Second Sunday in Lent

March 8, 2020

The Song of New Birth

St. John 3:1-17

Let us pray:  Gracious God, give us the courage to enter the Song.

What do Abraham, Nicodemus, and Paul have in common?

The readings for this Second Sunday in Lent highlight these three Biblical characters.

What do Abraham, Nicodemus, and Paul have in common?

We will answer that question later on.

First let’s take a close look at Nicodemus.  He is only mentioned in the Gospel of John.  He is a teacher of the Law – most likely a Pharisee.  All too often we’ve painted the Pharisees with a broad brush – demonizing and maligning them only as opponents of Jesus. 

Nicodemus gives us another angle on the Pharisees.  Some really wanted to have a conversation with Jesus.  Nicodemus was one of them.  He comes to Jesus at night is more of a metaphorical statement by John – telling us that Nicodemus is in the dark.  Double meanings are riddled throughout the Gospel of John and this conversation reveals that irony. 

Jesus is saying one thing and Nicodemus takes it another way. 

"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." 

³Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."  ⁴Nicodemus 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?" 

⁵Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.  ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'  ⁸The 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." 

⁹Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"  ¹⁰Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

This is comical.  This is a ‘Who’s On First’ routine between Jesus and Nicodemus.  You remember Abbot and Costello’s routine and the confusion of ‘Who’s On First’ –how they just talked past each other.  That is what is happening in this text.  It is somewhat laughable.  Jesus is not necessarily judging Nicodemus as he is inviting him to look at his relationship with God in a new way.

This story is so familiar to us that we miss the point if we do not see the irony and the contrast.  Jesus is speaking on one level and Nicodemus on another level.  Nicodemus is whistling in the dark while Jesus is singing the song of new birth.

The words of this text have been co-opted by the evangelical tradition and the religious right.  The New International Version (translation) of this text opts for the term ‘born again,’ while the New Revised Standard Version translates ‘born from above.’ 

The more accurate translation is ‘born from above’ (Greek – anothen). 

Two different approaches to Christian faith are a result of these two translations:  ‘Born again’ or ‘born from above.’

In conversations with evangelicals I have been asked and maybe you have too – “Are you truly saved?”   “Have you been born again?”  There is only one correct answer to that question – the disclosure of a date and time that you made a decision to follow Jesus and gave your life to him. 

For some Christians this once and for all experience of God’s grace and love is a pivotal moment in the life of faith and necessary to become a true believer. 

That this happens to some people we certainly can affirm.  But such a subjective experience is not the litmus test for true believers. 

Jesus never said that you have to be ‘born again’ or make a decision to accept him as your personal Lord and Savior.  Jesus did not imply that this is the only way to ‘be saved.’

He said you have to be ‘born from above.’  Being ‘born from above’ is not a moment of decision, but implies a journey, a process, an orientation, a way of life.

Author, Maya Angelou says, “I’m taken aback when people walk up to me and tell me they are Christians.  My first response is the question: ‘Already?’”  She goes on to speak of faith as a lifelong journey.  One should be skeptical of those who have arrived.

[Source:  Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now (New York: Bantam Books, 1994), pg. 73]

What do Abraham, Nicodemus, and Paul have in common?

Abraham, Nicodemus, and Paul were called out: 

Abraham is called out to a new land and received the promise that his descendants will be a blessing for all nations. This is a song of rebirth.  Abraham relinquishes his past, his wealth and trusts a promise that will take him ‘only God knows where.’

Nicodemus is called out of his darkness into the light of Christ – he is mentioned two more times in John’s Gospel. 

In chapter 7 when other Pharisees get on the case of the Temple police for not arresting Jesus – Nicodemus says: “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” St. John 7:51

And toward the end of John’s Gospel where he comes out publically and helps to bury the body of Jesus:

Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds.  They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. John 19:39-40

Of all people to publically come out and bury the body of Jesus!  Not the disciples – but Nicodemus.  One can imagine his journey of re-birth – from the darkness of that first night to caring for the body of Christ.  He seems to have learned what Jesus meant about ‘being born from above.’

Paul, too, had a re-birth.  As you may recall he persecuted the followers of Jesus and on the road to Damascus where he was to arrest any people of ‘the Way’ Saul – had a vision of Christ who asked:  “Why are you persecuting me?” 

After that incident Saul spent several years in the desert pondering that vision.  He came out to be the most important missionary of the faith – bringing the good news of Christ to the Gentile world.  Talk about a re-birth – Paul’s story is so dramatic – he changes his name from Saul to Paul.

God calls us into a rebirth through our baptism into Christ.  Done once but remembered daily – baptism is the ‘birth from above.’  Baptism launches us into the journey of faith. 

God calls us to grow in faith.  Christianity is not a set of doctrines to believe, but a way of life.  It is unfortunate that ‘People of the Way’ did not stick for the name of the followers of Christ.  It is a more apt description of the faith than ‘Christian.’

As most women will tell you giving birth is not easy.  It is hard work that is why it is called labor.  It is painful – that is why it is called labor pains.

So it is with rebirth in our faith.  Abraham, Nicodemus, Paul all went through labor pains as they were born anew. 

Rebirth is hard –even frightening.  It means leaving what we know for what we do not know and that is risky business.  What we know, even if it is not working that well is familiar and seems safer. 

But we may forget that there is a risk in not changing – not being open to rebirth. That risk is that we remain static and become stagnant in our faith.

It happens to individuals.  It happens to churches – instead of risking change and rebirth they become static – stuck in an old melody.

If we want a future than like Abraham, Nicodemus, and Paul we need to abandon the safety of past practices and imagine a different future.

God, give us the courage to enter the song of new birth.

Amen.