You Must Be Born Again: A Meditation on John 3, for Holy Trinity Sunday

The encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus in the third chapter of John's Gospel reveals a great deal about who God is, and who we are as fallen human beings.  Under the cover of night, Nicodemus crept in to have a conversation with Jesus, despite how open Jesus was in His public teaching during the light of day.  But perhaps we can appreciate Nicodemus' fear of being associated with the Rabbi of Galilee-- he was, after all, a respected member of the Pharisees, formally educated, and esteemed as a teacher of Israel.  It certainly would not bolster Nicodemus' credentials to be seen having a deep and honest conversation with Jesus, and his own peers would hold him in contempt for doing so.

If this were simply the crossed paths of two people, one a celebrated intellectual and the other a poor itinerate preacher, the story might be smiled upon as quaint.  We might think how generous it was that such an elite personality as Nicodemus deigned to visit Jesus at all, and that Jesus gained something from this encounter.  But misunderstanding just who these people are, gives a radical misunderstanding of what is going on.  Rather than just two people of divergent social classes discussing spiritual matters of their day, this is God Almighty ushering into His presence a spiritually blind and dead sinner.

The Word that Jesus had already preached is what brought Nicodemus to see Jesus.  That Word, empowered by the very Holy Spirit, broke into Nicodemus' dead and blind heart, causing him to acknowledge (with an unspecified number of other Pharisees) that Jesus actually was "a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  It wasn't that Nicodemus was seeking God, but that God sought Nicodemus.  The comfortable pride of Nicodemus' position, education, and social prestige left him convinced of his own sufficiency.  Had Jesus not broken into his smug little cocoon of pride, Nicodemus would have remained ignorantly dead in his trespasses and sins.  Nicodemus not only didn't have the power to ascend unto God, but he didn't even have the proper desire to do so, since spiritually dead people don't do, think, aspire, or strive for pure spiritual things.

Jesus certainly doesn't treat Nicodemus gently upon his entrance, either.  Rather than exchanging bland pleasantries and platitudes, He hammers the teacher of Israel with truths he should know, even from the Old Testament Scriptures.  Direct and to the point, Jesus tells Nicodemus:  "Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus sputters about the impossibility of such a thing from a human perspective, and he is right-- there is no human way to give yourself birth even the first time, let alone a second time.  He knows that no one chooses to be conceived or born, but it is God working through His means (a father and a mother) that anyone comes into this world.  Jesus drives the point home when He says, "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

As Jesus speaks these truths to Nicodemus, He is revealing more than the broken and hopeless state of man:  He is revealing who He is.  No one can come to God on their own, because all are dead in their sins, enslaved to the devil by their own sinful fault, and justly destined for an eternity in hell.  But God has never desired man to suffer and die.  God has always been the bringer of life, because He is the Author of Life.  Even in our broken and fallen world, God continued to bring new life in a physical way through parents to children, and in a spiritual way through His Word and Spirit.  From the very beginning of creation, God the Father has been at work through His Son and His Holy Spirit, bringing life and fellowship through His very being.  It is only the rebellious work of the devil, and those who choose to side with him in his wicked pursuit of deviation from the Author of Life, which brings death into the world.  As Jesus continues to teach Nicodemus, "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

This is, has been, and shall always be the work of the Triune God.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all fully God and yet each their own divine Person, neither dividing the divine essence nor confusing the persons, is the Author of Life.  It is the Father's will to work through His only begotten Son, who is the very Word of God made flesh, to speak the Word of Life to all people.  And it is both the Father's and the Son's will, that the Holy Spirit would work through His Word, creating faith in dead hearts, so that all who will hear, repent, and believe might be born again unto eternal life by His grace.  This is the fundamental distinction between God and man, and it defines the relationship between them.  It is not man, the fallen creation of God, who comes to seek from God new life, but rather it is God Almighty who is Life in Himself, who originally created man in His image, and after man's free choice to fall into sin and death, seeks man once again by the power of His Eternal Word so that he might give to him eternal life.

And today, once again, the Father sends to you the Word of Life in the very person of Jesus Christ, even as the Holy Spirit works upon your heart to create a living faith which receives His grace unto everlasting life.  It is the grace won for you as the Lord of Life took upon Himself your death through His Cross, that rising again you might live forever in Him by faith.  For no one has ascended into heaven by their own power, but it is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who has descended unto us and made known to us the way of reconciliation with the Author of Life.  Hear the Gospel Word of the Father written in the Blood of His only begotten Son, proclaimed by the power of His Holy Spirit.  Be born again by repentance and faith His Word, that you may live in His grace, forgiven and free.  This is will of the Triune God for you, and for the whole world. Amen.