A sermon given by Reader Peter Kane
"Being born of water and the Spirit"
Go this afternoon to Tan Hill Pub and I will guarantee you will find groups of Grey haired guys trying to re-live their youth now they have the money to buy decent bikes, Known patronizingly as Born Again Bikers, which reminds us of the title Born Again Christians.. is it the same?. Hopefully we will see..
We have heard in our Gospel this morning about Nicodemus a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, who came to Jesus by night. Why by night? Probably so no one would see him. His friends and colleagues were for the most part, Pharisees and members of the ruling council of the Jews. His friends and colleagues, for the most part, looked down their noses at Jesus. This young chap upsetting the apple cart who didn't follow the rules.
Remember that Jesus had just recently walked into the temple, turning over the tables of the money changers –– scattering the money creating an enormous disturbance. He had gone to the stalls where people were selling cattle and sheep to be used as sacrifices on the temple altar –– and had used a whip to drive the cattle and sheep out of the temple. He had shouted, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's houses a marketplace!" (2:16). And all this at Passover –– when the city was jam-packed with pilgrims. You can imagine the mess as the Temple personnel struggled to get things back in order,
As far as the Pharisees were concerned, Jesus was, at best, bad-mannered –– at worst, dangerous. It is no wonder that Nicodemus came to see Jesus under cover of darkness. The wonder was that he had come at all. But Nicodemus had heard of things Jesus had done, and he wanted to know more. He had heard that Jesus had turned water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. The Gospel of John calls that "the first of (Jesus') signs"
This Gospel will report other signs as well –– the feeding of the five thousand, raising Lazarus from the dead and several others. These "signs" –– these miracles –– were intended to point to something even more important than the miracles themselves. They were intended to point to Jesus as the one who could save people from hunger, from illness, from death.
It was in response to these "signs" that Nicodemus decided to go to Jesus. When he found Jesus, he said: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God;for no one can do these signs that you doapart from the presence of God"
Bingo! Nicodemus had got it exactly right! These signs –– these miracles –– attested to the fact that Jesus had come from God and had the power to disrupt the things that had disrupted people's lives –– that God had given Jesus power to put the pieces back together –– that God had given Jesus power to save people. Nicodemus had heard the stories of the signs, and had understood what they meant.
So he came under the cover of darkness, probably he didn't want anyone to think that he had become a Jesus-lover. He wanted to find out who Jesus really was, if he was an out-of-control radical –– or the Messiah who had come to save them.
Some people either criticize or admire Nicodemus for coming Jesus by night,. He was not perfect, but who is? He wasn't a coward. It took guts for a Pharisee to come to see Jesus, even by night. Later in the story, remember that he tried to defend Jesus when his fellow Pharisees decided to arrest him and after the crucifixion, Nicodemus brought spices to anoint Jesus' body. That took courage! That took conviction! And let us not forget this –– He went there to honour Jesus by anointing his body after Jesus was dead and gone. If there is any one thing that makes us admire Nicodemus, that's it. He was loyal to Jesus long after there was any reason to believe in Jesus.
Back to the story
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, he addressed Jesus respectfully –– "Rabbi," he said –– "teacher." He told Jesus that it was obvious that Jesus had come from God, because "no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God" (v. 2).
Jesus' response seems rather off-the-wall. He said, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above" (v. 3). That answer was so abrupt that N.T Wright in his commentary suspected that the Gospel of John gives us only a shortened version of their conversation.
But listen again to what Jesus said. "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
In Greek the same word here can mean a second time and born from above, did Jesus mean that we must be "born again" or that we must be "born from above"? It is pretty clear that he meant both. If we are to see the kingdom of God, we must be born again –– born from above –– the initiative remains with God
Jesus went on to explain: "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit" (v. 6).
Wright explains that the new birth Jesus is talking about is the same thing that has been spoken of in Chapter 1.33. That Water and Spirit here must mean the double baptism; baptism in water which brings people into the kingdom. The movement began by John the Baptist and baptism in the spirit, the new life bubbling up from within, that is what Jesus offers.
"Born of the Spirit" points to the work of the Holy Spirit. When we were baptized, we received the gift of the Holy Spirit. We now have the Spirit of God living in us –– loving us –– guiding us –– opening doors for us –– and sometimes closing doors as well.
It is said that the Holy Spirit dwells within us to act as a compass of our lives. If we would only let the Spirit direct our lives, how much simpler things would be for us. If we would only let the Spirit steer us in the right direction, we could avoid much of the wreckage that most of us experience. That's hard to do, though, isn't it! It's hard to "Let go –– and let God!"
I really like what Corrie ten Boom had to say about the Holy Spirit. Corrie was a Dutch Christian whose family sheltered Jews from Hitler's forces during World War II. Corrie and her family ended up in one of Hitler's death camps –– but Corrie managed to survive. She later became famous as a Christian author and speaker, because she was so obviously filled with the Spirit of God. She said to one of her audiences.
"I have a glove here in my hand. The glove cannot do anything by itself, but when my hand is in it, it can do many things. True, it is not the glove, but my hand in the glove that acts. We are gloves. It is the Holy Spirit in us who is the hand, who does the job. We have to make room for the hand so that every finger is filled."
I like that imagery. That by myself I am not likely to do much that will be truly important. Like that glove, I am only limp and lifeless as long as I am working by my own meager power. I might be a cloth DIY glove –– or a smooth leather glove –– but it makes no difference. Without a hand in the glove, it can do nothing important. But that imagery also tells me that we can be someone important doing things that will reverberate throughout eternity –– that our lives can be more important than the lives even of kings and princes and presidents. All we have to do is to let God's Spirit fill our lives as a hand fills a glove. When we do that, lives becomes God-powered, and there is no limit to what God can do as he works through us.
When God's Spirit is at work, great things happen, I have an illustration of this this:
Edwin Hatch was a great Oxford scholar, widely known for his Lectures, which were tended to be challenging to listen to and read. But when it came to expressing his faith in ways that would speak to the ordinary person, nobody has done it better than Edwin Hatch did with the hymn, "Breathe on Me, Breath of God." This hymn is a prayer. The first line of each verse is "Breathe on Me, Breath of God." That phrase reminds us of the creation in which God "formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being". It reminds us of Jesus breathing on his disciples and saying to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit"
We need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, living within us –– guiding us –– inspiring us –– helping us to live the kind of life that God created us to live.
This hymn prays that God will breathe on us and fill us with life anew, even as God breathed life into Adam. It prays that God will breathe on us to purify our hearts. It prays that God will breathe on us until we are wholly devoted to God. It prays that God will breathe on us so that we might never die. This hymn, then, is a prayer for God's help in this life and throughout eternity.
We will be singing this hymn as our Offertory Hymn.. Offering ourselves to God
When things like that happen –– and they do happen –– they are the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit takes ordinary things –– like a glove –– like our lives –– and fills them with power. Which means that our lives can be something important –– if we are born of the water and the Spirit.
Jesus says, "No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
The Good News is that, by the grace of God, we can do that. By the grace of God, we can become new people Born Again. –– ready to live rich and fulfilled lives. All we have to do is to open ourselves so that God might empower us –– just as a live hand empowers a limp glove. We need let God do that for us all.
As Bob Dylan sung in the song Its Alright Ma (I,m only bleeding) - He who isn't busy being born.. is busy dying. Bob Dylan
Amen