Prayer for Times of Rebirth
John 3:1-21
March 16, 2014[1]
Here
is one sign that I bet you don’t see on TV during football, baseball or
basketball games: “John 3:17.” You always see “John 3:16”—a reference to the
verse that many of us memorized when we were children, a verse that many people
believe summarizes the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ. But if we read only the 16th
verse, we are missing a treasure trove of Jesus’ teaching about life in the
Spirit!
This
morning, I would like to invite you to walk with me through this dialogue of
Jesus, focusing on it from the standpoint of what is the prayerful response to
this story. Keep in mind the definition
of prayer that I have been using this year in what we have called the “Year of
Prayer:” prayer is a conscious personal
relationship with God. It can include
words; but it is more than words. Prayer
is relationship. It is intentional. And it is personal. And in the case of this morning’s Gospel
Lesson, the prayer that is called for is a prayer of response.
In
our Gospel Lesson this morning, John follows a familiar pattern that we find in
his Gospel. John’s theology does not
come from the story itself; the details of the narrative are sparse. They serve only to set up a dialogue between
Jesus and the other character in the narrative—in this case, Nicodemus. The dialogue then evolves into a lengthier
teaching by Jesus.
In
this case, a respected leader of the Jewish people seeks out Jesus by night (v. 2).
The text doesn’t say why Nicodemus came at night; we tend to fill in the
gap by assuming that Nicodemus was not sure as yet how he would respond to
Jesus. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to
go public and declare himself to be a follower of this teacher from Galilee. But all of that is our own speculation—the
Gospel only says that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. But I ask you to note that regardless of the
reason that Nicodemus seeks out Jesus at night, Jesus does not criticize him
for it. Jesus meets us at our point and
time of need.
Nicodemus
begins the conversation with a compliment.
He tells Jesus that “we” know Jesus is a “teacher who has come from God”
(v. 2). Note that he says “we” and not “I.” He includes himself in this declaration, but
he makes it general. So far, we do not
see a personal declaration of faith; we see general statement that Jesus has
the attention of the Jewish people of whom Nicodemus is a part.
Jesus
doesn’t appear to be in a mood to speak in niceties. Jesus is not going to permit Nicodemus to
beat around the bush, to hide behind the generalities. There is a dualistic nature in our
response. We respond as part of a
community; so Nicodemus’s inclusion of himself as “we know” is correct. But it also is individual. The individual must determine whether to be a
part of the community response. So Jesus
tells Nicodemus that “no one” can see the kingdom of God, no one can be part of
this community of Spirit, unless they are “born from above” (v. 3).
Many
of you might be surprised to hear the translation from which I am reading use
the phrase “born from above.” We all
have learned this verse translated as “born again.” In fact, the Greek word that John uses in
this Gospel can be translated as “again,” or “anew” or “from above.” Part of the difficulty is that people have seized
on these words to make them into a formula for becoming a Christian—be “born
again.” Now don’t get me wrong—I believe
that there is a time and a place in which we are called on to respond to the
Gospel; but it is not a slogan or a simple formula. The life of the Spirit is not a journey that
is concluded at the “birth;” it is a life-long journey, a life-long commitment.
Nicodemus
responds to Jesus with a question. He is
not one to dive head first into the water of the Spirit, he wants to know what he
is getting into. So he asks Jesus what
Jesus means. Unfortunately, Nicodemus
gets caught up in the metaphor of birth rather than the life that birth
entails. He asks a “how” question rather
than a “why” question. “How can anyone be
born after having grown old?” (v. 4). It can be so easy to avoid the substance of a
life-changing experience by getting caught up in the process, the
mechanics.
But
Jesus does not want to let Nicodemus get lost in the how question. Rather than getting caught up in the how,
Jesus reaffirms his point. No one can
enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit” (v. 5). This is the first time in the conversation
that Jesus interjects that word “Spirit.”
He makes it clear, just to make sure that Nicodemus doesn’t continue to
be lost in the metaphor, that Jesus is talking about a very different sort of
birth. But this birth in the Spirit is
“sort of” like physical birth. Note the
reference to water. There is the water
of physical birth—it is part of that process of birth that a baby leaves the waters
in which it has lived in safety for nine months to emerge into a new phase of
living. This emergence into new physical
life is marked by an emergence from the waters of the womb. So too is the emergence of life in the
Spirit. There is water present—a
reference to baptism—but there is more.
