May 26, 2024
Born Again
John 3:1-17
Rev. David Germer
Our second reading is from John 3.
Listen for God’s Word:
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, 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.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born ______ [yes – “born again” – I wanted to make sure that was said; our translation the NRSV, puts it:] from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (“Life unto the age”)
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (“Enter their life era”)
‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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Passages like this one – which is given in the lectionary for this Trinity Sunday – are so incredible, because a careful and faithful reading could point in dozens if not hundreds of directions, as we interpret it and listen for what it is saying to us.
But because today is Trinity Sunday, I want to first share with you what I think are the two most tempting approaches to any discussion about the Trinity – this idea that God is triune – somehow both One and three; and then we’ll use this passage to see if we can open up a third way – what I think is a better way, to think and talk about the Trinity.
The first way that is tempting to talk about the Trinity is to seek out some analogy in order to help us understand. I actually saw in a pastors’ Facebook group yesterday a conversation about some of the images and analogies people were going to use in a children’s moment: the Trinity is like a fidget spinner (with 3 equal branches that become a blur when moving), or like an apple (with the peel, the flesh and the core representing the different persons of the Trinity), or (this was new to me) like s’mores (with the chocolate and cracker and marshmallow all kinda merging together) … and those all, I guess, are decent attempts… but overall, not so helpful. Not just because analogies don’t really developmentally work for young children, but also because any analogy at best is going to fall short, and much more likely, will be misleading or even heretical… leading us to think each person of the Trinity has a completely different role, or make up different parts of God that together form the whole.
It’s so tempting – our brains WANT to have an explanation we can understand, and teachers – whether pastors or Sunday School leaders or parents – we WANT to say something helpful… it’s really hard to say something helpful that is also true, about the Trinity… to adults, let alone children.
So, given that, the second way that is tempting to talk about the Trinity is to say: it’s a mystery… and leave it at that.
Now we should say, it’s a mystery. And I actually think it’s often ok, and maybe even smart, to leave it at that. But as a pastor preaching on Trinity Sunday… that’d be a cop-out for me.
Like If I stood here and told the story of that famous musician who gave a concert followed by a discussion with the audience. The first question he was asked was: “what did that piece mean?” When it was asked, the musician walked back his instrument, sat down, and played the entire 15 minute piece again, and when he finished, he stood up, looked at the person who asked the question, and said, “that’s what it means.”
If I told that story and said, “See, like a piece of music, the Trinity can’t be explained, it can only be experienced and absorbed and studied and enjoyed; and talking about it actually risks stripping it of its meaning and power”….
Or if I told you about how the southern, Catholic author Flannery O’Conner was once asked to explain one of her short stories, and she replied, “Well, if I could have explained it to you, I wouldn’t have needed to write the story.”… and then I said, so it is with the Trinity. How lame would it be for me to offer these stories, and nothing more?
“Accept the mystery.” That’s what the second temptation boils down to.
And there’s truth there, but more can be said about the Trinity than that, and sometimes more needs to be said.
[You have permission, and encouragement, to say “it’s a mystery.” I think it’s better than a bad analogy.]
But this passage gives us something more, about the Trinity.
On the surface, what the passage gives – or gave, for decades – was a culturally loaded and coded question, that I bet you’ve heard, and been asked: Have you been born again?
It’s less common now, but I bet most over the age of 30 have been asked this, at some point. (Right?)
And its most often asked in a way that makes it clear that the answer you give would tell the person asking everything they wanted to know about you.
It’s not a term I hear used at FPC, and I don’t have a particular need to reclaim the phrase “born again” as an identifier for the kind of Christian you are or are not… but I would like us to see that what Jesus is doing, with the phrase, is inviting us – all of us – into the relational mystery of the Triune God.
In our passage, Nicodemus, a highly respected and knowledgeable Jewish leader, comes to Jesus in the middle of the night, and says something to Jesus about the signs he’s been doing, acknowledging they must come from God.
(It might be politically motivated, but Jesus doesn’t blow him off)
Jesus redirects the conversation to talk about the kingdom of God, and who enters it. Let’s pause here, a sec.
The other gospels are full of Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God – Jesus talks more about the Kingdom of God than anything else – it’s inextricably linked with Jesus’ understanding of the good news he’s announcing and embodying. In John, this is the only spot it comes up.
