Blowin’ in the Wind – John 3:1-17

The Gospel of John is filled with accounts that appear no where else in the Scriptures. But the accounts that we find in the Gospel of John are about far more than just providing information that the others leave out. John’s entire gospel was written not just to tell the story of the man called Jesus but to relate to us how this Jesus was indeed not only the Son of God but the Word of God.  This is the one who would communicate God’s love and forgiveness in very real ways and also the one whose death would ensure a place in eternity with God. The images that most capture our imagination and fuel our hope for what is to come are found in the Gospel of John. For John Jesus is not just another prophet, not just another teacher, not one concerned solely with doing what is legal but he is the one who has been sent to be the Messiah, the Saviour, the Lamb that would need to be sacrificed as a sign of God’s great love and desire to restore humanity to full, free and everlasting life.  It is in John’s gospel that we can experience the heart of God and encounter the mysteries of faith.

Now the Spirit of God was not a new concept that arrived with Jesus. The prophets had often spoken of the Spirit of God.  The fullness of the Spirit of God to descend on the people and fill them was a great hope – something that it was believed would come to pass in the latter days. In the Psalms, it was a way of speaking about the heart of God.

In our passage today, Jesus speaks with a Pharisee named Nicodemus who comes to him under the cover of night.  This man had witnessed some of the events in Jerusalem when Jesus entered the temple and he had heard Jesus’ speak.  And even though Jesus was not popular with the ruling religious bodies, this Pharisee knew that there was more to this man and had a sense that what he was witnessing was something that was beyond the scope of a normal human being. He still did not know Jesus to be the Messiah or the Son of God, but he did recognize that what Jesus was doing would never have been possible except God was with him.

Nicodemus’ opening words reflect what many in Jerusalem were saying. But what these signs and teachings truly would mean in the life of the people was not yet fully evident. Jesus’ reply, however, seems to come right out of left field. He neither acknowledges nor denies what Nicodemus has said. Instead, he tells him that a person must be born anew if that person is to see the kingdom of God.

To Nicodemus, this is a revelation that no doubt left his head spinning as indeed it must leave our heads spinning if we were to really stop and ponder its meaning.  The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus understood that his life with God was as a result of his creation by God and he was a believer in God. He had been born into the faith and that made him a descendant of Abraham. For him there was no question about who he was. He believed that his birth as a Jew was enough to ensure that he would see the kingdom of God. But Jesus was telling him that he needed to be born anew if he were to see the Kingdom of God.

We can clearly understand our first birth - a birth of water that brings us into this world – but a second birth – one in the Spirit – that is so hard to begin to fathom.  This is a birth that is so much like the wind. It makes its presence known and brings about a change in our minds our hearts and our spirits. We may not be able to point to a moment in time and yet its presence is so real to any who by faith believe in the words of Jesus and recognize that something new has come to birth in them.

It certainly becomes clear that the theme of birth, death and resurrection are woven throughout John’s Gospel. Birth brings life but it also brings death. Second birth also brings life but it leads to the Kingdom of God where the faithful are to live in eternity. Our second birth will be unlike the first in that we will not physically re-enter our mother’s womb, but we will be birthed from the womb of God – the Spirit – which is so often spoken of as the female element of God. In this birth, we will be welcomed as sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters to our Lord – born not of blood, or of the flesh or of the will of man but of God.

This is a birth that depends not on your ancestors or your heritage in this world but only happens through the Spirit’s breath that sweeps through like the wind and awakens within us the realization that life has begun anew with new purpose and promise.  We do not follow laws or commandments that we might be born again. Our second birth leads our minds, hearts and spirits to seek to follow God’s words and so live the life we are truly meant to live.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life; for God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17)

The movement of God in our life is a mystery in so many ways. We will never be able to fully fathom it with our minds, but we can seek to fathom it with our hearts and our souls. We can let the Spirit of God blow as the wind and let it sweep into our lives and give thanks for the blessing God has given knowing and believing that we have been received as children of God and invited to live our new life in the kingdom of God.

AMEN.