There is Spirit present.
But
what exactly is this “Spirit” to which Jesus refers? We still want to pin things down with our
earthly, materially-focused minds. You can’t
pin down Spirit. “The wind blows where
it choses. You hear the sound of it, you
see its effects, but you don’t know where it is coming from or where it is
going.” So it is with the Spirit. You see the results, but you don’t see the
how. You can see the effects of the
Spirit on someone who has been “born of the Spirit”—St. Paul refers to the
“fruit of the Spirit” such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians
5:22)--but you can’t say precisely how the Spirit produces that fruit in
us. It just happens. That’s the way it is with those who have been
born of the Spirit (v. 8).
Jesus
tells him “don’t be surprised” when I tell you that you must be born from above
(v. 7). Focus on that little word “must.” I used to read that word as a command: “you must be born from above.” But I have grown to learn that it is not so
much a command as a simple statement of fact.
In order to live in the spiritual realm that is God’s, it is necessary
that you be born into that spiritual realm.
In the same way that a baby needs to be pushed through the birth canal
into the new life outside, so a spirit needs to be pushed through the trauma of
birth to recognize the life of the Spirit for which it has been formed.
I
discovered this week another possible way to read this little word “must.” Did you ever invite someone to your home by
saying “you must join us for dinner”?
Deborah Kapp points out that we can read this as an invitation. Jesus is inviting Nicodemus to let the Spirit
change his life![2]
Nicodemus
still doesn’t get it. He asks another
“how” question. “How can these things
be?” (v. 9). Jesus asks a “how”
question of his own. “How can you be a
teacher and not understand? (v. 10).
Jesus
then describes his basis for His own spiritual understanding. He has been there; He has seen what it means
to live a life in the Spirit. I testify
as to what I know, what I have seen. You
have to trust me. (v. 14).
You
will note that I am using the word “trust.”
Most English translations of the Bible use the word “believe.” The Greek word that is used is pistis.
Pistis can be translated as
“believe,” but I have found, at least in my own life, that to say “believe”
makes it sound to much like a matter of the head, of understanding, of a “how”
question. So many people have difficulty
entering into the life of the Spirit because they get hung up on the how
question. You don’t need to understand
the “how” of the Spirit; you have to trust the Spirit.
On
Friday night, I was driving outside of Richmond on Rt. 288. I was in the far left lane of the highway
and, just opposite the exit ramp for Midlothian turnpike, I saw a car in front
of me with its backup lights on, and then it turned 90 degrees to move over to
the exit ramp. In that moment, I didn’t
stop to ask how my brakes would work. I
didn’t care about the “how;” I cared that they worked.
This
brings us to a tricky area: how much is
our entry into the life of the Spirit the result of our own action, and how
much is it something that happens to us?
I didn’t chose to enter into this physical life; it happened when my
tiny body was mature enough to be able to handle the outside world. Through the mysterious process that we call
childbirth, I was pushed out of the comfy existence that I was accustomed to,
and I entered a new phase of existence.
Could
that also be the case with the life of the Spirit? Do we choose to experience that life, or are
we propelled into it? Is being born into
our Spiritual existence something that we decide to do, or does God propel us
into new realms of living?
I
run into the danger with my own question of getting hung up on the how
question. There is one thing that I am
sure of: the life of the Spirit requires
something on our part. At a minimum, it
requires trust. Just as we were born to
trust our parents in this physical life, so too, we must trust our heavenly
parent in the spiritual life.
So,
what is our prayer for time of rebirth? It
is a prayer to trust.
What
does it mean to trust in God, whom we cannot see?
· * We give up
control
· * We nurture our
identity
· * We are
transformed
· * We want what God
wants.
Our
prayer for rebirth is a prayer of trust.
“Jesus, I trust in you. I put my
hand into your hand. I put your heart in
my heart.”
This
prayer of trust is not a one-time event—it is a continuing process. We are not born in the sense of completed
action—“been there, done that.” We are
continuing to be born, continuing to experience new adventures in the life of
the Spirit. There is a beginning point;
but it is a matter of continuing, whatever our status in the spiritual journey,
to say to Jesus “I put my trust in you.”
May it be so!
Copyright
© 2014 by Thomas E. Frost. All rights
reserved.
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