Born Again

Born Again

One of the most annoying questions I got asked as a catholic by those one-on-one evangelists at shopping malls or parks was, “Brother, are you born again?”. Instead of going on a lengthy debate, my answer would often be, ‘yes, I am born again’ but not knowing what it would really take to be born again. I also thought it was a good answer at that time to avoid getting any further invitations to their churches and I tried to fend off this question for many years until the Lord convicted me directly. Let us explore more on this topic. It is my honest endeavor to chalk out the fear most catholics have when being faced with this question.

Jesus asked a direct question to Nicodemus in John 3:12, ‘If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? while another version renders the same verse like this - “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?” (msg)

Before we try to understand this verse, let us bring some context into this topic. Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus, who was a pharisee, a teacher of the law, ruler of Israel and a member of the Sanhedrin. In my research on the structure of the Jewish religious schools in those days, it is said that there were four schools of law in the Jewish tradition:

• Teachers of children
• Teachers in the synagogues
• Teachers in divinity schools , Apostle Paul would have graduated from one of these schools.
• Teachers of the nation of Israel (Sanhedrin), the highest level of doctors and teachers attained this status such as Nicodemus.

Furthermore, Nicodemus appears only three times in the Gospels,

• To listen to Jesus' teaching (John 3:1-21)
• During Jesus' arrest (John 7:45-51)
• During the Burial (John 19:39-42)
  

As few as it may seem but his first encounter with Jesus as it is written in the scriptures would have been very profound. The question of ‘how to be born again?’ would have been wringing his mind over and over again but even more disturbing thought would have been this statement from Jesus, ‘unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God’ (John 3:3). In addition to this Jesus clarifies further on this topic of born again by saying, ‘no one enters the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit’ (John 3:5).

Now before going any further, I would like to make two observations about the two verses we have seen in the gospel of John (3:3 & 5). A person who is born again does not only ‘see’ but he or she can also ‘enter’ the Kingdom of God. When I apply this context into my own life, I am certain Jesus wants me to grow in maturity in my walk with God. I want to both see and enter God’s Kingdom and now I realise when I pray the Lord’s prayer ‘thy Kingdom come’, it would mean more to me when I ‘do his will’ that is to be born again.

If you look closely at the dialogue between Nicodemus and Jesus more importantly from Nicodemus’s perspective. It would seem that Nicodemus, the teacher of the law and a rabbi would have known about the ‘new spirit’ (Ezek 11:19-20). However, knowing about the ‘new spirit’ to Nicodemus was not enough it seems so he wanted answers to ‘how’ to see and enter the Kingdom of God. Perhaps Jesus was answering a wrong question here but the reality is, Jesus was asking Nicodemus to be more open to things than mere tradition.

Did Nicodemus who was immersed in tradition find answers to his questions? Let’s move further on and see how God will put His new Spirit in us so that we can be born again, but did Nicodemus know about this? Perhaps as a rabbi, he would have known prophet Ezekiel’s words in chapter 37:9-14, ‘God will bring to life the dead, dry bones.’ What this means to us is that God will cause our dead spirit to become anew to love, to find peace, be joyful and to live in the hope to become alive when the spirit resurrects us from our sinful life in our baptism.

You may be wondering why is it important to be born of water and Spirit? Well the scripture says that water is the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26), being washed by water our focus of worship changes (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and water cleanses our evil conscience (Hebrews 10:22). Furthermore, Spirit of God helps you to effectively use the gifts of God for His glory (Acts 2:38) and finally only soul & Spirit can onlt inherit heaven.

Lessons learned:

• Even though Nicodemus was of high social standing, when he came to Jesus his basic need was revealed – ‘be born again’
• When you give heed to Jesus’ teaching, firstly you become his follower like Nicodemus, secondly, you stand-up for him even passively at times (John 7:45-51) and finally at other times more actively persuing Him until His death and beyond (John 19:39-42).
• Tradition and /beliefs may teach about the ‘new spirit’ but how to be born again and how to be dead to the old spirit and become alive to the new spirit only comes by doing the will of God that is to be born of water and Spirit.
• Nicodemus would have taught well, attended synagogues services regularly, kept the laws, followed all his religious beliefs with zeal but he was still spiritually dead as far as Jesus was concerned.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, we’ve come to see you even by trying to avoid traditionalism and belief systems. Some questions have been bothering us but we know it is only you who have answers to our questions. Our intellect, our standing in our society, our educational background or even our position or power we’ve attained may mean nothing if we fail to do your will, i.e. to be born again. Thank you for teaching us through the scriptures how you will enable us to be born again. Help us to trace our way back to you and to be in agreement with your words. This we ask in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.