Born Again?

For many of us today’s gospel reading contains familiar and beloved verses. Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, comes to Jesus at night and we get to eavesdrop on their conversation. It is from this encounter that we get the famous verse John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” A text made particularly familiar by the 19th century composer John Stainer, though as a child I sang a version of it to “O Danny Boy”, and perhaps you did too.

Building on this verse, theologian Marcus Borg says that the passion of God is to love the world -the cosmos – for God so loved the cosmos that he sent his only Son. “And God did not send the Son into the cosmos to condemn the world, but in order that the cosmos might be saved through him.” According to Borg, our mission as the church, our calling, is to love the world – the whole of Creation - with the same fierce and passionate love that God has.

But there’s a lot more to unpack in this reading. Nicodemus does not understand when Jesus tells him that in order to see the reign of God he must be born from above. Another translation is to be “born again”.

When I was a teenager, I knew many things with great certainty and unlike Nicodemus I knew exactly what it meant to be “born again.” Clearly it meant to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. I put a lot of energy into persuading my peers and others, including one evening, a bunch of drunk old men sitting on a park bench, to say that they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and I fondly imagined that once they said those words they were born again and no longer headed for hell.

Fifty plus years and a seminary education later and I am much less sure what it’s all about.
So I am wondering what being ‘born again’ or being ‘born from above’ means to you. Is it something that is important? Is it something you have experienced?  What do you think Jesus is talking about?
Please find someone to talk to and reflect with – what is Jesus talking about – what does it mean to be born again?
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Let’s share our wisdom with each other…
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I wonder what Nicodemus was wanting from Jesus. If we assume that Jesus was able to discern the need of Nicodemus’ heart rather than his words, perhaps his real question was “how do I see the reign of God?” or maybe, “How do you, Jesus, see the reign of God?”

And Jesus’ answer is that we need to be twice-born, not just physically born but in some way spiritually as well. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all simple recipe for how that happens. I suspect that just as every physical birth is unique, so is every spiritual birth.

Spiritual experience is subjective. Yours will be different from mine. There are those of us who see visions, who are aware of angels; there are those of us who feel the love of God at a deep level; and there are those of us who don’t. Some of us have had times of feeling at one with God and all creation; others haven’t. Some of us have spoken in tongues; others haven’t. Some of us know exactly when we were “born again’; others don’t. It doesn’t matter. Whatever experience you have or don’t have is just fine.

Because God’s grace does not depend on our feelings. God’s grace does not depend on human constructs like being ‘born again’. God so loved and so loves the cosmos – which includes you and me – whether or not we feel it. God’s grace is dependent on God not on us.

As Jesus told Nicodemus, “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.” We cannot control our spiritual experiences. We may notice the Spirit blowing through us or around us but we cannot control her.

What we can do is turn towards God. We can, like the psalmist, lift up our eyes and turn our intention and our attention to God. We can ask to have the eyes of our hearts opened so that we can see the reign of God and so we can see the grace of God at work in our world.

And we can trust. We can trust in the One who loved the world so passionately that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. We can trust because God’s love is totally dependable. Because, remember, God did not send the Son into the cosmos to condemn creation, but in order that all creation might be saved through him.
And that includes you and me.

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall