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February 28, l999 "Born Again" is one of the most popular phrases of current Christianity: As in "Are you a ‘Born Again’ Christian?" There are some odd, even ironic, aspects about the current and confident bandying about of the "born again" phrase. ….one irony is that the talk about "born again" occurs in a context shrouded in mystery which defies the very certainty that pushes the "born again" view; ….And also it’s odd that most people who use this phrase believe it comes from the lips of Jesus when in John 3:l5 we see that Nicodemus invented the term. And a further irony Nicodemus used the phrase to obscure and parry what Jesus was really saying to him. The use of an off putting, frankly scandalous image of a grown adult being rebirthed down his mother’s uterus bought time for Nicodemus! The phrase occurs in a denial of Jesus rather than an affirmation of him. This conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus is reported only in John’s Gospel and the use of the spiritual notion of "born again" is exclusively a Johannine preoccupation, appearing again only in the two little letters attributed to John. Although in First Peter there is a reference to being born again through the Word of God. The basic idea underneath the phrase "born again" - if by it we mean a dramatic event, a radical turnabout alike to a regeneration of life - is scriptural. Quite a few persons came to understand who Jesus and commit to him because of a dramatic event, usually a healing by Jesus. Jesus gave us the classical prototype of someone who is vulnerable to a dramatic turnabout in his Prodigal Son. Anyone who wakes up one morning broke and in a pigsty is a good candidate to be "born again." Paul’s radical conversion experience is probably the most dramatic example of a "Wow" encounter with Christ. It was a vision and Paul, of course, did not refer to it as a "born again" experience because it would be years before John invented that phrase. But something dramatic like Paul’s conversion is more the exception than the rule among those who eventually came under the Lordship of Jesus. The original twelve disciples are more representative. While they were quickly drawn to Jesus, there is no report that it was through a dramatic "born again" experience. They spent three years getting better acquainted with the man and his teachings and even after all that they were confused about him. Their spiritual closure upon Jesus had to await the Resurrection. The Church has always taught that the Holy Spirit more often uses a gradual and evolutionary way to change us than a dramatic turnabout. And the Church has always held that regeneration begins in our baptism; baptism is our conversion even though we are often unaware of that congruence. Persons, like Saul of Tarsus, who can claim a dramatic encounter with God, or Christ, or the Holy Spirit, are welcomed witnesses in the Church. But they are the exception and their dramatic experience does not impose upon rank-and-file Christians the imperative to record in their spiritual curriculum vitae the very moment when the breadth of God blew upon their soul.
With this background, let us turn to the main issue: What did Jesus mean when he told Nicodemus, and by extension everyone ever after, that we must be - not "born again" - but "born from above"? The text is not self-evidently clear about what Jesus meant about being born from above. This is, after all, a Jesus who speaks across the shadowy landscape of the theology of the Fourth Gospel. That Gospel is one of strong contrasts: John’s thinking conjurs up Light conflicting with Darkness, flesh struggles with spirit, earthly things bump into heavenly things. This is an enigmatic landscape within which we strive to discern what Jesus was talking about. And Jesus himself employs symbols as signs of what being born from above might mean. And symbols are seldom given only to a singular meaning. Jesus says that the Son of Man (a phrase in itself which is unclear) must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. What was he signalling us? That Jesus is a snake! Probably not though we learned in Dr. Andress talk about mummies that the Pharoahs drew pictures of snakes upon the walls of their tombs because snakes signed to them eternity and divinity. More likely, Jesus was either referring to his coming crucifixion when he would be physically lifted up; and/or his Resurrection with another kind of being lifted up; or he was signalling a prophecy that his followers, the Church, must lift him up to the world. You note this Lent we are doing that with our Christ mask on a pole. Jesus uses two other symbols which are, like the snake, potent but also ambiguous in their meaning: Water and Wind. THE WIND BLOWS WHERE IT CHOOSES, AND YOU HEAR THE SOUND OF IT, BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE IT COMES FROM OR WHERE IT GOES. SO IT IS WITH EVERYONE WHO IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT. Part of the meaning is clear: just as we humans cannot make the natural wind blow according to our wishes…We do not make the clouds move or the horizon billow like ocean waves. With the rest of creation we submit to the wind and its caprice…So, too, we cannot command the Holy Spirit to our will or needs. But the Wind is not always a good metaphor nor reality. The wind is capricious and it is often violent and destructive. Elsewhere in the bible the Wind has the role of spreading seeds of discontent and evil. Yes, the wind can be a gentle breeze; and a blessing to fevered brows; but the Wind can also wreck havoc with us. Likewise, Water, as a symbol, is with mixed blessing. Water is refreshing, cleansing, essential for life; but water can also serve as the quickest conveyor of communicable disease and too much water as in a flood or hurricane is not a good sign to convey God’s loving grace. As water and wind are Jesus’ metaphors for God moving into our lives, who is to say whether this chance encounter, or that tumorous growth, this melody which stirs us, or that agonizing personal defeat, that sermon which excites us or turns us off, are merely the winds of chance that blow through everyone’s life, or the "signs" of the Spirit who caresses us like a mother or a lover? What language shall we borrow to narrate our lives? For some it will be the language of spiritual certainty knowing that at a specific time, place and event God acted to turn them around. Others will tell their spiritual story by evoking mystery. Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus preserves a space for mystery: It is a conversation which allows choice and varying human response. I hear Jesus saying that whatever happens to Nicodemus …and don’t we wish we knew his full spiritual biography…we know only that later in John’s story Nicodemus defends Jesus in argument with other rabbis and at the end he assists Joseph of Arimathea with the details of the burial. But did the Wind of God ever rebirth him from above? Whatever was to happen to old Nicodemus, Jesus, I believe, is saying experience it gratefully as a wind of encouragement on a warm Judean night. Just as an invisible breeze something parts our hair and kisses our face, the Spirit stirs in us before we have words to name the stirring. Being born from above points our expectation to God for he is the "above’ in Jesus’ reference; God is not a geographic "above"; the "above" is another sign pointing us to the Divine. Being "born from above" means we are to reflect God in ourselves. Believing in God, we are to incline ourselves inwardly to want more of God’s Spirit in our lives. So let me suggest four prudent and caring steps we can take, starting today and through Lent, to incline ourselves to wait upon God so that His Spirit will touch us and we shall bring the "above" into our "within". First, let us turn away from occasions and relationships which cannot be from God. We have seen that both water and wind are ambiguous signs of Grace. So let us water which is clean, clear, running and avoid contaminated, tainted, and dirty water. So with wind, spiritual prudence suggests we enjoy every caressing breeze but stay clear of spiritual tornadoes. We have enough knowledge and wisdom to avoid what is clearly evil. If we are in bondage to destructive habits, we very much need a re-birthing from above. And the very asking of God to intervene to turn us around can be the threshold across which the Spirit will come from above to turn us about. Second, let us pay more attention to the people around us. Internet usage world-wide is up; but face to face time is dropping. Part of the sociology of growing Internet usage is that more people are staying with their computers and thus they are reducing their real contacts with people. Only humans can reflect God and build up the family of God. Computers can assist us with our work, and shopping, and pleasure and hobbies, but they do not reflect the divine. We could be in the dilemma of a "Peanuts" cartoon with our emerging sociology: "I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand." We can’t reflect God from above unless we are able to look other persons in the eyes and show them we know them, like them, connect with them, and love them. The church has a new opportunity to bring people together to look one another in the eye. The anonymous church can’t do that; the community church can. Last Tuesday night we had a charming and informative lecture in the Executive Club but the catalyst for our nice supper fellowship was probably as much the desire to interact with other humans as to get acquainted with the academic top of mummies. The Church is here to give people the chance to look people in the eye and tell them we like them, and we love them in Christ. Third, Let us pay more attention to the love within us that comes from God. As love comes from God, a powerful way to encourage the reflection of God within us is to nourish that natural love which God has made part of our very being and to encourage it to flame into a love of God. Being here in worship is a good start on nurturing divine love within us. Putting ourselves in a challenging study or service context is another. Just about the nicest thing any Christian can do for himself is to take a course like our DISCIPLE program, or get with an ALPHA course, or get in our great Executive Club Seminar. Because these are nurturing and self-caring experiences which quicken the God from above into the God with us. Four, pay more attention to God’s leading. God’s Spirit blows where it will, but that does not mean we should be inattentive and indifferent about seeking God’s Spirit.. Listen for God to speak to you - through your heart, through another person, through scripture, through worship, through a life experience. Be open to the stirring within you. Notice the breezes of the Spirit whispering in your ear. Seek the presence of the living God. Remember your baptism. If not baptized, prepare for baptism. Be a regular at the Lord’s Table. Look for the heavenly right in the midst of the earthy. And accept gratefully the biggest contrast of all: Jesus and the Gospel writer John tell us that God is God and we are not. That is reason to rejoice, to trust, and to hope. Be grateful that God is God and He seeks to move through your lives, sometimes like a gentle breeze, sometimes like a dramatic wind..
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The Rev. Gene R.Preston14th Floor, Blk 36, Lower Baguio Villa Tel : 25516161 Fax: 25512114E-mail : gpreston@netvigator.com |
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