Sermon: Second Sunday in Lent, John 3:1-17, March 5, 2023Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Sermon: Second Sunday in Lent, John 3:1-17, March 5, 2023

Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Has anyone ever asked you if you’re born again? Maybe a relative at a holiday meal? A co-worker? Friend? Neighbor? Or maybe especially someone you don’t know at all? Sitting next to you on a plane. Or passing you in a shopping mall or store. Or when you’re out for a walk?

When I was in seminary, I lived in Minneapolis for the summer when I was studying Greek. In the evenings, I loved to walk on the paths around that city’s beautiful lakes. One evening, it was almost dark, and someone appeared unannounced out of the shadows and asked me the question: have you been born again?

I don’t recall what I said, if anything much. I know the exchange didn’t last long. But I was a bit put off because there was absolutely no context for that encounter or for asking me such a profound question without first trying to get to know me.

And based on previous experiences, mine and the reports of others, if I responded that I was a Christian, an active member of a church and in fact was preparing for ordained ministry, those responses would not likely have necessarily satisfied the interrogator. They might still persist: but are you born again? For them, church membership and even seeking to become a pastor, are not ultimately sufficient answers.

But you know what? Those interrogators who appear out of the blue have some good points. It is true that many church goers are lukewarm Christians and may only go through the motions of faith adherence. Even those preparing for ministry may not have a particularly vibrant faith life. I know, because I’ve seen that first hand, on occasion, when I oversaw the candidacy process for ordination in Metro NY Synod.

For born again Christians, including the evangelical variety who emphasize the decision to accept Jesus as personal savior and the Pentecostal variety who emphasize having a baptism in the Holy Spirit that often results in speaking in tongues, for such Christians there’s a passion to see evidence of a vibrant, vital, living faith. And that’s a commendable thing indeed.

Born again Christians might well point to today’s passage from John’s gospel as evidence of the need to be born again. John reports that Jesus said: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the dominion of God without being born of water and Spirit.” In essence, there’s need for a second birth, that is, to be born again.

All of this gives us occasion to explore what it means to be born again. It’s a significant theme in today’s gospel passage where the gospel writer John mentions being born a total of eight times.  

Jesus is talking about being born beyond original childbirth. For example, Jesus talks about being born from above. That’s when Nicodemus asked, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Great questions, these.

Then Jesus replies with more qualifiers about being born again, saying we must be born of water and Spirit. And then Jesus makes the distinction between being born of flesh and born of the Spirit.

And finally, Jesus goes on to talk about how “the wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” He concludes: “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Well, that gives us plenty to unpack and to try to understand.

But let’s start with what it means to be born. Being born can mean things other than our original birth as babies. The biblical Greek word that is translated in this passage as being born has to do with being generated, to become, or to come into existence, to begin to be, to receive being.

This kind of thing happens all the time. Yes, when babies are born. But we also become children, adolescents, young adults, adults, and senior citizens. We become teachers and lawyers and parents. We become partnered or married. And more.

And we’re constantly changing throughout our lives, becoming today someone we weren’t exactly yesterday. All of this is generation and regeneration; birth and rebirth. This birth-and-rebirth also implies a kind of dying to who we were before, as we leave features of our old selves behind.

So, if someone asks you “are you born again?” you can answer in all honesty, yes, of course! In our bodies, old cells die all the time and new cells are formed. And every day is a new day, a new birth. Every time we get out of bed in the morning, we are in some sense born again.

But this is not the kind of thing that born again Christians have in mind when they ask others if they are born again. Still, these natural life cycle explorations are important for advancing our thinking about rebirth.

So, what does it mean for us as Christians to be born again? Let me state it in no uncertain terms: all Christians are born again. We’re all born again Christians. It’s just that we may have different understandings about what it means to be born again.

So, how might Lutherans answer the question, “are you born again?”

First off, Lutherans always begin with Christ. We take as foundational Christ’s birth as the word of God made flesh full of grace and truth. And then we Lutherans zero in on Christ’s death on the cross and then Christ’s new birth in the resurrection from the dead. Central to our theological sensibilities are the words we heard in the gospel for today: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,” John reports Jesus as having said, “so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15) What’s more, Lutherans, of course, see Jesus’ death and resurrection in the light of and as expressions of God’s love, mercy, and grace – “for God so loved the world that God gave the Son, the only begotten one, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16) – probably the most familiar of all bible verses for Christians.

God’s sending the Son, Jesus Christ, becomes the ultimate fulfillment of the promise made to Abram in today’s reading from Genesis – God has made Jesus’ name great such that he is a blessing and in Christ “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (cf. Genesis 12:2b-3). So, for Lutherans, any talk about being born again centers on Jesus Christ.

Christ’s birth into the world as God’s word made flesh and his rebirth in the resurrection from the dead set the stage for and make possible our being born again when we are born of water and Spirit in the waters of baptism (cf. John 3:5). Think of the baptismal font as the womb and the waters therein as the amniotic fluids – from these waters we emerge re-born as God’s children, members of Christ’s body the church, mother church. In this way, in answer to Nicodemus’ query, we can indeed enter a second time into the mother’s womb to be born. