Start over again!

 John 3:1-8

(1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “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 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again. ’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”)

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, 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 answered and said to him, ‘How can this happen?” Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Food for thought! 

Yesterday, we should have started the Gospel of John, Chapter 3, from verse one. However, because of the Feast of the Annunciation, we skipped the first part of this important Gospel. I have brought yesterday's text to today (in brackets) because of its importance to the rest of our meditation in the following days.

Today, we begin a series of lessons. Very difficult lessons, on being born again. Jesus is urging us all to be born again; to start all over again. The real difficult is this: how can a grown up man or woman like you, with your age, with such strongly held habits, convictions, and ways of doing things, ever start again? Why does Jesus call us to leave our comfort zones? This is what bothers Nicodemus: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 

Nicodemus. He was one of the most powerful and influential men in all of Israel during his time.  Nicodemus is a wealthy, powerful. Yet, he is a man with an itch that neither he, nor his money, nor his power can scratch.  During the course of the learning, Jesus refers to Nicodemus as “a master of Israel”. This title means “teacher”.  This tells us that Nicodemus was an educated man, but despite his learning, there were some things this man did not know. But, one night, this rich, powerful, educated man found himself alone in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  What Nicodemus learned that night would prove to be the greatest lessons of his life!

Did you notice that the class is at night, under the cover of darkness? It is always night when we come to Jesus; it is always day when we leave Jesus, after being instructed. Nicodemus has received a lot of criticism for approaching Jesus at night.  Some people have suggested that he came at night because he was ashamed and was trying to hide what he was doing.  I don’t think that was the case at all!  I think he came at night because he was, like many of us, a busy man and he knew that Jesus was also a busy man.  I think he came at night because he wanted some uninterrupted time with Jesus! Night time, when all are sleeping in your house and neighbourhood, is the best time to earnestly pray because there is not much distractions.

Now, you will notice that when this man came to Jesus, he came humbly and was very complimentary to Jesus.  He came with some serious questions, but I dare say that he did not expect the answer he received.  Jesus told him, “You must be born again!” Surely, Nicodemus must have thought this was a mistake. After all, if you looked at this man and at all that he had going for him, you would never expect him to need to be born again!  Not Nicodemus!  Maybe some other man, some other woman needs to be born again, may be my spouse, my friend, my neighbour, but not me. Not someone like Nicodemus, who apparently has everything he needs.  He has all the plusses and none of the minuses, from a human perspective. 

It is exactly to Nicodemus (and by extension to you and me) that the divine teacher is saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you must be born again.” Another way of saying, you must start all over again, like a new baby born for the first time into this life. Jesus is saying that we have to see life as if for the first time; we have to listen to the Word of God as if for the first time.

Jesus tells Nicodemus that just as the wind can be felt, it can be measured and the effects of it can be seen; where it came from and where it went, remains a mystery. The new birth is the same way.  You cannot see God do His work in a human heart.  But, you can see the effects of the wind of the Spirit in a life!  When you see a drunkard leave his bottle, you know God has been working!  When you see two enemies reconciled, you know God has been at work.  When you see an unfaithful spouse turning faithful, you know God has passed by. When you see a wicked, hateful person turn into a sweet, loving, holy saint, you know the wind of the Spirit has been blowing in his or her soul.  It is a mystery because we do not see it happen.  But, there is no denying the effects of the power of God when He works in the human heart. That's is new birth. That's being born again.

Now you see that all of us need a new birth, in some area. We all have to begin all over again. We have to start anew. (More on this tomorrow).