On this first week of Advent, it’s very appropriate that we be reminded of God’s love for the world: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). These are comforting words for us as followers of Jesus, because it means that we can live in joyful expectation at the second Advent of Christ.
Our gospel reading of today is about the gradual self-revelation of Jesus to a man named Nicodemus. Jesus reveals himself not only as a teacher, but as the One whom God sent to deal with all that is wrong with the world.
But much to Nicodemus’ surprise, the problems of the world do not begin with others, but with ourselves. The problems of the world start with the human heart. And to realize and accept this, to realize and accept that Jesus is God’s final word, God’s salvation for the cosmos, that is what it means to be born again.
The story is found in the first half of chapter 3 of Saint John’s gospel, verses 1-21. Nicodemus, a “teacher of Israel”, as Jesus calls him (3:9), decides to pay Jesus a visit. He’s impressed by the supernatural signs Jesus was performing: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him” (3:2).
Jesus responds, but his response is not as expected. Nicodemus expects a warm and affirming response, but what he gets is “sharper than a two-edged sword” (Heb 4:12): “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (3:3). Jesus undercut any sense of self-satisfaction implicit in the question posed to him.
To enter God’s reign, to enter God’s kingdom, neither pedigree nor piety matter. For neither race, nor family name, nor financial income, nor gender, nor association, nor fame, nor religious observance can erase the sin in our hearts, the sin we inherited from Adam.
This is absurd, thinks Nicodemus. “How can a man be born when he is old”? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb? (3:4). “How can this be?” (3:10).
But what Nicodemus didn’t take into consideration, was that the supernatural birth Jesus was speaking of was not physical, but spiritual. As a teacher and student of Scripture, Nicodemus should have known that God promised to give men and women new hearts, he promised to renew their spirits (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
Those who are born again spiritually, those who are in Christ, cannot limit God’s movement to the physical realm only, because based on experience, they can confidently say along with Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen...” (3:11).
And what do we know? What do we bear witness to? What have we seen? That God came down and dwelt among us; he became subject to the death to which all of us are subject. But his death was uniquely significant: he hung on a cross, he was lifted up like a condemned criminal, and this, not by chance, for it was God’s way of revealing his love for sinners; it was God's way of revealing his love for all of us.
And therefore, “...all who look in faith to Him ‘whose blessed feet were nailed for our advantage to the bitter cross’ will never be subject to the death that is sin’s penalty, but enjoy eternal life.”1
This is what it means to be born again. It means to receive ungrudgingly God’s gift of salvation in Christ; it implies reckless self-abandonment and reliance on God; it involves giving up all attempts to earn righteousness on our own, and receive it freely as a gift of grace.
Such reorientation is an experience that can indeed be likened to a physical birth: it is an emergence from darkness to light, “when the restricted and constrained is at last set free.”2
Thanks be to God.
Amen ✠
-----
1 R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel according to Saint John. An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 69.
2 R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel according to Saint John. An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 69.
Our gospel reading of today is about the gradual self-revelation of Jesus to a man named Nicodemus. Jesus reveals himself not only as a teacher, but as the One whom God sent to deal with all that is wrong with the world.
But much to Nicodemus’ surprise, the problems of the world do not begin with others, but with ourselves. The problems of the world start with the human heart. And to realize and accept this, to realize and accept that Jesus is God’s final word, God’s salvation for the cosmos, that is what it means to be born again.
The story is found in the first half of chapter 3 of Saint John’s gospel, verses 1-21. Nicodemus, a “teacher of Israel”, as Jesus calls him (3:9), decides to pay Jesus a visit. He’s impressed by the supernatural signs Jesus was performing: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him” (3:2).
Jesus responds, but his response is not as expected. Nicodemus expects a warm and affirming response, but what he gets is “sharper than a two-edged sword” (Heb 4:12): “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (3:3). Jesus undercut any sense of self-satisfaction implicit in the question posed to him.
To enter God’s reign, to enter God’s kingdom, neither pedigree nor piety matter. For neither race, nor family name, nor financial income, nor gender, nor association, nor fame, nor religious observance can erase the sin in our hearts, the sin we inherited from Adam.
This is absurd, thinks Nicodemus. “How can a man be born when he is old”? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb? (3:4). “How can this be?” (3:10).
But what Nicodemus didn’t take into consideration, was that the supernatural birth Jesus was speaking of was not physical, but spiritual. As a teacher and student of Scripture, Nicodemus should have known that God promised to give men and women new hearts, he promised to renew their spirits (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
Those who are born again spiritually, those who are in Christ, cannot limit God’s movement to the physical realm only, because based on experience, they can confidently say along with Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen...” (3:11).
And what do we know? What do we bear witness to? What have we seen? That God came down and dwelt among us; he became subject to the death to which all of us are subject. But his death was uniquely significant: he hung on a cross, he was lifted up like a condemned criminal, and this, not by chance, for it was God’s way of revealing his love for sinners; it was God's way of revealing his love for all of us.
And therefore, “...all who look in faith to Him ‘whose blessed feet were nailed for our advantage to the bitter cross’ will never be subject to the death that is sin’s penalty, but enjoy eternal life.”1
This is what it means to be born again. It means to receive ungrudgingly God’s gift of salvation in Christ; it implies reckless self-abandonment and reliance on God; it involves giving up all attempts to earn righteousness on our own, and receive it freely as a gift of grace.
Such reorientation is an experience that can indeed be likened to a physical birth: it is an emergence from darkness to light, “when the restricted and constrained is at last set free.”2
Thanks be to God.
Amen ✠
-----
1 R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel according to Saint John. An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 69.
2 R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel according to Saint John. An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 69.
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