Where is the life we’ve lost in our living? T.S.Eliot

June 7, 2009:  John 3: 1-17

Conservative Christians often ask a question that often puts United Church folks on edge. The question angers us, annoys us and embarrasses us.  That question is “Are you born again?” How many of you have ever been asked that question?

I’ve been asked that question numerous times and I’ve come to know that the person asking the question is expecting a reply that will confirm the faith perspective of the one asking the question. The answer I have learned to give when asked, “Are you born again?” is “Yes, I am and again, and again, and again.”

The gospel lesson from John chapter 3 is the basis for your reflection this morning. Jesus faced a whole lifetime of difficult questions in his short 3 years of ministry. What Jesus offered people was a new way of life, a new way of perceiving themselves, and a new understanding of the Holy One. He said, “I have come that you might have life, and life in all its fullness.”

Isn’t that what we all desire, life in all its fullness?  When we sratch beneath the surface of our ever accelerating speed of life, and the gluttony of too many things to do and to choose from in the smorgasbord of life, we get to the deep part of life. In the deepest levels of our awareness we hunger and thirst for that spirit of life that is fuel, healthy fuel for our life-energy.

And when that spark of life energy is not present we are like “dead people still walking around.” I think Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to have a conversation with Jesus was a person who had it all together in the eyes of the people of his day. He was a religious leader of the group called “Pharisees.”  The name Pharisee meant, “the separated ones.”  And their religious zeal and legalism distanced them from regular people.

In many ways Pharisees were the best people in the whole country. There were never more than 6,000 of them, but they had tremendous influence. The Jews believed that the Law of God in the Torah—the 1^st 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures were perfect. To add or take away one word was a deadly sin.And if it was perfect then everything a person needs to know about living life could be found there.

The Law consisted of great and noble principles. The problems arose in trying to interpret and apply the noble principles.The Pharisees spent their time, their lives and their energy trying to explain, dechipher, interpret and apply those laws. It became religious legal mumbo-jumbo. For example the law said that everyone should rest and not work on the Sabbath. It was a day for worship, prayer and thanksgiving.

But cattle had to be fed, cows milked, families had to eat, but who would prepare the food, and people were to stay at home. What was the definition as “home?”  Answer—where your food was and a person could only go 1000 feet from home on the Sabbath. BUT, if you put a pot of food down at the end of your street, then technically that was home and you go go 1000 feet beyond that point. It was religious governance by more and more by-laws.

A good Pharisee like Nicodemus would have known about Jesus, and as part of his Pharisaical responsibilities would have checked him out. But then he comes to Jesus under cover of darkness to have the conversation included in the reading.

The fact that he came at night and the questions he asked, reveals Nicodemus was hungry and thirsty for that spirit of life which legalisms cannot provide. Nicodemus is searching for his own truth for his life and wants to share in what Jesus offers. Jesus tells him, that to get what he wants, Nicodemus must be born again. Nicodemus argues at the physical level, “How can a man be born again. It’s not possible for me to return to my mother’s womb.”

And like so many of the questions the religious skeptics bring to Jesus, he turns the question to a deeper meaning than the person intends. “It’s not about a physical re-birth, it is a spiritual re-birth.” Today, Jesus would say, “Your inner self needs to be transformed for you to have the new life!”

Jesus comes to raise the dead, and bring new life to the living and the only qualification for the re-birth is that we must be “dead” in a spiritual way:  the inner light has gone out, or desire to keep on keeping on is dimmed, our inner doubt, fear and darkness is strnger than the light of Christ.

Nicodemus is searching because his life is not working the way his inner wisdom is telling him, it could work. Let me share with you a few awareness’ I’ve had this week of the “Nicodemus search for life.” I was at a funeral yesterday for a former member of one of my previous parishes. Sitting having conversation and lunch, a young man came up and said hello and we renewed our relationship. He was the only teenager I ever confirmed who had bright blue hair. I asked what happened to his blue hair.

With the wisdom of a young adult he said, “Oh, I got rid of that along with all the metal in my body.” He went on to tell me how he has been pursuing his academic education, but left behind all his artistic activities. But, he had an experience in the last year which is changing his life. A cousin of a cousin asked him to critique the cover of her soon to be published book. He did it, she loved his ideas and so did her publisher and he just finished doing the cover and chapter illustrations for the book and the author has him for the next book, and the publisher said that they will refer other work to him. For this young person, art may be God’s gift in him that finding expression bring out his purpose. Are you aware of your God-given purpose and are you living it?

Another person, a stranger, arranged to have a conversation with me about his 12 step recovery program. This guy had a very interesting and difficult childhood. His family was very successful, but the life-style included over-indulgence in alcohol. About a year ago this guy, looking for new and healthier life-style, realized how his addiction to alcohol was taking him away from his real inner-self. He is on the road to recovery, 24 hours at a time, and while it’s very difficult, he realizes it’s the path to life for him.He said to me, “The program I’m in is life-changing!”  That’s being born again.

This life-changing effort is NOT something we can do ourselves. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. The power of God’s grace is what does the transformation. Our part is to be INTENTIONALLY willing to being born again, or being transformed. Without our consent nothing happens.

Everyone in the realm of God Jesus delivered gets a second chance. One little girl was very creative in claiming her second chance. She was looking over the selection of greeting cards in the stationary store. The clerk came over and asked what kind of a card she was looking for. “Do you want a birthday card, a card for a sick friend, a congratulations card, or anniversary card?  “No, nothing like that. Do you have any blank report cards?” In that little girl’s second life, there’s a hint of genius…

What happened to Nicodemus? The details of the story are not included in the Bible. What we do see are the results. Two places, Nicodemus comes into the daylight and speaks up as Jesus is being accused—risking his reputation as a defender of the status quo in religious thinking, and he also is risking his life by speaking out. The second footnote to Nicodemus’ transformation is the offer of his grave as Jesus burial place.

A minister had a series of conversations with a person who doubted the existence of God unless it could be proven scientifically. The modern spirit seeker kept insisting, “I can’t see God, and until I do I won’t believe.” Outside the office, at that moment a huge gust of wind kicked up, bending tree branches, scattering leaves and stirring up dust. The minister too the seeker to the window and asked the seeker, “What do you see?”  The seeker replied, “The wind.”

The minister went on. “Do you really see the wind or the effects of the wind?”  After a few moments the seeker quietly said, “That very much makes God a possibility.” 

I hope that each of us takes advantage of God’s offer of new life and live to the highest and best possibilities of our 3 important relationships: our self with our true self; our self in relationship with family, friends, strangers and other people; and our relationship with the Holy One. I hope that we can each answer “Yes” to the question of our being born again into new and better life. It’s God’s gift offered to us.