A long time ago, when I was a young
priest seeking a new cure, I dutifully sent my resume and profile to any place
the church’s computer said that I might possibly be a decent match. One of
those churches was in Virginia. They called me up for an interview. Now they
were polite, but they were not really interested in a young priest from
Connecticut, no matter how nice I was, until I mentioned that I was born in
Virginia and baptized at an old, historic parish there where George Washington
was once Senior Warden.
My, did their tone change! It did not
matter that, except for the occasional vacation or family trip, for all practical purposes I had not set foot in the Old Dominion
since I was two years old, my pedigree had clearly improved.
On the other hand, I only grew up in Massachusetts
and Connecticut, which does not really make me a true New Englander. I once
asked a parishioner of my first parish in Northeast Connecticut (who could
trace her ancestors back to the first Puritans in New England) about this an/d
she said “Well, if a cat has kittens in an oven, does that make them biscuits?”
Certainly, where we are raised has an
effect on us!
Jesus was not born in his hometown,
either. In today’s Gospel he talks about something far more serious. He talks about
how our spiritual birth is far more important than our physical birth.
This is what Jesus said to Nicodemus
late one night.
Nicodemus came to Jesus with a sort of
hesitant curiosity—a curiosity that would not let go.
Nicodemus was a leader of the Pharisees,
a movement within Judaism that sought in the first century to modernize things—a
movement that sought to revise Jewish consciousness about faith and geography--to
get Judaism out of the Temple in Jerusalem and into the places were Jews
actually lived. Before the Pharisees, a Jew whether they lived in Galilee or
Alexandria or Rome, was not complete until he went to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, said that being Jewish is a matter of knowing
who you are, whose you are, and how one lives – loving God with all our heart,
soul, and mind and our neighbors as ourselves. They believed that the local
synagogue was therefore the center of Jewish community life, not the Temple.
Jesus knew that Nicodemus wants
relocate the heart of Judaism from the Temple to the Synagogue. So, when the
two finally meet, Jesus takes this new idea one step further. The heart of the
faith is not located in a place but in heart. The Spirit is not confined to a
building no matter how local. Instead he says "Very truly I tell you, no
one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
I am sure that you’ve heard the phrase
before. It’s usually translated as being “born again.” It could mean that, or
"You must be born anew." But, basically, the word means "from
above." So Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born from above, a kind
of second birth that is a gracious gift of God.
Jesus says that where the Spirit is
found is not dependent on a place. Jesus says, "The wind blows where it
chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from
or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
It was William Temple, who was the Archbishop
of Canterbury during World War II, who when asked once if he was born again said,
“I’ve been born again, I am being born again, and I hope to be born again
tomorrow.” All of us have the chance to change, to grow, to deepen our life in
Christ. John 3:8 reminds us that "The wind blows where it chooses."
Listening for that wind is one of the
great disciplines of the Christian life. Awaiting the chance to be born again
is one of the great disciplines of the Christian life. Maybe it should be one
of our disciplines during this season of Lent.
The wind of re-birth is the wind of
freedom and love, and it is far stronger than what we imagine where we find stability
in life. It is stronger than the place where we were born, stronger than our
ancestry, stronger than what Jesus calls the flesh. So, even though it may blow
us to new places, we are – in the Spirit – more stable, more grounded, than
ever!
We are all born someplace. Everyone is
from somewhere. But, as Christians, we are citizens of God’s reign. We are
natives of that place which we call the kingdom of God, which we call heaven,
which we call eternal life, which we call God’s creative, transforming presence
right now on earth! It is a kingdom that we enter simply by following Jesus and
letting our identities be shaped and re-shaped by this marvelous wind, this
breath of the living God.
In living our life in Christ, we have
a choice: we can think of it as a punch-list of tasks we have to accomplish to
be sure that this aspect of our life is covered; or we can see the movement of
baptism and Eucharist, of daily prayer and sacraments, as a process by which we
discover again and again our identity in Christ.
Nicodemus’ journey will take him from
a night-time meeting with Jesus to the foot of the cross and to Jesus’ grave on
Good Friday, where Eastern Orthodox tradition has him providing the oil that
was to be used to anoint his body. My own hunch is that Nicodemus became part
of the Community of the Beloved Disciple and that he was a Jesus-follower after
his resurrection. That is quite a journey! And so is yours.
Everybody is from someplace and, as
followers of Jesus, we are all on a journey to new and wonderful places. Lent
is a time for us to discover once more that no matter where we are or where we
are from, God is always present to us and that our identity is found with
Christ. As baptized people, we are at home with Christ.
You have been born. By faith and
baptism you have been born from above. And as you grow and mature in Christ, in
your prayer, your encounter with Scripture, in your Sacramental living you have
been and will be born again and again and again. Every time we allow ourselves
to listen for and follow the wind of God, the Spirit of God, we find ourselves
located in the heart of God and our identity is located in God’s grace and
power.
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