Ah, To Be Born John 3:1-17 2nd Sunday in Lent Albertville, MN
2/17/08 Rev. Michael Trask
No one Can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
Ah, to be born into the world, we don’t remember what it’s like, but it happened to each of us. We all went through a similar process of conception, birth, and maturation. What a remarkable way to arrive. After months of gestation in our mother’s womb, we at last broke out and made first contact with the beings of this planet. We were not unlike alien visitors: We were not used to breathing the air, for previously air was supplied in the a liquid exchange inside the “space capsule” which was our mother’s womb ...Our first gulp of the earth’s atmosphere was actually quite traumatic and frightening. Some of us, needed assistance to start breathing. And the gravity of earth, what a surprise that turned out to be! We were not used to supporting our own weight; couldn’t even hold our own heads up a at first! In the next year or two of our time here, we learned at the fastest rate we’d ever learn at in our lives. Of chief importance was learning how to make sense of the sounds that come out of the mouths of those who took care of us. We learned to make the same sounds as we discovered how to speak and repeat their words back to them. Soon we began to talk incessantly....asking our parents questions about everything in the world and everything in life. We came into the world feeling like aliens who knew nothing. We were insecure and in awe of the world around us. We wanted to know everything that could be known about us and about the world around us. But now that we do know, we sometimes wish that we didn’t. A little girl once asked her father, “Dad, why are grown ups always have frowns on their faces. ” That was a rather astute observation on her part. Think about it: kids laugh, play have fun in life and do goofy things. Adults grouse, worry, fret, and frown quite a bit. Why is that? They have learned that the world and they themselves have issues; serious issues; issues that do not appear to have any readily available solutions. That’s why the frown is often the most favored expression among adults. We came as aliens to a new planet, we learned it’s ways and means as we grew but then we learned other things. We learned that we must grow old. We learned that we will die. We learned that people that we care for will die too. We sense our own mortality and that is part of the reason that adults frown so much. That’s what makes adults so serious and so sad so often. Add to that a lifetime of sin piled up on the conscience, and you got a lot of reasons to frown! But hold on my fellow travelers! This is not the end of our travels. Life has only just begun! There’s better and more permanent stage to it! This was the substance of what Jesus and Nicodemus were talking about on that cool evening in Jerusalem. Nicodemus was an old man by now; a man who had lived and learned the ways and means of this world and was tired of it. Tired of the way things were; tired of the Roman rule; tired of the disgrace that Israel had to bear for it’s sin. Like any one who lives in this world for any amount of time, he was tired of the way things were And he came to Jesus hoping that he might have some answers. He mentions the miraculous signs that Jesus did. This was significant because the Prophet Isaiah had told them that the signs were what they should look for, when something better was coming! In response to Nicodemus’ inquiry, Jesus said something that was hard for Nicodemus to understand, but not so hard for you who now view it in hindsight. Jesus said “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “What does that mean?” Nicodemus wondered and then made some crack about the ridiculous impossibility of entering his mothers’ womb again. We kind of have the advantage on Nicodemus. It was all new to him at the moment that he heard it. As a matter of fact, this is the first time the world heard it! But we’ve grown up hearing about it. We must be born again! What’s it mean to be born again? It’s all spelled out in the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus. Jesus explains: “Truly truly I say to you , unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Water and the Spirit. Hmm! Where have we heard those two things together before? You’ve got it: Baptism. And that’s what the Apostles taught. People came up to Peter after hearing the Gospel and said “What shall we do” to which peter replied: “Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And then again Jesus says in the Gospel of Mark “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Again and again and again, the entrance to the kingdom of God is marked by Baptism and faith and repentance that is instilled by the Spirit of God. It is this same Spirit of God that urges us through our baptism and through the word of God to repent and believe. Believe what? Well Jesus covers that too in his conversation with Nicodemus. He says “Just as Moses lifted the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, and everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” He’s talking about going to the cross. It probably didn’t make a lot of sense to Nicodemus, at the moment. But I’m sure it must have stuck with him a couple of years later when he and Joseph of Arimethia helped prepare Jesus’ body for burial after he was taken down from the cross. I can imagine him at some point saying: “That’s what he meant!” “I can be born again! I can be made anew! It’s not about me, covering my sins, by a series of prescribed holy deeds, its not about me trying to balance out the bad I have done with good. Its about HIM, Dying for my sins and paying the price for my soul on the cross. It’s about him, rising to life again so that I too can live a new life!” It’s about him, making me an eternal citizen of God’s kingdom. I can imagine him saying this, because this is basically what all Christians say in faith. I assume that Nicodemus did come to faith in Jesus sometime later after this first meeting. And so by grace, by the working of the Holy Spirit when and where he pleases, We come to faith that’s what it means to be born again: to come to faith by the work of the Holy Spirit. This can happen when we are baptized as babies...for the holy Spirit works in Baptism. This can happen later in life as we hear the Spirit laden gospel. But whenever it happens, whenever someone is brought to faith, they are born again; born into the realm of God. And just like it is with our first birth, there’s a maturation process. For coming into the kingdom of God is a significant change in life. At first we are infant and we don’t understand the language of heaven. But with careful listening and instruction in the word of God, we begin to understand and we begin to speak the language in our prayers and conversations with our brothers and sisters in the faith. As we grow up, we ask questions. Lot’s of questions of our Lord for this is how we learn. We want to know more and more about this new realm to which we have been called. But this is where it differs so greatly from our first birth. For as we discover the truth about the kingdom of God....as we look ever deeper into this new reality which Jesus has opened for us, we don’t see darkness and death, on the contrary we see life and light and salvation. And That’s enough to put a smile back on the face and brighten the demeanor. Indeed, the world that we were born into can be pretty sad, but remember, we were also born into the kingdom of God. AMEN |
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