Sermon 02/17/08 (John 3:1-17)

“Reborn, in One Way or Another”
John 3:1-17
Rev. Désirée H. Gold
St. Mark’s United Church of Christ, Baltimore, MD
Sunday, 17 February, 2008
Second Sunday in Lent
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 Whenever I read this passage, the “John 3:16” verse jumps right out at me: “For God so loved the world, that God gave his only Son...” This verse doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the passage, and as soon as I hear “For God so loved the world” I forget about all the troubles of Nicodemus and focus on this “warm, fuzzy” grand verse of Christianity.

We have probably all heard this verse over and over, “For God so loved the world that God gave his only begotten Son...” Yet it is typically taught out of context. We rarely read the preceding verses. We choose, understandably, to focus on this verse, because the verses that come before it are confusing, and the proclamation of God’s love seems, and is, so important. I was tempted to ignore the rest of the passage too. But, I decided against it, and chose to search for the Gospel in the first verses about Nicodemus.

I remember studying this passage in my Greek class in seminary. My classmates and I talked at length about this idea of being reborn, and Nicodemus’ confusion with it.

Nicodemus here seems to be a bit dull. Jesus tells him that “no one can see the realm of God without being born from above” and Nicodemus just doesn’t get it. “Huh?” he asks. “How can somebody be born after they have already grown old? You can’t exactly stick the baby back inside the mother’s womb. It just doesn’t work that way. Besides, adults are a little big to be trying to get back in the womb!”

Poor Nicodemus. He just doesn’t get it! And Jesus rattles him for it too. “You’re a teacher of Israel, a rabbi, and you don’t understand these things?! What’s wrong with you?!” Jesus seems to be asking. “How could you not understand?!”

Now, like John 3:16, these verses too have been taken out of context by religious people throughout the years. Some have grasped onto John 3:5: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” They have used this verse as a wall around the Gospel, to proclaim “who’s in” and “who’s out” of heaven, who will “be saved” when the end times come and who will not. The verse has also been used as a wall around the baptized and unbaptized: “Only those who have been baptized by water and Spirit, who have been baptized in the manner we claim is right will enter the kingdom of God.” Still others have latched onto the idea of being reborn. This passage has been used by those who believe that Christians must become “born again” in order to really be Christian.

The trouble is that the translation of the Bible that I usually use, the New Revised Standard, uses the phrase “born from above,” instead of “born again,” so we do not hear the emphasis on rebirth that other churches may hear when they use the more traditional translation, “born again.” Having studied the Greek, I believe the translation, “born from above,” is more accurate, but it doesn’t give us the full punch that people using other translations may hear.

Some use the “born again” phrase as another gate to the gospel. If you’re not born again, you’re not a REAL Christian. Others may consider themselves “reborn into faith” if they simply joined the church as an older adult.

In her book _Traveling Mercies_, author Anne Lamott struggles with this issue. Lamott grew up in a nonreligious household -- her parents thought religion was superstition, and as a young adult, Lamott herself became an avowed atheist. Years later, as Lamott was struggling with her own alcoholism and drug addictions, she continued to shun the church. Eventually, however, when she hit rock bottom, she called a local pastor and begged for help. Thus began her slow entry into the church. Lamott was baptized as a Presbyterian in her mid-thirties and became active in the life of the church and as a Christian.

Some time after joining the church, Lamott encountered a man who asked her if she was “born again,” and Lamott didn’t really know what to say. Sure, in a sense she had been born again. She had found new life with the support of the church, and she was now recovering from her addictions and finding peace. But she was not really accustomed to using the phrase “born again” to describe herself. It’s not a phrase common in her Presbyterian church, even though the phrase may actually describe her own experience.1

So, what does it mean to be born again?! I have to admit that I cringe when I hear people use this phrase. I immediately think of ultra-conservative churches that say anyone who does not believe in the same manner they do is going to hell. When I hear the phrase “born again Christian,” I think of “those people over there who are not at all like the United Church of Christ and who think we are all heathens.” When I hear the phrase “born again” I often think of it in a negative sense. And yet, here Jesus is telling Nicodemus that no one can enter the kingdom of God without being “born from above,” or “born again.” Nicodemus struggles to understand what this might mean, how it is possible to be born once one has exited the mother’s womb and grown old already. Yet Jesus insists that in order to enter the kingdom of God, it is essential to be “born of water and Spirit.”
Okay, so maybe being “born again” is not such a bad thing, or at least maybe we should not scoff at the idea so quickly. I don’t mean being “born again” in the manner that some evangelical churches mean it, as a gate to holiness. But perhaps it is important to consider the idea of rebirth, renewal in the Holy Spirit. Without Spirit, we become a bunch of dead Christians, not worth much.

Nicodemus doesn’t seem to get it. He looks at Jesus and says, “Huh?!” I’m not sure my own response would be any more clever. So, where can we find some answers?! What does this rebirth mean?!

The renowned Biblical scholar Rudolf Bultmann suggests that “rebirth means -- and this is precisely the point made by Nicodemus’ misunderstanding -- something more than an improvement in [humankind]; it means that [humankind] receives a new origin, and this is manifestly something which [humankind] cannot give itself.”2 That is, a new life in Christ requires dependence on God. You’ve got to relinquish control over your own life. It is impossible for a human being to procure his or her own salvation -- God must do it!

When I read Bultmann’s explanation of the text, I felt like I had been hit between the eyes. I tend to be a control freak, I hate the idea of losing control or flying into chaos, so the idea of letting go of that control is both frightening and immensely liberating.

And now the connection between the bumbling Nicodemus who cannot understand rebirth, and the later verse in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that God gave his only Son...” becomes clear. God loves humankind so much that God compels us to let go, to allow ourselves to give up the tight control we hold over our own lives, to be reborn in the Spirit, that is to be renewed by our relinquishing of control!

Bultmann emphasizes the idea that we must give up our human origin and allow our origin to be of God. When we do this, we allow ourselves to draw closer to God, to be in relationship with God, to let go.

Herein lies the good news, the Gospel I was searching for in this first part of this scripture! Being “born again” is not a wall around the Gospel after all -- it is a welcoming with open arms, calling us into relationship with God! If we only allow God to be our comfort and our origin, if we only allow God to bathe us in God’s spirit, God will do it!

Now, I don’t believe that “letting go and letting God” will erase every trouble from our lives. We will still endure hardships, struggles, pain. I also do not believe that people who are not reborn will go to hell. But what I do grasp in these confusing words of Jesus is the idea that God will be with us if only we allow God to be, if only we allow ourselves to accept new birth into relationship with God, if only we stop trying to save ourselves and let God do it. God will be with us in relationship, God will comfort us, take control when we are trying too hard to avoid chaos. God will hold us close.

“For God so loved the world, that God gave God’s only Son” to be our salvation, because God knew we couldn’t do it ourselves. God so loved the world that God chose to enter into relationship with humankind, through the human person of Jesus, to walk beside us throughout life, if only we would open ourselves to rebirth.

Now let us pray.




1 Lamott, Anne, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith (New York: Anchor, 1999), p. 61.

2 Bultmann, Rudolph, The Gospel of John: A Commentary, trans. G.R. Beasley-Murray, R.W.N. Hoare, and J.K. Riches (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1971), p. 137.