10-DAY HOLY SPIRIT CHALLENGE: Day 5 “You must be born again”

 


Scripture text: Gospel of St. John 2.23-25; 3.1-8

     Do you know where you’re going?  Can you see your way ahead?  Often, life feels like an effort to stumble forward in the dark, feeling your way as best you can, stubbing your toes on innumerable obstacles and occasionally, whacking your head and getting laid flat out on your back.  If you had the chance to start your life over again, would you take it?  Maybe you would, on the condition that you would be born into a different family.  Of course, that would mean losing all the memories you have made, but then again, maybe there are things that you wouldn’t mind forgetting…  Sometimes, we just feel lost, like we’re trapped in a labyrinth, going down one dead end after another…  Maybe we’ve made it, perhaps we’ve experienced a certain level of success, but now we’re wondering if there’s more.  Was that it?  Was that accomplishment what my life was all about?  But I’m still here… what do I do now?  Has my life served the good, have all my efforts to “win” benefitted anyone besides myself?

     Nicodemus, the main character of today’s passage, was in a similar situation.  He had attained respectability and notoriety within the religious institutions of Judaism.  And yet, as St. John tells us, he is in darkness – he is stumbling around in the shadows of fear, pride and shame.  Nicodemus is worried about what people will say if they see him talking to Jesus, so he slinks away while those whose opinions control his life are sleeping, and he finds his way to Jesus in the dark of night.  Perhaps Jesus was spending the night in prayer, as he had a habit of doing (cf. Lk. 6.12).  In any case, he doesn’t seem to have been disturbed by Nicodemus’ moonlight visit.  Nicodemus saw Jesus perform “signs” (cf. Jn. 2.1-11) while he was in Jerusalem celebrating Passover, and his fascination drives him to seek Jesus out.  Jesus hits Nicodemus with an apparently nonsensical statement: “You must be born again”.  Jesus insists that in order to enter “the kingdom of God”, Nicodemus must be born of water and of Spirit (cf. Jn. 1.12-13).

     The Spirit gives new life.  According to Jesus, starting over is not optional.  It’s the only way to experience the life of God.  Through baptism, we join the family of God and we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.  We die to our past life, our past loyalties, our past visions of our future.  We leave it all behind in the waters of baptism and we emerge, like Jesus, and breathe in the Holy Spirit, the life-breath of God.  As we receive the Spirit, we join the community of those who have had the same experience.  This is what Jesus offers – nothing less than a new life in a new family.  What binds the children of God to each other is not flesh and blood, but Spirit.  Those who are filled with the same Spirit have the same Father and the same Saviour, and are thus siblings.  Are you ready for a fresh start?

A prayer based on Isaiah 43:18-19
Heavenly Father, Your Word declares that I must forget the former things and not dwell on the past. So God, I thank You for doing something new thing in my life and helping me to move forward. Help me to understand that this new way is good, and that it is from You. I know that You are making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. So, Father, I will not dwell on my past, but I will focus on fulfilling Your plan for my future.

In Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

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