Second Sunday in Lent

Nicodemus Visiting Jesus. by Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1899

For some people, to be Christian means that you have been “born again.” Meaning that you have had a personal, intense conversion experience and made a decision to follow Jesus Christ.

Maybe some of you have gotten into discussions with relatives or friends as they object to Lutheran things like infant baptism. Sometimes, these Christians will use phrases like “you must give your life to Christ” or “accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.” Christians who have not done this, who are not born again, are seen as somehow deficient. But the people who limit “born again” to mean a personal conversion or personal “decision for Jesus” are missing out on a whole bunch of stuff that the Bible says about what new life in Christ means.

That phrase, “born again,” comes from a Greek word in our Gospel lesson today. Jesus says that no one can see the kingdom of God without being “gennathe anothen.”  “Born from above,” is how the New Revised Standard Version translates this Greek word. But the phrase doesn’t only mean “born from above;” it also means “born anew” or “born again.” The word signifies both a time of birth—born anew or again—and the place which this birth comes from—from above.

Nicodemus has come to Jesus, recognizing him as a fellow teacher. Nicodemus hopes to get some information for Jesus, do a little professional workshop between educators. Instead, Nicodemus is in over his head. There’s way more going on here than he realizes.

Nicodemus had come to Jesus by night, under cover of darkness. In the book of John, night refers not just to the physical darkness, but a separation from God, a darkness of the mind and spirit.

 When Jesus starts speaking about “born again/from above,” Nicodemus completely misunderstands, thinking Jesus is talking about physical rebirth—an impossibility. As if that weren’t confusing enough, Jesus then tells him that one must be born of water and the Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God.

Now for us, we hear that and automatically think Baptism. But Nicodemus didn’t know about that kind of baptism yet.  He sits with his mouth open, still thinking on a physical level--as when the water breaks before a baby is born. 

So Jesus tries another way to move Nicodemus out of his misunderstanding.  Jesus uses the image of the wind to explain the mystery of this rebirth. Here again, Jesus uses a word that cannot be held to a single meaning, because the Greek and Hebrew words for “wind” also mean “spirit.” Jesus says that the wind—the Spirit-- blows where it wills. Humans can feel its presence, but they cannot chart its precise movements. Jesus offers new birth that is like this: we cannot fully understand or control it, just like we cannot fully understand or control the wind. It’s a mystery to us, one that is only understood through trust in God.

But Nicodemus still sees only a physical impossibility, and he asks with astonishment. “How can these things be?” Nicodemus cannot comprehend or imagine the new birth that Jesus holds out. So Jesus tries once more to explain what this “born again/born from above” is, and how it happens.

Jesus appeals to a well-known story, about Moses. The people of Israel wandering in the wilderness were dealing with terrible poisonous snakes. The snakes kept biting people and making them very sick, killing many.  God told Moses to make a serpent of bronze and lift it up on a pole for everyone to see, and all who saw it and believed in God’s power to heal them through it, would be healed.

Jesus takes this story about the bronze serpent and applies it to himself. The Son of Man (something Jesus often calls himself) must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. The serpent in the wilderness brought physical life. Now, God has sent his only Son to bring eternal life by being lifted up-- lifted up not on a pole, but on the cross.

This, finally, is the heart of the matter. Here is where this whole discussion with Nicodemus has been leading: being born again or born from above, can only come through the One who intimately knows the heavenly things, the one who has descended from heaven and ascended back again. Being born again comes not from our internal conversion, or our decision for change, but something external, outside of us. And that something is the lifting of Christ on the cross.

As Christ is physically lifted from the earth, nailed to the cross, so he is also lifted up in another sense—he is exalted, set above everyone and everything. And through this act we are born again, born from above, born from the one who is lifted up above us. Being born again is dependent not on us and our feelings and religious decisions, but on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Faith comes from Christ, not us. New life comes from Christ, not us.

And that’s why Lutherans and Catholics and most other Christians baptize babies, long before they can decide for Christ, or even know what’s going on. Because baptism is the time when we are born again by water and the Spirit. The time when you and I are joined to Jesus’ death through our baptism by water and the Spirit. We are born again, because God loved us so much that sent his only Son to die for us, and we are baptized into that death and raised again to new birth.

 If someone were to ask me when I became a Christian, or when I was born again, I would say November 28, 1971. Through my Baptism, I am given the faith to believe in Christ and not be condemned. I am given the power to turn from the darkness, to turn from the night, and come to the light which is Christ.

That’s why we give a candle during the baptismal service—to signify that the light of Christ now shines in and on this person being baptized. It’s why we have the white robe—showing that we are covered with Jesus, who is pure and sinless. It’s why we anoint the person with oil on their head in the shape of the cross—to show that they are marked, signed and sealed. At baptism, we belong to Jesus, who bought us with his blood.

You have all been born again through the waters of the font, which connect you with the lifting up of Christ on the cross, the cross which defeats Satan, sin and death. And that means that every single day, you die to the darkness and rise to the light. Every single day, Christ drowns your old sinner and raises up a new person. Every single day, you receive the faith to believe in Christ so that you may not perish, but have eternal life.

You are not justified by works, just like Abraham was not justified by his works. Instead, you are justified by God’s grace through faith. Abraham believed God’s promises, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. So, too, you believe God’s promises because God has given you the power to believe—and it is reckoned to you as righteousness.

Nicodemus came looking for information, for data. What he got instead was the offer and promise of new life. You receive the same promise, the same offer through water and the Spirit in Baptism. You receive the promise through bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ, at the Lord’s Table. It comes to you through the Word of God which is preached and proclaimed; through the absolution spoken in the forgiveness of your sins.

You who were in darkness have been brought into the light by Christ lifted up on the cross: everyone who believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life. Amen.