Friday 23 May 2008

Background

Several times in John's Gospel we are confronted with the factof change, and the need for us to respond to it. Here Jesus isvisited by an apparently unlikely sympathizer, Nicodemus, aPharisee. (There is a school of thought that Jesus himself may havebeen closer to the Pharisees than we sometimes suppose.)

Nicodemus' initial approach is to make a simple statement, possiblyas a prelude to a question. But Jesus doesn't give him the chance.Instead Jesus says something truly astonishing. "No one can see thekingdom of God without being born from above" (verse 3). In somemodern translations the phrase "from above" is rendered "again",but "from above" captures much better the radically different viewof things that Jesus is introducing into the conversation.Nicodemus latches onto the word "born" and goes off on a diversionabout human physical birth. Jesus, however, won't let go of thiscentral idea, of being "born from above". Physical human birthimplants within us life of one kind, but if we are to be ready forthe life of God's kingdom we have to learn to make a completelyfresh start, which the phrase "born again" or "born from above"highlights for us.

Verse 5 summarises the argument. To see the kingdom of God requiresbirth both of water (ie physical human birth) and of theSpirit.

Clearly the word 'kingdom' is not intended to bring to our mindsthe idea of border-crossings, passports, visas and so on. TheChristian community is called upon to see the Spirit at work (andthis is what the phrase 'kingdom of God' means) outside the Churchas well as inside it. Jesus' point in his conversation withNicodemus is that the kingdom of God will remain invisible to usunless we have received God as Holy Spirit, and have been taught bythe Spirit.

To Ponder

What are the things that mean a lot to us?Perhaps it's our paid employment, or our role in the Church or ourrole in the family that matters to us so much so that it would be areal bereavement to lose them. Jesus challenged Nicodemus to let goof those identities in order to find himself. Are we ready for thatdiscovery?

Think about those two ways of expressing whatJesus thought: born again and born from above. Play with theseideas. What do they say to you?

Nicodemus came to Jesus, under cover of darkness,to ask a question. What would your question be?