2 Lent, Year A

“FIRST BORN/SECOND BORN” [1]
Genesis 12: 1 – 18; Psalm 33: 12 – 22; Romans 4: 1 – 17; John 3: 1 – 17
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, February 17th, 2008

“Have you been born anothen?”

Now I know, when you see (or hear) this word anothen, you’re probably wondering, “Father, are you speaking Greek to us?” And the answer would be, “Yes!”

So, let me ask you the question in English:

“Have you been born again”

-or- put another way:

“Have you been born from above?”

Actually, asking this question with the word “or” in it is a bit misleading….for, just as I would be entirely unable to answer the question “Would you like chocolate chips or salted Spanish peanuts on your hot fudge sundae?” (for I would have to answer, “Yes – I want them both! I want chocolate chips and salted Spanish peanuts.”), the question has to be asked this way:

“Have you been born again and from above?”

For this is what Jesus tells Nicodemus in today’s Gospel reading, from John, chapter three…..He says, “Amen, amen, I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he has been born again/from above.”

The Greek word anothen conveys both meanings…it is one of those words that is very difficult to translate….And, in fact, most translations favor one or the other meanings (born again –or- from above), offering the other meaning as a footnote….

But Jesus’ intent is very clear: in order to see the Kingdom of God, one must be born again and from above.[2] To underscore the message, Jesus repeats it again in verse seven, using the same word (anothen).

So, let’s unpack the implications of being “born again” and being “born from above”.

Born again: This meaning seems to convey a new beginning, something that we might have some control over, a process we take an active part in…that would be “born again”. For we can make a conscious decision to recognize God’s saving action in sending Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior…..Indeed, many Christians can identify a specific date and time, a specific place, and a specific set of circumstances, where they recognized this great mystery – God’s loving and saving us – as a reality in their own hearts. As a result of this recognition, they have come to believe that God did, indeed, love the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that those who believe might not perish, but have eternal life. (Can you see that I am paraphrasing Jesus’ words in the discourse that follows Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, in John 3: 16?)

Born from above: Being born “from above” implies something quite different….Note that Jesus takes care to make clear that God’s role in this new birth is “from above”. Look again at the text….We see that Jesus attempts to get Nicodemus out of his literal, what-I-can-see-is-what-I-believe approach to matters of faith, in responding to Nicodemus’ question, “Can a person enter their mother’s womb a second time and be born?”[3] He says, “Amen, amen, I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit.”[4] And, as if to underscore God’s role, Jesus continues, “Flesh can only give birth to flesh, it is spirit that gives birth to spirit….”[5]

Then, Jesus goes on to use an illustration that Nicodemus can understand: “The wind blows were it wills, you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born from the Spirit.” Jesus uses a word that, both in Hebrew and in Greek, carries another double meaning: the word ru’ach in Hebrew and pneuma in Greek mean both “wind” and “spirit”.

Jesus’ point is that the power of God is beyond human control and human understanding….the Spirit moves when and where it will. We can discern its power, though we cannot fully understand (on this side of heaven, that is) its workings, just like the wind.

Nicodemus’ what-I-can-see-is what-I-believe approach is nothing new to people everywhere…..This spiritual disease seems to have been rampant in first century Judaism…Notice time and again that the religious establishment of Jesus’ day tries to nail down the specifics of God’s will and God’s law. They apply the mystery of God’s will and power to concrete, everyday life and experience….What one does on the Sabbath, whom one eats with or associates with, all these are observable, controllable (by human beings) actions. These things are under our control.

But people in our own day do the same thing: religious fundamentalists boil the reality and the mystery of God down to literal convictions that are under human control. And it seems that they do so because such a reduced conception of the faith is within our finite minds’ ability to understand. On the other hand, many in today’s secular world cannot come to faith in God because they cannot test by observable means God’s working in the world and in people’s lives….their attitude seems to be, “If I can see it, test it, or manage it, I will believe.” Indeed (as one of my seminary professors wisely said), we are all “children of the Enlightenment”, that 17th and 18th century movement that maintained that human intelligence and reason could master any subject it tackled. We want to be able to scientifically test and measure all realities. Without such concrete proof, we cannot believe.

That’s where Nicodemus was.

