Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Today’s Scripture: John 3:5-10
Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” (John 3:5, NRSV)
African-American slaves were not allowed to have their own worship and were rarely allowed access to the Bible, so they "held clandestine religious gatherings at night, a practice that continued after emancipation. The slaves saw in Nicodemus' night visit proof that it was possible to come to Jesus even when those in power forbade it. Nicodemus was a model, someone who was willing to act on his own against the will of the authorities. The slaves' faith surpassed that of Nicodemus. Nicodemus' night visit was only exploratory, and in this story in John 3, he does not understand the invitation Jesus extends to him. The slaves, by contrast, understood and embraced what Jesus had to offer. They were willing to risk their safety and their very lives to come to Jesus. The slaves are a powerful example of those who "come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God" (3:21). — Gail R. O'Day, "The Gospel of John," The New Interpreter's Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 555.
Then Jesus tells Nicodemus, in the next verse, “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (v. 6) Jesus is attempting to get Nicodemus to understand that this new or second birth is a spiritual birth coming through the Holy Spirit. We all come into this world as flesh and blood humans, but we need to have life breathed into us by the Spirit in a birth from above, in order, to “see” and “enter” the kingdom of God. Paul, states this same idea later in First Corinthians when he states, “What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Cor. 15:50)
Jesus is talking, here, about being born. If there’s one thing in life we don’t do on our own, it’s being born. We burst into this world screaming and kicking and thoroughly dependent upon others for everything. How can we ourselves possibly arrange to be reborn in the Spirit? It’s not our doing, we can avoid it or reject it, but the actual birth from above is the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s a holy mystery, an awe-inspiring gift. And that is why we have a whole sacrament to commemorate it: the marvelous, grace-filled sacrament of water and the Spirit called baptism.
What does it mean to be born of the water? Water is the symbol of cleansing. When Jesus takes possession of our lives, when we love him with all our hearts, the sins of the past are forgiven and forgotten. To have our sins washed away. We never outgrow the need for having our sins and imperfections washed away daily and continuously. The water in baptism reminds us of our need for daily cleansing and washing.
What does it mean to born of the Spirit? The Spirit is the symbol of power. When Jesus takes possession our lives it is not only the past that is forgotten and forgiven; if that were all, we might well proceed to make the same mess of life all over again; but into life there enters a new power which enables us to be what by ourselves we could never be and to what by ourselves we could never do without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Making an affirmative decision to follow Jesus wherever he leads us. It means to have the love of Christ, the joy of Christ, the peace of Christ, the patience of Christ, kindness of Christ, the goodness of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ, the gentleness of Christ, the self-control of Christ living inside of us. It is having the Spirit of Christ taking up residence in us and living within us.
This experience of being born again and born from above is engineered by God, and it includes both personal conversion and a personal awareness of the extraordinary gifts of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. To be "born of the Spirit" means to say a human "yes" to the presence and the power of God in Christ, and to accept his offer of forgiveness and new life, but it also means to acknowledge that God's presence and power are beyond human understanding or control. In the decision to allow God’s spirit to give us a second birth, we are capable of “seeing” and “entering” the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus apparently did not just walk away, he may have responded later, he is mentioned twice more in the Gospel of John. Sometimes this new birth comes quickly and sometimes over a prolonged period and with great difficulty. Dr. M. Scott Peck was asked once if he was “born again,” and he responded by saying, yes, but it was a long, extended pregnancy and hard and difficult delivery.
Only once more in the gospel of John does the word “kingdom” appear during Jesus’ appearance before Pilate. This is not because for John the kingdom of God was not important. John simply used different language, speaking more of the kingdom as a present reality lived out in our life in Christ. John speaks about “life” this life given to us by Jesus, as evidence for the existence of the kingdom among us. Being born from above and with water and the spirit makes it possible for us to “see” and “enter” the kingdom of God through our new life in Christ.
Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning: Psalms 34; 146
Evening: Psalms 25; 91
Deut. 9:1–12
Hebrews. 3:1–11
John 2:13–22
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