Opening Prayer: I belong to you, Lord Jesus, do with me as you please. Be born in me anew today.
Read: John 3:1-9
Reflect: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born from above.’” (John 3:5-7)
Born from above; what a loaded phrase! No wonder Nicodemus was dumbfounded. I mean, how is that even possible?
But
of course, Jesus was talking about much deeper things than mere physics. He was talking about spiritual transformation. He was talking about how a life is changed,
which always seems to involve some sort of new birth—leaving behind our old
ways of being and seeing in order to live and see anew.
The hard part, both for us and for Nicodemus, is that it’s not a process we can control. We can no more control the renewal of our hearts and souls than we can control the day we are born. It is all up to God. It is a work of the Spirit, not something we can manufacture, manipulate, or control. Flesh can only give birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
Thus, we must be born of water and the Spirit; it involves both a cleansing and a renewal. And Jesus is the only one who can do both of those things, all we can do is receive and respond.
It’s what Ezekiel had written about over five hundred years beforehand: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27) Notice how many times God says, “I will.” It is he who produces this change, not us.
And it’s also something Paul wrote about years later: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:4-6) The two parts of being born from above are cleansing and renewal, both of which are totally up to God.
Maybe that’s the part Nicodemus struggled with the most. Maybe he was simply unwilling to surrender his life and his knowledge and his position and his history to God and start all over again. Maybe he was unwilling to let go of control and become a child again.
And maybe that’s what you and I struggle with as well. Surrender is not an easy thing; it takes the ball out of our hands and puts it squarely and wholly in the hands of God.
Journal: What is the Spirit of God doing in you these days? How is he asking you to surrender to him? What does it look like these days for you to be born from above?
Pray
Closing Prayer:
"Take, Lord, and receive
all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me."
— St. Ignatius of Loyola
