Rebirth

Genesis 12: 1-4
John 3: 1-17

When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about how to enter the kingdom of heaven, Nicodemus did not understand. Even though he had studied the Torah and prophets in the Old Testament for most of his life, he was just as confused as you and I sometimes are when reading the scriptures. Jesus had thrown Nicodemus a curve ball and he was not prepared for it. Nicodemus could not believe that Jesus was saying he had to be born again. He asks, “How can I re enter my mother’s womb at my old age?”

It isn’t a dumb question. Nicodemus expected a different answer about how to get to heaven from Jesus. Perhaps he expected him to say that if you follow the Torah you will get to heaven. If you treat your wife and children well, you will get to heaven. Perhaps he expected him to say that if you treat your friends with kindness and if you are a pillar of the community you will get into the kingdom of heaven. These are, after all, things that Nicodemus has done his whole life as a Pharisee. These are things that we do as Christians with the hope of pleasing God and getting into heaven.

So Nicodemus’ question is one that we may ourselves have asked Jesus because it was a serious question and he really wanted to know the answer. Jesus went on to explain that one must be born of both the water and the Spirit. The flesh gives birth to flesh and the Spirit gives birth to spirit. If I was Nicodemus at this point, I’d really be scratching my head trying to figure out what it is that Jesus could mean. Which is probably why he asks the question, “How can this be?”

It doesn’t give us a lot of hope does it? Here is someone who is filled with knowledge about God and the Old Testament and he has no idea what Jesus is talking about. So how are we to figure this out? The good news is that Jesus doesn’t care if you have a master’s degree, a PHD or even a high school diploma. This Pharisee had the equivalent to those things and he couldn’t figure it out. What we need to have is knowledge of the Spirit, or as my friend Sarah calls it, heart knowledge.

Heart knowledge is a knowledge that anyone can have no matter their age or education level. A five year old sometimes has more wisdom than a 30 year old. A 30 year old may have more wisdom than a 70 year old. A person that never goes to church may know more about God than a person that sits in the pews every Sunday. Heart knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit that we either welcome or deny. If we welcome it, the Lord’s words slowly become clear as we study them. If we seek the Lord, we find Him. However, if we deny the Holy Spirit, our hearts are hardened to these words and we are left like the Pharisee – wondering, “How can this be?”

Nicodemus thought he knew what Jesus would say when he asked his question, because Nicodemus wanted an easy answer from Jesus. But we can’t look down on him, because we want the same thing from Jesus. We want easy answers. We want easy ways to follow and obey and to get into heaven. So when Jesus tells us that it has nothing to do with our education or work or all the things we do to better ourselves, we are easily frustrated. These are not easy things to hear.

This is God telling us that if we want to get into the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born again, we must be willing to let go of what we instinctively grab onto. If we are born again, we then come to Jesus as a child, a newborn. A young child is innocent, without guile or prejudice. We should be open and loving and accepting and that is all about heart knowledge. Even an older person can experience the love of Christ; they can be filled with the Spirit and changed into one who has experienced a rebirth in Christ.

Too often we write off people as they get older. “She hasn’t come to Christ yet, she never will!” “He won’t change. He’s too old to change!” Not true. The Spirit gives birth to new ways of thinking and new ways of looking at things. It can happen at any time of our lives and it does not matter how educated or uneducated a person is – God does not see these things as boundaries as we do. Abram was over 70 years old and he became the father of Israel. He left his home, family and wealth to journey to places unknown. Because he was open to the Spirit of God.

Jesus tells us that we must be open to the Spirit moving within us. And sometimes the Spirit tells us things we do not want to hear. Things like, give all your money to the poor. Or go to Japan where all that radiation is and help those people recover from this tragedy, or go to Tripoli and help give aid to those who have been hurt. Or perhaps you hear God telling you to step into a family problem and fix it – even though it will take a lot of time, effort and maybe even cost you a family relationship or two. Or maybe God is telling you that it is time to quit your job and do something much riskier. Or maybe the Lord is saying that you cannot hold these grudges anymore, the ones that are like dark stains upon your soul.

To enter the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born again into the Spirit. Is Jesus saying let the past be past, let the future be a mystery, but grab and hold onto the present as one just born does? All a child knows is today, all a child has is heart knowledge. All a child cares about is the here and now. They are open to new ideas, to new people and they do not have the prejudice and the hatred we harbor as adults. Does being born again mean to wipe the slate clean? Perhaps this is Jesus’ way of saying we must give in to the Spirit’s guidance and allow ourselves to change.

After the prayers of confession I often tell you that the good news is that you are a new creation in Christ. A new creation is an unwritten book waiting to be filled. A new creation in Christ is filled with love and acceptance. Sin no longer means what it did before. To be born again means to allow yourself to be forgiven for past mistakes and to free yourself with God’s help to embrace a future not restricted by prejudice. We are open to God’s voice, no matter what he is telling us – whether it is something we want to hear or even if it is totally unexpected and maybe even unwelcome. Allow the Spirit to free you; allow God to renew you so that you are a new creation in Christ. Embrace today. Embrace a life filled with the Holy Spirit.

Amen.