An
attractive young woman, whose career caused her to be on the road quite a bit,
was asked if she was ever bothered by unwanted male attention. She answered, “Never. If I begin to feel pressured, I simply say
five words and then I’m left alone.” Of
course she was asked, “What are the five words?” With a sweet smile she said, “I simply ask,
‘Have you been born again?’”
Ah, that
lovely phrase…“born again”...sometimes used as shorthand for a certain kind of
religious zeal that can send people running in the opposite direction in order
to avoid being overtaken by a potential religious fanatic. “Born again” may seem like the exclusive
property of one type of Christianity, but it’s not - at least it shouldn’t
be. Because being born again is a gift
from God to all of us. And we hear about
that good news in our gospel reading today.
Jesus is
approached at night by a Pharisee named Nicodemus - a genuine, if somewhat
conflicted, seeker. His loyalties are
clearly with the Jewish establishment, but in private Nicodemus is open to the
possibility that there might be something he is missing. “Rabbi,” Nicodemus says, “we know that you
are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do
apart from the presence of God.”
Embedded in this statement is the request, tell me more: help me
understand. And Jesus does just that,
"Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being
born from above."
Hence the
question, “Have you been born from above or, in many translations, born
again?” But what does that really
mean? Well, if you’re wondering take
heart that you are not alone. Nicodemus
doesn’t get it either, "How can anyone be born after having grown old?” he
questions, “Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be
born?"
Nicodemus
makes what is perhaps the most common mistake when it comes to understanding
the Bible - confusing something that is supposed to be a metaphor with
something meant to be literally true.
Like all of us, Nicodemus had already been physically, literally
born. This second birth Jesus is
speaking of, being born again, is not a type of a do-over of a physical birth,
but a spiritual birth. In the original
Greek the word often translated as born “again” is deliberately ambiguous - it
could be born again, or born from above. or born anew which hints to the
mystery that what is going on here is beyond our grasp.
It simply
can’t be reduced into something we have control over - praying a certain way,
or believing a certain way, or even participating in a certain Episcopal
liturgy. Being born again is the
mysterious work of God resulting in a complete rebirth of our entire existence. Does that make any more sense? Well, maybe not so much....
How about
we explore the metaphor that Jesus gives us to see if that can help. When a
baby is born who does most of the work of labor and delivery? The baby? Ask any
mother and you will get an emphatic, “No!”
It’s the mother, of course, the one who births who is doing most of the
hard work. So if that is the case, when
Jesus speaks of being born again he’s really saying that it’s not something
that Nicodemus, nor any of us, are able to do on our own. Rather, it’s God’s work to do, and it is God
who labors in love. Rebirth is God’s
gift to give.
Now in
some circles of the Christian faith, being born again is understood as what you
might call a “one and done” experience. But in real life a physical or a
spiritual birth is far from a singular event.
It’s always a process, as it was for Nicodemus.
It’s fair
to assume that in order to get Nicodemus, a faithful Pharisee, even to the
point of seeking Jesus with genuine honesty that God’s Spirit had already been
at work starting the labor process. But
his encounter with Jesus didn’t turn out to be a “come to Jesus” moment. Following their conversation, Nicodemus returns
to his normal life as a Pharisee.
However, deep down, something, ever so slightly beings to change, to
move, to shift. We know this because
this is not the end of God’s labor and delivery story about Nicodemus. Four chapters later in John chapter seven,
Jesus is gaining in notoriety and the Pharisees, as you can imagine, are not
pleased. They are mulling over the idea
of having Jesus arrested when Nicodemus speaks up in Jesus’s defense and
reminds his colleagues that the law requires that a person be heard before
being judged. This is met with ridicule
and Nicodemus is silenced. But God isn’t
done with him yet, the labor of love continues.
More time goes by until finally, Nicodemus appears for a third and final
time at the end of John’s gospel where Jesus hangs crucified. Most of the disciples have fled in fear, but
not Nicodemus who now in the light of day for all to see is present. His arms are laden with anointing oil and he
is ready and willing to bear Jesus’s broken and lifeless body to it’s grave. It’s here, don’t you think, that after all
that time of the Spirit’s laboring work that Nicodemus is birthed into new
life? Mysteriously he is born again,
born from above, born of water and the Spirit.
That’s
Nicodemus’s story, what’s yours? Because
you have one, you know. Or actually God
has her own cherished labor and delivery story about you. How her Spirit has been and continues to be
at work in your life in ways seen and unseen.
That birthing process is going on even now. So as we move deeper into Lent may we know
ever more surely the love of our God who labors with us and for us so that each
and every one of us might be born again into new and abundant life.
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