But the mysterious workings of God can be observed, if only indirectly….Like the wind, we can see the power of the Spirit to create new life, a rebirth.

We have only to look at Nicodemus to see some proof of that, I believe….Nicodemus makes two more appearance in John’s Gospel account: In John 7:50, he defends Jesus before the ruling authorities, saying, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” And later on, in John 19:39, we see Nicodemus coming with Joseph of Arimathea to anoint Jesus’ body for burial. Though John does not specifically say so, apparently Nicodemus might well have come to faith in Christ, for he takes this bold step of anointing Jesus after His death. In both mentions, John reminds us of Nicodemus’ visit to Jesus that we read today in chapter three.

Nicodemus’ faith journey does not have a definitive beginning….John does not record any “moment of decision” for Nicodemus. Nor does it have any definitive ending….We do not know if Nicodemus came with Joseph of Arimathea to anoint the dead Christ out of sympathy, out of a desire to “right a wrong”, or out of faith and devotion. We can safely say this, I think: Nicodemus’ action in defending Jesus before the ruling council, and his anointing Jesus were both courageous acts that put him in a distinctly lonely and perilous position. He seemed willing to take both risks. Perhaps he acted out of faith.

So, in conclusion, what can we make of this business of being born again/from above? I think we can safely conclude the following:

Born again: John’s recording of Jesus’ words, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, one cannot see the Kingdom of God”, is about as close as we ever come in John’s Gospel account to a description of the Sacrament of Baptism.[6] And yet, Holy Baptism is a rite that initiates us into the Kingdom of God. It is an action that we human beings can control, for we can decide to undergo baptism (or make the decision to have our children baptized).

In addition, much has been made in our times of the need to be “born again”. Often, such stress on being “born again” is accompanied by the need for a definite, conscious decision to accept Christ as “our personal Savior”. Why this emphasis? I think, in part, it is attributable to the Authorized Version (also known as the King James Version), and its translation of the word anothen, for it chooses the word “again”. The Authorized Version was in widespread use for so long that this part of the meaning of anothen became the focus of the rebirthing process into the life of faith.

Those who can point to a specific time, place, date and circumstance are those who are “second born”, or “born again” (a term one of my theology professors in seminary used.)[7]

Born from above: If we are honest about it, we have to admit that God’s workings are often mysterious and beyond our comprehension….we surely can’t understand His movements entirely. Like the wind, God’s power comes and goes without our understanding.

But, we can understand God’s power….God’s power to save. We see it in the miraculous turnarounds that mark people’s lives: people who seemed hardened in their attitudes and behaviors make a complete about-face, and new life begins. That would be just one example of God’s power.

Like Nicodemus, the evidence for a coming-to-faith may be hard to see in such persons, difficult to calculate, and impossible to pin-point with any specific beginning time/place/date. Such persons seem to be like Nicodemus, whose faith journey remains a bit of a mystery. These persons might be called “first born” Christians.[8] Often, they are people who have been raised in a Christian home, and who have never known a time when they didn’t believe. Or, they may be persons whose faith has reached that definitive conviction that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world (which is the goal of all of our believing – “first born” or “second born”) by a gradual process, perhaps even a life-long process.

But the other aspect of being born “from above” is this: John’s account makes it clear that Jesus Christ is the one who makes the power available to us. Read with me verses 13 and 14, “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus descended from heaven, sent by the Father, to bring salvation to us.

John’s entire Gospel account points to this reality. So does the New Testament….For Jesus Christ descended from heaven to bring the power of God to redeem us and to offer us a rebirth.

The central conviction of the Christian faith may be summarized best in the very familiar words of John 3: 16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Have you been “born again” and “from above”? That is the question Jesus asks each of us.

AMEN.


[1] For the overall concept of this sermon, I am indebted to the commentator Gail R. O’Day’s reflections on John chapter three as they are found in the New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IX (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995).
[2] Verse three
[3] Verse four
[4] Verse five
[5] Verse six
[6] John is similarly circumspect in describing the other “dominical” (that is, ordained by the Lord) Sacrament, Holy Eucharist, in 6: 45 – 59.
[7] The Rev. Dr. Walter Eversley
[8] Again, Dr. Eversley’s term