John 3:1-8 You must be born again
Here is related an interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus is an accomplished man in being a teacher to rabbi’s and a member of the ruling council. He shows up in John’s gospel two more times: in chapter 7 v.50 and chapter 19 v.39. In these verses we see his progression from questioner to believer.
He came to Jesus by night, probably because he would have been constantly with students and others during the day who would have made an honest conversation with Jesus impossible. He came to Jesus respectfully, calling Him Rabbi and acknowledging that Jesus was sent from God. He was impressed by the signs Jesus had done. Staying within the text, Jesus had so far done only two signs. He had changed water into wine, which was done relatively privately, and had cleansed the temple. It is probably the cleansing of the temple that so impressed Nicodemus. In the previous chapter the Jews were offended by Jesus cleansing the temple and when they had questioned Jesus they received a shrewd rather than an earnest answer. Here, Nicodemus comes humbly and receives earnest teaching even before he can pose his questions.
Jesus says, “truly truly”. This was the way rabbis indicated to their students that what followed was a teaching, so pay attention. Participation in the thing God is going to do now is conditioned upon starting over completely as if a new born babe. During a play rehearsal the director might say, “Take it from the top!” which means, start over and try to do it right this time. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that a complete do over is needed.
If Nicodemus felt any affront at the lack of pleasantries he takes it in stride and tries to comprehend what Jesus is saying (Jn 1:5). The Jews had a concept of ‘born again’ that applied to changes in the stage of life such as coming of age, getting married, becoming a rabbi etc. It also was used for gentile converts to Judaism. For Nicodemus however he was old and in his culture, very accomplished. How could this idea apply to him?
Jesus now drops the other shoe. The second birth is the birth of God’s Spirit without which the domain of God’s beneficent influence remains barred by the angel with the flaming sword (Gen. 3:24). Nothing that is only flesh without the vivifying influence of the Holy Spirit can be more than it is. That is, flesh remains flesh, just a lump of clay. Being born of The Spirit makes us spirit, in His image. When this explanation of the new birth is given, it is not at all surprising that we must be born again. The comings and goings of the Spirit cannot be tracked, but the effects of His work are readily apprehended. The people of God are like this in that their orientation toward life is subtly yet profoundly out of sync with the world. What is this transformation wrought of simple belief? It’s origins and destination are not apparent to anyone outside yet the effects of this transformation are sufficient cause for many down through the pages of history and still today to cling to Christ above place and position, above family and friends, above life itself. The disciples were martyred and many after them. And still today, all over the world, those born of the Spirit affirm, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
brotherpayne 