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LENT 2
Are you Born Again?

John 3.7  Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must be born again.

There can be few of us who have not been stopped on occasion by a keen (usually young) Christian demanding to know if we have been "born again?" Our reaction tends to be a mixture of annoyance coupled with mystification at what on earth is meant. Yet, like it or not, John’s Gospel through the Nicodemus story makes it clear that ‘unless one is born again (or ‘anew’ or ‘from above’), one cannot enter the kingdom of heaven’.

I would say that Jesus knew what he was talking about. He lived in a culture where religion, of various forms, dominated the social climate. The Judaism of the time might be reckoned similar to some Islamic states today, where religion and state are one. Jesus must have known many people who followed their religion, and the rules and the laws. He would have known the same mixture of people as the rest of us, those who follow their faith in a meaningful, soul-searching way, and those for whom faith is little more than a ritual or social convention. 

The interesting thing about the Nicodemus affair is that Nicodemus comes over as a reasonably spirit-filled man anyway. He recognises Jesus as a man of God because of his wisdom and power, which is more than many other Pharisees did. It is said he was a Jewish leader, so obviously he was well versed in the law. Like most ‘religious people’, Nicodemus was doing his best.

It wasn’t that Jesus ridiculed Nicodemus’ best, but simply that his best wasn’t the right sort of best. Being open to God the Jesus way was both more intense, yet freer. It made demands, yet it didn’t, because there were no hard and fast rules in Jesus’ understanding of following God. And this is what is so contrary to just about every religion going. People like rules. Religious people in particular like rules, because with rules you can tell who is in and who is out. Rules denote order, and order makes for a neat society.

Think on it. Think of two religious organisations, which sit on the edge of orthodox Christianity, namely Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. Many may not agree with their theology or their evangelistic zeal, but in terms of an ordered, structured life, they are hard to compete with. They are always well turned out, well versed in their brand of theology, and strict on what constitutes one of their number. They live by their religious code much more so than most of us.

Compare this to how Jesus saw his followers and there is a marked difference. His advice to Nicodemus was to forget rules and live by the freedom of the spirit. Be moved by the spirit; go wherever the spirit directs you. A few have managed it, most of us don’t. And the reason most of us don’t is that we have not been born again.

The problem with being born again is how far do we chuck everything in? How feasible is it to abandon home, family, social mores. Do we want to anyway?

Luckily for us, we don’t have to copy Jesus. As has been mentioned before on this site, Jesus is our prototype, not our clone. Being an itinerate preacher was a way of life in 1^st century Palestine; it isn’t in 21^st century Britain. Being "born again" is still relevant, but different. So what is it?

In short, it is a turning to God – as in Jesus’ language – but it is best seen as an awareness of reality. It is responding to our spiritual inclinations – as in Jesus’ language – and applying them in our own time for our own and our neighbours' good. 

Being born again means living under reasonable law but not to slavishly put up with bad law. It is having our eyes truly open to injustice, corruption, pettiness and foolishness. Being born again is taking our relationship with God – however we conceive him – seriously, studiously. It is about embodying the "fruits of the spirit", namely faithfulness, self-control, forgiveness, love, peace and joy, patience and goodness as if they really matter, which they do. 

Being born again means taking our role as co-creators and having dominion over our planet seriously, accepting the full responsibility it entails. Being born again might mean sacrifice.

All these thing in today’s world add up to salvation, for others and ourselves. Laws, whether religious or secular can help or hinder the process, which is why we need to be "born from above". Jesus knew that. Nicodemus probably guessed it, which is why he visited Jesus. He knew Jesus had something that he didn’t. That at least has not changed, for most of us know that Jesus had something that we don’t.

That is why some of us seek to follow him, and that is why all of us truly need to be "born again" in order to do it successfully. 

And that is why Paul, in Romans, makes such a fuss about being justified by faith. If we don’t have enough faith in Jesus, believing that his overall way of seeing things was right and that there was something ‘of God’ about him, then we shall never be confident enough to try to follow him.

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