June 15, 2003; Trinity Sunday, Year B
The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector
What other religion do you know of that would claim as one of its forefathers a shepherd who talked to a burning bush, has a religious leader of a rival sect sneaking around at night to quiz Jesus about his relationship with God, and claims a lawyer as one of their saints? Add to that mix the doctrine of the Trinity, you know the three in one and one in three God, and you’ll have to admit that Christianity is a pretty crazy religion.
Just imagine that you are out for a walk in the woods and see a bush burning, but its not really burning.There A. Call 911 on your cell phone to report the fire. B. Throw water or dirt on the fire to put it out.C. Walk over to the bush and start talking to it.
We look for logical explanations to phenomenon described in the Bible such as the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus’ resurrection, and so on. Or, we look for ways to dismiss them altogether, like Moses had been out in the sun to long and was hallucinating when he saw, and not only talked to that bush but it talked back to him. Why is it so hard to believe that God can do the impossible?
Jesus, I believe has the answer, “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.” We as human beings struggle with the existence of God and what he is able to do because our knowledge and experience of him is limited. This was certainly where Nicodemus was coming from. Nicodemus had experienced God as distant, totally separate from creation. He was taught about the existence of God and how important belief in God was, but there was no real relationship between Nicodemus and God.
It is like our experience with our youngest grandson, Tommy.We did not see him until he was ten months old. We saw pictures and videos of him, but we did not have a real relationship with him until we were able to hold him, feed him, play with him, and change his diapers. It is only as we experience each other personally that a relationship and bond will develop between us.
Nicodemus was looking for that type of relationship and bond with God that Jesus had. Jesus responded by using an experience that we can all identify with to describe just how a person develops a relationship with God.
He told Nicodemus that he must be born in a new way. We must be born, not again in the literal sense, but from above, or from God. The original word used was anothen, which is Greek, and means "from above" or "from the top to the bottom. This same word is used in the Gospel of Mark to describe the tearing of the veil in the temple from the anothen, from top to bottom, when Jesus died on the cross.
Nicodemus responds, "How can I do this?" Jesus responds that "no one can enter thekingdom ofGod without being born of water and the Spirit."
Certainly we recognize this as our sacrament of Baptism. Just as we come from the water of our mother's womb into this world, from the water of baptism we enter the kingdom of God.
Yet Jesus adds an important qualifier onto our second birth. He says, "What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit."
Baptism is the celebration of being born of the Spirit of God. Nicodemus’, question which is really, "How can I do this?" is really inappropriate. Inappropriate because all of the physical actions that we do during baptism only symbolize what God is doing - something that we cannot see - He is baptizing the person with his Holy Spirit.
While we know in detail how conception, development in the womb and birth occur; spiritual birth is more mysterious. While we can plainly see physical birth, it is virtually impossible to see the spiritual birth of someone.
As a father, I was able to witness the birth of my son. Yet, even though I believe that he was born anew at his baptism, I did not see the new life of the Spirit enter him. Does that mean that it did not happen?
Jesus had an answer for that dilemma. He said, "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you know not where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
In other words, just as we had no control over our physical birth, so we have no control over our spiritual birth. Life in both circumstances is a gift. Our physical birth is a gift from our biological mother and father. Our spiritual birth is a gift from our spiritual Father.
Nicodemus' struggle was real. Through his physical birth he was a Jew. He not only received his physical identity as a Jew through his parents but automatically became a member of the Jewish faith. It was only natural that he should think that he had to somehow be reborn physically to become a Christian.
But Nicodemus was wrong. Christians are not born, they are made. To be born of a Christian mother and father does not automatically make us Christians. It is God through his Son and the Holy Spirit that makes us Christians.The adoption process was initiated by God when he sent his Son for our salvation. Our adoption is sealed when we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and receive the Holy Spirit. It is then that we are reborn from above and become God’s sons and daughters, entering into a relationship with him.
The relationship can be difficult on our part because we do not experience God like we do family and friends that we have relationships with. While we may wish for the hand of God to hold ours during time of distress or have Jesus walk beside us in our times of loneliness, just because we cannot touch or see God does not mean that he is not there. Jesus said that we would have the Holy Spirit, invisible, yet ever present with us.
It is the Spirit, which today gives us the experience of God. And that experience comes in many different ways. It may come in the most improbable ways – like a burning bush, or in just the feeling of the divine presence of God. We may tingle when it happens, or just know that God is there, present with us. Don’t look for a logical explanation, just accept that God is near and thank him for the experience.