There are three days I will never forget. The births of Eli, Cole and Seth each have their own story, but the result was the same--"New Life." I cried when I held them for the first time. I was overwhelmed with the miracle of life I got to witness. Seriously, for nine months they had been growing in the womb and now I am holding them in my arms. Wow!
This passage in John is about being "Born" again. A religious leader by the name of Nicodemus approaches Jesus. He is told, "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." How can this be Nicodemus asks? How can a person enter into his mothers womb for a second time?
Then Jesus said, "no one can enter into the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and the Spirit." Nicodemus was still confused, but he shouldn't be. Within Judaism there was a practice for Gentiles who would convert to Judaism. They would be baptized (immersed) to become ceremonially clean. Converts to Judaism were said to become "as newborn children."
Nicodemus should have gotten what Jesus was saying. Maybe he missed it because in his mind there would not be a need for a Jewish person to go through such a ritual. This was one of the things that the religious leaders questioned when they saw so many Jews going to the desert to be baptized by John the baptist.
I had the opportunity to baptize a single father about a week ago. He brought his four children. They sat in the front seats of the worship center as we went up to the baptistery. Before his baptism we were standing in the water together and his six year old began to ask questions. She wanted to know why he was doing this. He explained to her that he wanted to start a "new life." A life devoted to following God.
She then asked him why he changed clothes. He said, "Because God does not want to see me naked." You know he's right. When Adam and Eve hid in the garden, they hid because they were ashamed of their nakedness. When we sin our weaknesses are exposed. When we are naked--everything is exposed and it is not pretty.
After God explained the consequences to Adam and Eve, that they would experience death and then he kicked them out of the garden he did something else. He made clothes for them to cover up their nakedness. He did something about the shame they were experiencing. He showed grace and mercy which gave them new life.
He has done the same for us. We stand exposed before God as unrighteous, but he provided new life through Jesus. Through Jesus' sacrifice, our sins were paid for so we can have new life. Paul says in Romans 6 about baptism: "Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:3-4).
I will never forget two other days. The day my two oldest boys decided they wanted to have "new life." Each has it's own story, one was baptized at church during a service, the other was baptized in the Alantic Ocean while on vacation. Both were born again. Again I had tears in my eyes because they both made the decision on their own that they need Jesus to cover their nakedness. They both decided to be united with Jesus' death, burial and resurrection which is what they need most to have life.
This is the point Jesuse was trying to get across to Nicodemus. The story is still the same for us today.
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