Lenten Devotion – Day Six

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.

  The story of Nicodemus is the only place where John has Jesus using the phrase, “Kingdom of God” both references are related to “being born… (either above/again or water and Spirit, vs. 3, 5). Yesterday, we covered verse 3, today we will take a look at verse 5. These two verses both speak of the kingdom of God and speak about it in two different ways. Verse 3 states we need to be “born from above/again” in order to be able to “see” the kingdom of God. Verse 5, states “no one can enter (as opposed to “see”) the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.”

  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.

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.

Lenten Devotional – Third Sunday in Lent

Q. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

A. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.

“the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The angel says, "Oh, God, please don't send me back to Earth again. It's terrible. What can I do with these people? Please don't make me go back again, please!...What? I don't have to go? You mean it? I don't have to go? Oh, thank you, God, thank you! What? What? You mean-you're going?!" -Madeleine L'Engle, Penguins & Golden Calves: Icons and Idols (Wheaton, Ill.:H. Shaw, 1996), 106.

  The affirmation that everybody is made in the image of God is supplemented in Christianity by the belief that God was somehow fully present in a particular human body that lived in a particular time and place, the body of Jesus of Nazareth. The church has used the word incarnation to describe the conviction that God was incarnate, enfleshed in a body that ate and drank, slept and woke, touched and received touch. This body also suffered a death as painful and degrading as any human beings have devised. Early Christian testimony that this body also lived again after death shapes a profound Christian hope that undergirds the practice of honoring the body. Whatever else it means, the resurrection of Jesus suggests that bodies matter to God. And they ought to matter to us, too. — Stephanie Paulsell, Honoring the Body

  There was a Benedictine Monastic community where no one came to visit. As the monks grew old, they became more and more disheartened because they couldn't understand why their community was not attractive to other people. Now in the woods outside the monastery there lived an old rabbi. People came from all over to talk to him about the presence of Yahweh in creation. Years went by and finally the abbot himself went into the woods, leaving word with his monks, "I have gone out to speak to the rabbi." (It was of course considered humiliating that a Christian community had to go back to the synagogue to find out what was wrong with them.)

Lenten Devotional – Day Four

Q. 4. What is God?

A. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)

  All that which we call the attributes of God are only so many human ways of our conceiving that abyssal All which can neither be spoken nor conceived by us. And this way of thinking and speaking of God is suitable to our capacities, has its good use, and helps to express our adoration of him and his perfections. . . Omnipotent love, inconceivable goodness, is that unity of God which we can neither conceive, as it is in itself, nor divide into this or that. William Law (1686–1761)

  Augustine once said, "One can know what God is not; one cannot know what he is." “Since it is God we are speaking of, you do not understand it. If you could understand it, it would not be God.” Augustine, Sermons

  Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible whole is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. - Thomas Paine (1737–1809)

  Barbara Brown Taylor says: "The power of God is now and has always been the power to raise us from the dead. Period. It is not about us. It is about God." - "Easter Sunday," Christianity Today, April 3, 2000, 72.

  The attributes of God, though intelligible to us on their surface yet, for the very reason that they are infinite, transcend our comprehension, when they are dwelt upon, when they are followed out, and can only be received by faith. - Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801–1890)

  C.S. Lewis, once said, "Everyone has warned me… 'The ordinary reader does not want theology; give him plain, practical religion.' I have rejected their advice. I do not think the ordinary reader is such a fool. Theology means 'the science of God,' and I think anyone who wants to think about God at all would like to have the clearest and most accurate ideas about him which are available."