Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. - John 3:1-17
You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ This is the most amazing thing that Jesus says in his discussion with Nicodemus. How could Nicodemus not be surprised? Jesus tells him that the thing which is necessary to see the kingdom of God is something that literally doesn't ever happen. People are not born again. They are born once and then they die.
But I think that is the point of what Jesus is saying: seeing the kingdom of God is not gained by an incremental change in the way we live. It is not a "try a little bit harder and you'll get it" sort of problem. Seeing the kingdom of God requires a reworking of our soul at a fundamental level and it is not a change that we engineer ourselves. We can't get there from here. God's Spirit changes in ways that are outside the scope of our imagination or capabilities.
Nicodemus had lived in the world of the Pharisees who thought they had a path to the kingdom of God if the people of God would just try a little bit harder and they would pass the threshold of holiness which would permit the kingdom of God to be established. Tim lives in a world of Christians and non-Christians who think that a path exists to the kingdom of God if we would just try a little harder or work a little smarter so that we would pass the threshold of holiness which would permit us to get to a stable, good place in our lives. Sometimes I think that my little kingdom would be better if I was just smarter or less selfish or richer or (fill in the blank). But Jesus says throw that out and let the Spirit do a reboot based on God's doing it his way. And he won't necessarily fill me in on how that's going to go. And I guess that I have to wait and see rather than trying to force it in my preferred direction. As Jesus said, The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
