"Born When You Are Old"

 

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

           

            Jesus has a conversation with a Pharisee, a spiritual guide of Israel. In this conversation Jesus reveals his identity, so that Nicodemus might believe and have life in his name. The conversation is not simple. The identity of Jesus is revealed in many images and statements that lead back into the Scriptures.

            First the image of birth: You must be born when you are old. Why does Jesus talk about birth? What does he want us to experience in coming to faith in him?

            Next he uses the contrast of flesh and spirit, and uses the image of the wind, mysterious and uncontrollable.

            Then he turns back to the biblical narrative, a story about Moses and the bronze snake in the wilderness. This is a foreshadowing of the cross.

            He proclaims that God sent his Son as a gift to the world. The gift image reminds us of a parable Jesus told, the parable of the Prodigal Son.

            Finally, Jesus uses the figure of light. He is the light that has come into the world.

            We begin with the question Nicodemus raises. He is confused by the words of Jesus. "How can anyone be born when he is old?" Nicodemus puts his attention on the process of birth, and cannot understand what Jesus is saying. But I think Jesus intends the focus to be on the newborn. When our children were born it was just at the time that hospitals were allowing fathers to be in the room, to see the newborn. And what an experience it is to be handed this newborn baby.  I looked in his face and wondered: What is this little boy thinking? What is he seeing? What is he hearing? Does he like it out here? It seemed to me that both of ours felt that this new world was OK.

            So it is with faith in Christ. We come in faith to Christ and gain a new awareness: seeing the world new, finding there is more to life than we thought. There is a renewal of heart and mind when you come in faith to Christ. The power of sin and guilt is taken away, the dread of death is lifted, there is so much that is new to think about, to feel. Often that moment of belief comes with tears and cries of despair and then hope. When you are newborn in Christ you feel more love for God, more love for people, more desire to know God's word, more interest in life. Jesus says that by being born again you can see the Kingdom of God.

            Sometimes we grow old – it can be at most any age that we grow old – and life is filled with disappointment and pain, or it seems to be vain or hopeless. And then we are born when we are old, and we can see the Kingdom of God, and there is newfound joy.

            Then Jesus goes on to speak of flesh and spirit and how the spirit is like the wind. To the ancients, the wind had a mysterious quality about it, and they described it as God's breath. So "wind" and "spirit" and "breath" are all the same word, both in Hebrew and in Greek. For the Hebrews, the breath or spirit was the principle of life. If you are breathing, you are alive. So eternal life begins when God gives you his Holy Spirit. The holy wind from God catches your soul and sets it in motion.

            Jesus came to pour the Holy Spirit into us, and prepare us for entrance into God's Kingdom. He contrasts "flesh" and "spirit." Raymond Brown says that the flesh for Jesus is the person as we are born into this world, into this material and spiritual existence. But the Spirit is the person as Jesus can make us, through the gift of His Holy Spirit. "The Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, and both Jesus and the Spirit come from above, mysterious and powerful gifts from God."

            The question is: Where do I find this life? Where is its source? So Jesus recalls the incident in the wilderness when Moses saved the people from being bitten by poisonous snakes. He made a bronze snake and lifted it up on a pole. Then, whenever anyone was bitten by a snake, they simply had to look up to the pole, and they would be restored. This is a foreshadowing of the cross. When Jesus is lifted up, when he dies on the cross and we look to him in faith, then we are healed from sin, we come to life in his name.

            But who is this Jesus, that the cross has such power? Jesus is the gift of God. God sent his only Son out of love for the world, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. It may help to think of the parable of the Prodigal Son. In the parable, the younger son willfully leaves the father and takes the inheritance into the Far Country, where it is received and wasted. His return to the Father is by walking the long road of repentance.

            Here is the Gospel: The Father now sends his only Son, he gives the Son to the people of the Far Country, to us. The Son goes willingly and obediently, and brings the inheritance of the Father to the impoverished world. But the gift is rejected. The Son is lifted up on the cross and crucified. Yet all who believe in his name are saved. So the Son returns to the Father through the resurrection and the ascension. The Son brings peace by his death and resurrection. The Kingdom of God comes into the Far Country. Those who trust in him and find new life in his name eagerly await his return.

            In Jesus, the light has come into the world. There is in us a sinful preference for darkness. Martin Luther defined sin as being "curved in on ourselves." We find comfort in the darkness of our souls. But even though we may fear it, once we experience the light of Christ, we are glad for it, we are glad to be in the light. For the light of Christ is good for us, it renews us, cleanses us, and fills us.

            In the light we can see the Kingdom of God. When you are old and defeated by sin and by the world, you can be born again. When you are out of breath, weary and lost, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit; when you are wounded and dying in the wilderness, vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one, you can look up to the cross and find healing for our soul. When you feel you have wasted your life, and the inheritance God has given to you, you have a savior in Jesus, the one God sent in love to give you life eternal. When you are bent over, defeated and curved in upon yourself and you can only see your loss and failure, Christ comes to you as Light, and in that light you can walk.

            Hear the Good News. When you are old, you can be born again.

            Amen.