Nicodemus
| In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." " How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." (John3:3-8) |
Jesus cuts straight to the point:
Entering God's Kingdom isn't an inherited right or something that happens by loose association. It's not something that comes to us by default if we live good lives. Entering God's Kingdom happens by new birth.
Jesus goes on to explain it with three images:
- It's a SECOND Birth - a new beginning. It is followed by growth and leads toward maturity where we "have children" by leading others to God.
- It's a SPIRITUAL Birth. Blaise Pascal talked about the "God-shaped hole" inside all of us. Being born-again is to invite God's Spirit to fill that hole.
- It's a MYSTERIOUS Birth. You can't see the wind, hold the wind or tell the wind where to blow. Being born again means that we are no longer our own - we belong to Him. We go where the wind blows.
Entry into His coming KINGDOM (where His will is done) is initiated by an event or a process (that in my case took a few months) where I had to recognise that:
- This life is not enough and I can't find fulfilment in myself.
- There is a God-shaped hole in me and I need Him
- Being born-again means I throw myself into an amazing voyage where I'm not in charge but His Wind takes me into the life He has prepared for me.
Nicodemus came at night: frightened of what others thought. We meet him again in John 7 - half-heartedly trying to stand up for Jesus. He appears a last time in John 19 carrying an armload of spices to bury Jesus. My picture is of Nicodemus in the "spiritual womb": he's hungry and thirsty and instinctively knows that Jesus holds the answers, but he just won't let go, he doesn't let the birth happen and that's just a great pity.
Do you know someone like that?
