and later he again talks about being born anew not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, “You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23)

  In John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that new birth comes from the Holy Spirit, and everlasting life comes through belief in God's only Son. Nicodemus, however, was so focused on the "How to" questions that he was confused by Jesus' answer to him. Nicodemus wanted to line up proofs and arguments in order to arrive at a clear conclusion and thereby become a believer. Nicodemus assumed that this was how faith is born and sustained. Consequently, Jesus' rebirth story was completely incomprehensible to Nicodemus.

  Jesus told Nicodemus that faith is born of the Spirit, a Spirit that blows like the wind, blows where it chooses, blows and we hear the sound of it, but we do not know where it comes from or where it goes. Jesus told Nicodemus that life in God's kingdom cannot be earned or achieved. When a person is born anew then they can now see the Kingdom of God and living in the Spirit cannot be controlled, charted, or calculated. All of this was very confusing to Nicodemus who only knew how to trust in the security of the rituals, doctrines, and moral instruction of the synagogue.

  Turning away from Nicodemus' "How to" questions, Jesus told Nicodemus a story of re-birth. Jesus told Nicodemus that to be born from above was to allow the wind of the Spirit to propel him along the way without any sense of his old securities. To be born of the wind would mean trusting God's love for him and for all people. Jesus never made the law easy, never lowered the passing grade, never invited permissiveness. However, all of those concerns regarding morality were not part of the re-birth story. Nicodemus asked how to be born anew, assuming he needed to do something in order to cause this to happen, and Jesus answered, "This is not about what you do. You do not give birth to yourself. You cannot give birth to yourself. God is the one who breathes life into you and gives you birth from above. At your birth, blood is shed but it is not your blood. The blood at your birth belongs to the one who gives birth to you, belongs to the God through whom you are born into life eternal. Nicodemus asked Jesus "How to" questions and Jesus told him about the God who gives birth to us. Jesus knew this would seem very shaky to Nicodemus except that as he trusted in the Spirit, Nicodemus would find himself living a life eternally in God's presence.

  It seems to me that we are not so different from Nicodemus. We come week after week to worship and proclaim who God is and to ask God to make things right, to ask God to bring us into God's presence and to give us eternal life. We are so much like Nicodemus. And in the midst of our struggling to figure out how to win God's favor, God is giving us birth, laboring over us, breathing life into us, pushing us out into a life lived in God's presence, an eternal life. We struggle for the prize not recognizing that the prize is already ours, giving us forgiveness, new life and everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God.

Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning: Psalms 119:73–80; 145
Evening: Psalms 121; 6
Deut. 8:1–20
Heb. 2:11–18
John 2:1–12