Why does he bring it up, here?
The Kingdom of God is God’s reign or rule, and we can understand it in the category or terms of time, addressing the “when?” question – it’s coming, it’s on its way, it’s already and not yet fully here; and we can also understand it in the category or terms of place – addressing the “where?” question – the kingdom is where God is – God’s space – heaven… and earth!
Nicodemus doesn’t use the phrase, but Jesus identifies that this is what Nicodemus is really asking about – or at least needs to hear about. To see the kingdom of God, you must be born again.
Now here’s what’s so cool, and fascinating, about Jesus’ linking this phrase with the kingdom of God. The word in the text, translated as again, or from above – anothen – is ambiguous, and it seems intentional that Jesus chose this word, when he could have chosen other words, if he wanted to highlight either meaning. If he wanted to mean just a fresh start, a new beginning, a reset, born again, he could have chosen a handful of other words. And that could be, and is, a powerful and helpful metaphor, for someone who’s stuck.
Nicodemus seems to be have been stuck on just that meaning – born AGAIN. How can someone be born a second time?
But Jesus isn’t just talking about time.
He’s also talking about place, or location, or source – born “from above.”
The kingdom of God can be understood in terms of time and place – when and where… as can 2nd or new birth – again, from above.
This is the kind of thing that makes some of us (pastors) really excited.
Do you how incredible and brilliant this is?
In the moment, Nicodemus doesn’t, or isn’t ready for it…
So Jesus tries again, and modifies his language (same meaning, different words): “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.”
Now we hear this and think immediately of baptism, and that makes sense, and John may have wanted us to… but it isn’t what Nicodemus, would have heard or thought. At the time, Christian baptism of course wasn’t really a thing. What Jesus is talking about in saying that we are born of water and spirit is that we are born physically, and we are born spiritually. Born of water is a physical, medical description – think of amniotic fluid in the womb, and the water breaking, preceding us. Born of the Spirit is a spiritual reality – think of the Holy Spirit breaking open in us. So connecting the 2nd birth to baptism isn’t necessary and may not be helpful. What is helpful is connecting it with something God does in us. A spiritual birth.
It’s not just a new or fresh start which we might hear and think, “Gosh that’s really what I need, where do I sign up? Is there born again program that I can enter?” No, it’s a gift given – and the source is God, in and through Jesus, by the power of the Spirit.
Those odd verses near the end of the passage reveal this (some may remember I actually preached on this a couple months ago) – just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that the Israelites might have life with God, so Jesus is lifted up, onto the cross, that we might have life with God in God’s perfect reign and rule, as it was meant to be. And then the very well-known verses 16 and 17 clarify and summarize- It’s a free gift, inseparable from the gift of Jesus, bringing a whole new life.
This has huge implications for the way that we live, and the way that we understand what God is up to with and in us.
Most pointedly, the fact that new life, 2nd birth, is a free gift means that the weight of the world is not on our shoulders. The birth image itself is helpful here, because think about how strange and silly this would sound, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without birthing herself of water and of Spirit.” We know something is off there, in terms of agency.
I was there for the birth of my boys (Naomi’s birth is a whole story unto itself that I’d love to share with you at some point)… and you know what the boys contributed to the process of their births?
Absolutely nothing. What they did, the extent of their role, was to make faces and cry. To be fair… that describes the extent of my role, as well… but the point is, it wasn’t their efforts that birthed them! It happened to them. Tracy was the one doing the work.
Birth – 1st and 2nd; water and Spirit – is something that happens to us – it is given to us.
Birth happens to us, but once we’re born… that’s when the real fun starts, that’s when things get really interesting. Because after birth, and after second birth – birth by the Spirit – is life in the Spirit. Life inside the fellowship and community of the triune God. Growth. Participation with God in what God is doing in the world.
We know God as One because there is no other creator, redeemer, sustainer, Lord. We know God as three to help us see that what is central to who God is, is relationship, community, love. And we get to be a part of that love.
That is the key to what is helpful about the Trinity.
Not defining roles for the three persons of the Trinity, not merely pointing us to God as unknowable mystery – but receiving the gift from God, through Jesus, of life in the Spirit. What Jesus is telling Nicodemus, is that he – and all – are invited into this life with God, to participate and share in the relationship of God’s self-giving love.
May we receive it, and live that life, with God. Amen.