Saturday, 3/25Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is
born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” 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.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? In 1970 my dad moved our family to Pasadena, California where he was set to attend Fuller Seminary. These were golden days of optimistic newness as we were subsumed into the loving embrace of evangelical Christian community. At the time the Jesus movement was exploding in popularity in Southern California. Christianity had gone mainstream: Godspell was on Broadway, Put Your Hand In The Hand was on the radio and Ichythus (fish) stickers began showing up on cars. Most significantly people were having dramatic conversion experiences... experiences so powerful they could only be described in Biblical terms. People were being “Born Again.” All of a sudden evangelicals had their bumpersticker. All good movements need their slogans and “Born Again” will go down in history as one of the most powerful cultural identifiers of its time. What began as an innocent declaration of baptism, of choosing to follow Jesus, has since become loaded down with baggage. Recently a friend told me about her sister-in-law's family as if describing Limburger cheese. “They're Born Agains,” she said with a crinkled nose. “Can you imagine?” For my friend the concept was the height of uncouthness. I had no idea if she knew what the phrase actually meant, or where it came from, but it was clear from her tone that her sister-in-law's version of being “Born Again” was nothing she would ever want for herself. A shame, really since the concept: being born from above, born of the spirit, is exactly the kind of transformation that allows one to see past all of the bumperstickers, self-identifiers and bad-taste red flags and straight into the Kingdom of God. Writing this I cannot help but think of our recent election. We are a divided people right now and in need of transformation... in need of water and spirit. Why do you think Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to Jesus in the night? This is radical stuff, this being born from above, and as much as we'd like to turn our noses up at all the ways our various beliefs and sensibilities have been wounded of late, that will only make things worse. Help for us now, as then, can only come from above. - Becky Ford Today's |