Have you ever found yourself having a conversation with someone and it seems like the two of you are speaking two different languages? You say one thing, but they think you mean something else. This can lead to all sorts of problems in communication and understanding one another. This may be because you are coming from two different world views. It is the same thing in Spiritual matters and Biblical interpretation. When arguing with a Biblicist or an Atheist there are some things that they will never understand, because there are some things that can only be understood by the power of Holy Spirit revealing it by faith in conjunction with God’s Word.
In our Gospel lesson for today, Nicodemus had a problem understanding what Jesus was talking about when Jesus said, “You must be born again if you want to enter into the kingdom of heaven.” When Nicodemus responded to Jesus, you wonder, did Nicodemus really think that Jesus was saying that a person must truly enter and exit from a women’s womb a second time? Probably not! Nicodemus was one of the highest and most esteemed leaders in all of Jerusalem. This guy was a Pharisee; a group of men whom we know made a life out of keeping—”perfectly”—all 613 rabbinic laws of Torah in addition to the 10 commandments. Not only that, but Nicodemus was an elite member of the Sanhedrin; a group of seventy of the brightest and best within the Jewish system of church and government. On top of that, he was the scribe within this group of 70 very wise men; a position that marked him as master interpreter and scholar of Scripture. In this way, it must be understood that he fully knew what the Scriptures had said about God’s Messiah. He also was well aware of the preaching, teaching, and baptizing of John the Baptist as well as the other miraculous signs that Jesus already had performed in His ministry. Nicodemus was trying to put it all together. However, Jesus didn’t seem to fit what these men had in mind regarding God’s Messiah and Israel’s savior. So what was the problem? The different world view as to salvation. On the one side, the idea that salvation can be earned by pious attempts at fulfilling the works of the Law, or on the other hand: salvation by God’s grace through faith for those who repent knowing that they have fallen short of the Law’s demands.
Recall, Nicodemus was of a group that firmly believed that they were already on the “strait and narrow” in regards to earning salvation. This was a group that was convinced that their bloodline going back to Abraham, coupled with their perfectly keeping of all 613 laws the way they did, was a guarantee to salvation and glory. However, what was John the Baptist’s message? What was Jesus’ message? “Repent and be baptized, for the kingdom of Heaven draws near!” Repentance and baptism; that is, you can’t fulfill the Law. To be saved one must admit that they are a sinner, then confessing one’s sins to God and trusting in the fact that God says He is washing away all sinful filth in the waters of baptism, is what is needed for one to see and recognize the Kingdom of God.
This was a real problem for a man whose whole world view was based on the belief of salvation through genealogy and saving oneself by the keeping of the law. Repentance was not in their vocabulary. Sadly, this continues to be our problem well into the 21st century.
Repentance, baptism, and trusting in the gifts and promises given in baptism are what it means to be truly “born again” by water and the Spirit. This repentance and belief cannot be begun from ourselves because of our sin and our sinful natural pride and desire to do our own thing. Therefore, a person must be “born again”. This being born again must come from above and by God’s power opening our hearts and minds by His Word, water and spirit. You see, the Greek word for “again” (anōthen) also means “from above.” We see this word when we’re told that the temple curtain was torn at the moment of Jesus’ death, torn from top to bottom, from anōthen to bottom. Same exact word that’s used here to speak of birth by water and Spirit. It must come from God.
What Jesus is saying to Nicodemus is that unless you are born from above, you will not see or recognize the reign and rule of God. Jesus is telling him that as smart and respected and revered as he is among his fellow man, he doesn’t get the things of God because he hasn’t been borne from above. His world view must be changed by the Power of the Holy Spirit through water and the Word. True wisdom does not come from man, but from God. That is why Nicodemus didn’t understand the idea of being born from above by Water and the Sprit, he had not yet repented and surrendered all hope of works righteousness. Jesus uses this opportunity to explain the hope that one doesn’t have to rely on themselves; God is the one who gives birth to His people by means of water and the Holy Spirit, by means of Holy Baptism.
It seems pretty clear, Baptism is a gift of God, but many people today often take Baptism and turn it into something that we do to show God how much we’re ready and committed to being a Christian. Have you ever heard someone say that they decided to be conceived and born by their particular parents so they could prove to those nice folks that they were ready and committed to being their child? Of course not! You can’t choose your parents. You can’t choose the state, country, or even a particular time in history in which you will be born.
This is the exact same reality with God and the new birth He gives us from above in our baptisms. Notice: God is the acting agent here. He is the one giving birth to us. He is the one bringing us into His kingdom through the means He has set aside for this spiritual birth; namely, the water and His Spirit working through His Word of promise in Baptism. He is the one who uses the simple means of water and His Word to communicate to us His salvation set forth in Jesus Christ. It is here where our old self is put to death and we are recreated by being baptized into Christ’s death and raised with Him in His resurrection. This is the power of the Holy Spirit that He descends from Heaven and creates the gift of saving faith in the person being baptized by His Word and promise, turning hearts and minds of stubborn ignorance to hearts of repentant faith, no matter how old or young they may be.
Baptism communicates and speaks the cross of Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God, for He was the only one who could keep the law perfectly for an ignorant and dying creation. Why did He do it? “For God so loved the world that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him will not perish. Believers will not perish eternally because Jesus could earn salvation through His own suffering and death paying the price for sin. All so that by His Spirit you might be born again from above, so that we, by faith, are able to understand the love of God, so that we can recognize when we have failed and come and confess our sins and receive absolution and forgiveness and be born from above again and our baptismal grace renewed in Christ. Yes, you were and are a sinner, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Justified and made heirs of eternal life by faith, not by works.
Though in our flesh we only recognize selfishness, laws, threats, war, and terror, the Lord speaks to us another language in Jesus Christ. He changes our “world view” and speaks His vocabulary of love, peace, and hope, of your rebirth from above by His power and strength, by pointing you to that cross of Christ, in the hearing of God’s Word, in the gathering together of His people to receive His gifts. Here through the very presence of Jesus Christ, He speaks comfort and forgiveness to our bodies and minds. In the feast of simple bread and wine, we have the reality of Christ’s body and blood given into death, shed for our sin, but raised from the dead victorious for our salvation. In this miracle we are given a foretaste of the victory feast that is yet to come and is already taking place.
Many times we, like Abraham must walk by faith and not by sight. Know that by His Holy Spirit working through His Word, His Water, His Church, He shall bring us to that land and inheritance which Christ has earned for us.
This is also why we observe the Lenten season. We take this special time to be built up by God. To become immersed in the language of repentance, baptism, and the cross of Jesus Christ. So that we do not lose heart, so that we are so steeped in His language, we can recognize the lies of the devil, the world, and our own flesh, and not be separated from God by them
By virtue of your baptism, and being brought to the cross you are constantly being made and remade in His image by His Spirit. Though you may live through sorrows, trials, and triumphs in this life, you have been born from above by the Holy Spirit and are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ. Today He speaks to you that victory by the forgiveness of your sins, by His grace through faith. Believe and be comforted and filled with His joy as His child. And on the last day, Jesus Christ shall descend a last time. Then all believers shall be raised and born again from above in all understanding, forever to live with Him in God’s Land of promise, in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas