John 3:1-8 "Born Again"

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”  Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.   That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’   The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

 Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council.  He was interested in who Jesus was and what He was teaching -not just because leaders need to know what is going on, but also in a personal way.   He had heard Jesus teach with authority.  He had seen Jesus heal people and do miracles.  He had concluded that God is with Jesus and that Jesus is good.  He liked Jesus, but he had questions.  Is Jesus actually the Messiah? What, exactly, is the Kingdom that Jesus is always referring to, and when, exactly will it be established?  Is there a place in this Kingdom for an old man like Nicodemus, or will the new Kingdom be all about the young people like the disciples that followed Jesus around?  Nicodemus had questions.  Some of them were sensitive questions.  And some of his questions begged other questions.  When you are a member of the ruling council, how do you ask these questions of a potential revolutionary without actually provoking a revolution?  How do you get the right information and still keep the respect of your fellow members of the council?


So, Nicodemus came by night.  He needed answers, but he was not yet ready to be seen in public with Jesus.  He came under the cloak of darkness and began, he assumed, politely.  He acknowledged that Jesus had a certain kind of authority, charisma and power that could only be from God.  He wanted to hear what Jesus had to say, but he was not expecting Jesus to look so deeply into his heart and answer the questions that were burning but had not been asked -or maybe even to answer the questions that he did not even know to ask.  Jesus cut through the niceties and clutter and political correctness and answered the most important question.  "Nicodemus, unless you are born again -unless you have an awakening that is so profound that it can only be explained as being born all over again, new life, a whole new beginning -you not only will never enter the Kingdom, but you cannot even see the Kingdom.  You need a profound and thorough transformation."

 What Jesus said to Nicodemus is fundamental to Christian faith.  This is where, in fact, we get the term "born again."  This is a key passage because what Jesus told Nicodemus is true for all of us.  We get so caught up in the thinking and the policies and the structures and the politics of this world that we cannot even see His Kingdom, let alone enter it.  Even among those of us to claim the name of Jesus and call ourselves Christians, actual Kingdom thinking is rare.  We need a transformation.  We need an awakening that is so profound that it can only be described as a rebirth -a new beginning.   
  
This awakening is not something that will ever happen in the natural.  It will not come through political structures and human laws.  It will not happen as a product of culture -even church culture.  This radical transformation will happen only as we realize that we were created for something bigger -something better -something supernatural.  We must put our faith in Jesus and allow Him to answer the questions of our hearts -even the questions we didn't know to ask.  We must put aside the natural and allow ourselves to be reborn in the Spirit.  There is a sense in which walking in Spirit is walking in the Kingdom, and walking in the Kingdom is a conscious choice to put aside the flesh (the natural) in favor of the divine (the supernatural).  This is an essential gift of grace from Jesus to us.  It is called being born again.  We need to be born again.