Born Again

 Jesu Juva

St. John 3:1-17                                                  

March 1, 2026

Lent 2A                                        

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Today St. John introduces a fascinating fellow named Nicodemus.  He’s fascinating because many people would have regarded him as the smartest guy in the room.  But it turns out—no one’s more in the dark than Nicodemus.  Call him a skeptic if you want, but he’s really just ignorant and unenlightened.  Yes, he’s a rabbi.  Yes, he’s a pharisee.  Yes, he’s a member of the Jewish ruling Council.  But Nicodemus is clueless about the Christ—as his conversation with the Christ makes clear.

        We’re all clueless by nature when it comes to the things of God.  Apart from what God teaches us in His Word (and He has a lot to teach us), what we can know about God by our own reason and senses doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.  Sure, we can look at creation and conclude that there must be a God—and that this God must be very big and smart and powerful.  But drawing upon our own brainpower, that’s about as far as we can go.  We heard last Sunday how Adam and Eve plunged all of humanity into a perpetual state of sinful ignorance.  And we can’t change that sad fact no matter how many books we read or how many podcasts we listen to.

        Nicodemus had an impressive religious resume.  His credentials were impeccable (“smartest guy in the room”).  But Nicodemus came to Jesus at night for a little rabbi-to-rabbi rendezvous.  Why go to Jesus at night?  Well, in John’s gospel, there’s often a double meaning attached to things.  In John’s Gospel “night” doesn’t only refer to the hours from sundown to sunrise.  Night also carries the idea of ignorance, unbelief and being “in the dark.” 

        The dark is not a good place to be.  We are not nocturnal.  Have you ever noticed how the absolute worst ideas always sound perfectly reasonable in the dark—at about 2AM?  Some night when you can’t sleep just turn on your AM radio and you’ll see what I mean.  Nicodemus may have been a respectable fellow, but he was unenlightened.  He was in the dark about Jesus.

        Of course, God’s work isn’t hampered in the least by darkness.  God does some of His best work where there’s darkness and ignorance.  In the beginning—back when darkness covered the face of the deep—God spoke His strong Word:  Let there be light.  And light there was!  God fills darkness by the light of His Word.  So it’s not always a bad thing to be in the dark.  In a sense, there’s nowhere to go but up—up to enlightenment and wisdom and faith.

        The people in real trouble are those who think they have it all figured out.  It’s those who bristle at the thought of being “in the dark” who are really the dullest knives in the drawer. It’s those who rely on their own understanding—their own reason and strength—who are likely to remain unenlightened when it comes to Jesus.  God’s Word brings light, but some people won’t listen—or don’t want to listen.  Don’t be like those people. 

        Nicodemus didn’t want to hear about being born again.  He was happy with his life the way it was.  He had prestige.  He had influence.  He was respected by all.  When Nicodemus spoke to his colleagues and congregants, people hung on every word.  Nicodemus didn’t want a new life; He liked his life as it was.  He didn’t want to lose any of that by aligning himself was Jesus of Nazareth.

        That’s where we find ourselves too sometimes.  We are very comfortable with our lives, comfortable with our homes and incomes, comfortable with our status as respectable, upstanding, citizens.  We are comfortable, too, with our sin—and we’re good and feigning ignorance when it suits us.  Did God really say?  We are glad to be born again when it’s convenient. But we can just as easily make our peace with the deeds of darkness. 

        What Jesus wanted for Nicodemus, He also wants for you.  Jesus wants to lead us out of the darkness and into the light.  So out of the blue, Jesus told Nicodemus:  I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.  You and I must be born again.  To enter the kingdom of God requires a second birth.  Your first birth—as momentous as that was—was a birth into the darkness of death, thanks to Adam.  Thanks to Adam, your trip down the birth canal was just the beginning of a long, downward slide that will eventually deposit you six feet under. That’s why.  That’s why you must be born again—born from above.

        About this time Nicodemus is really in the dark—more confused than ever:  You’re talking nonsense, Jesus.  How can a man be born when he is old?  So, Jesus pushes him further:  No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Water and the Spirit.  What do you hear Jesus saying?  What do “water and the Spirit” refer to?  If you’re thinking “Baptism,” then you’re on the right track.  But that’s precisely because you are baptized.  You have been born again by water and the Spirit.  That Holy Spirit has called you by the gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified you with the holiness of Jesus Himself.

        Nicodemus is still struggling, but Jesus won’t give up on him.  Know this about Jesus: He is determined to drag people out of the darkness (kicking and screaming) and into His light and life.  Jesus takes Nicodemus into the Old Testament scriptures.  Remember when God told Moses to make a bronze snake and lift it up on a pole so that all who looked at it could be saved from death by snake bite?  Jesus says that’s a picture of Him in action on the cross.  He would be lifted up in death like that snake on a stick, so that everyone who trusts in Him would have eternal life.

        Nicodemus needed to know that Jesus wasn’t just a miracle-working rabbi, but the Son of God, the Messiah, come to be crucified for the life of the world.  Jesus is THE expression of God’s love for the world.  God loved the world in just this way:  He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him (whoever is born again by water and the Spirit) would not perish but have eternal life.  This is why the Father sent His Son.  This is why Jesus was born, suffered, died and rose again—not to condemn the world, but to save the world through His dying and rising.

        Let’s be clear on that:  Jesus did not come to condemn the world—didn’t come to improve the world, or to fix the world, or to eradicate poverty, end racism, and stop climate change.  Jesus didn’t come to make the world a nicer place.  He came to save the world by dying on the cross, lifted up for all. 

This encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus wouldn’t be their last.  Later on, we learn that Nicodemus was there when Jesus died.  The next time we hear of Nicodemus is late on a Friday afternoon—when he and Joseph of Arimathea retrieve the dead body of Jesus from the cross.  Seeing Jesus dead on the cross, Nicodemus saw Jesus for who He is and why He came.  Nicodemus knew he was loved by God.  Nicodemus became truly wise.

        You have been baptized into Jesus’ death.  You have been born again by water and the Spirit.  You don’t remember being born the first time; and you probably don’t remember much about being born again.  Why?  Because God did it all.  He loves you.  Jesus has drawn you out of the darkness of sin and death.  He has rescued you from ignorance. You will live forever in the light of His resurrection. In Jesus you have been born again into the bright light of our Lord’s wisdom.  In Jesus you will not perish but have eternal life. 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.