Sermon for Trinity Sunday, May 31st, 2015
Text: John 3:1-18 The Message (MSG)
Born from Above
3 1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”
3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”
5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?”
10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?
13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
I blame King James!
He’s the one who authorized the translation of the Bible that bears his name – and in the King James Version of the Bible, John Chapter 3 verse 3 states: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And good, Christian, God-fearing people like you and me have been dogged by the whole “born again thing” ever since!
Has this ever happened to you – you’re walking down the street, or sitting in a restaurant, or at the bus stop, or the airport (that used to happen a lot, remember those days?), and someone sidles up to you and begins making small talk. You go along with it, at first, chatting amiably, and then … drumroll here … they get this deadly serious look in their eyes and they lower their voice and ask you in a deadly serious tone, “Friend” – suddenly you’re now friends – “Have you been born again?”
This happened to me back in college, when my roommate and I were visited by members of a campus Christian group. We listened politely, but it quickly become clear that they were not at all interested in the fact that both of us were already members of churches. That didn’t fit their agenda. We didn’t give them the answer they wanted when they asked us “Have you been born again?” Eventually, they left us alone and went on to find others to save.
Well, when asked that question, many of us in the “mainline” Protestant denominations like the UCC react like we’ve swallowed a chicken bone! We cough and clear our throats and stutter a bit before we ask in a small voice, “Um, could you explain what you mean, please?” while we look for the nearest exit.
The attitude of these folks is that you can’t possibly be a Christian unless you have a born again moment, an instantaneous, highly emotional, “Come-to-Jesus” experience where the skies open and the beams of sunlight shine down and the angels sing and the cherubim and seraphim land on your shoulders as you fall on your knees and say “YES!” to Jesus (you get bonus points if you say that in a language you never actually learned in school). In other words, you’ve made it, you’re in the club if you have that kind and only that kind of an experience, which – surprise, surprise! – almost always is exactly like theirs!
When I hear people tell me they’ve been born again, I find myself waiting for the “and” … “I’ve been born again and I’m going to go to Africa and do mission work.” “I’ve been born again, and I have decided to volunteer at a soup kitchen three days a week.” “I have been born again and I have applied to seminary.” But I never do. There never is an “and.” It’s like filling your car with premium high-octane fuel, and then just sitting in neutral at the curb with the engine running. This is not helpful. Worse, it’s counter-productive, even downright divisive. Instead of telling you in glowing terms about the boundless joy that is theirs since Jesus found and redeemed them, and inviting you to share with them in that awesome and indescribable grace, they wind up telling you how great they are because they found Jesus – it’s not “Jesus found me; He is great,” but “I found Jesus; I am great.” They turn the Gospel message completely on its head. Jesus becomes nothing more than their cosmic “get out of jail free” card, which they can figuratively wave in your face. Having such an experience is for them the end of the journey, not its start.
It’s no wonder so many people who see or hear this kind of “Christianity” get totally turned off by the mere mention of the word! They say, “Well, if that’s what it’s all about, count me out!”
Now, it’s not my intention here to point fingers; there are millions of people out there who have had “born again” experiences and have become shining examples of what it means to lead a full life in Christ. My point is that this is just one way to be followers, not the only way and not even the best way. Although these experiences make for great drama, they’re not the norm; there are more people in the church who have not had such experiences than those who have.
So, what does it mean, this phrase “born again”?
Luckily for us, it doesn’t really matter, because Jesus never used that particular phrase in the first place! This is why I “blame” King James – or, more specifically, those who translated the Bible for him. They got it wrong! And not just wrong, but profoundly and utterly wrong. And we have been paying the price for that for the last 404 years (the King James Version of the Bible was published in 1611).
Yes, you heard that right: Jesus does not care if you’re “born again.” He never expected anybody to be “born again.”
In point of fact, at the moment we were baptized, we were born again! So for us, really, all the hoopla and hysteria aside, it’s already happened for us!
But here’s what Jesus does expect: That we be “born from above.”
But isn’t that the same thing?
NO!
You see, it’s entirely possible to be “born again” (whatever that really means) and still not “get it.” Eventually, the euphoria wears off – it’s like the sugar rush from eating a bag of Snickers bars – you can eat as many of them as you want, but sooner or later, you’re going to need some real food. The rush of the “born again” moment gives way to the crash of reality. You still have to deal with the daily grind of life just as before. The transformation Jesus talks about is not a steady diet of Snickers bars or a one-off moment of excitement, but rather the steady growth in grace and wisdom over time, often a lifetime.
Nicodemus comes to visit Jesus in the dark of night because he’s not sure about what he’s seen and heard about this rabbi, and he wants to get it directly from the horse’s mouth – but he can’t be seen doing so because of his position.
John uses Nicodemus here as a kind of symbol for all those who might be on the edge of what one preacher has called “the Jesus event,” people who are not quite in, but also not quite out, like people standing on the edge of the circle of light created by a campfire. They feel the warmth on their faces, they are glad for the light, and they’d love to get closer, but they don’t want to get burned; and they can’t quite bring themselves to go back into the cold and dark, either.
Today, too, there are many people who are members of churches all over the world, who attend regularly, serve on committees, who are intrigued by this Jesus, even attracted to him – but somehow, they can never quite “go the distance” and make that all-important inner commitment.
Every one of us knows the occasional nagging sense of uncertainty. We wonder whether what we’re doing is right, whether we’re headed in the right direction. We wonder if what’s in our heart is true and pure. We wonder what’s in store for us, for our children and grandchildren. Like Nicodemus, who despite an entire lifetime of devotion to his God comes to Jesus to check him out, we, too, find ourselves searching.
But Jesus knows our hearts. He is always there, waiting and inviting, holding out his hand. He tells us, “Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
Jesus tells us that there’s no standing around where the Kingdom of God is concerned – we aren’t meant to just be observers. Being “born from above,” then, means, first, that we have to reach out and accept God’s gift of new life. That’s what he means when he says, “You must be born of water and the spirit.” The water of baptism must be combined openness to the Holy Spirit. It is also a choice we make. And then we can begin to see God’s Kingdom unfolding before us.
The second thing Jesus tells us about being born from above is that we need to participate in the life of the church. Once we accept that gift, we have to do something with it. It’s not just something that happens, like some sort of spontaneous combustion. The church is the Body of Christ, after all. It is the community where each of us finds a place and plays a part. And so part of being born from above is seen in action as well as prayer.
Being “born from above” is more than a feeling, it’s a lifestyle. It’s a completely new and different way of looking at the world – not that we don’t still have to live in and interact with that world, but our eyes are set not on the distant worldly horizon, but on the infinity of God’s eternal Kingdom.
And that empowers us to be bold and strong and courageous!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.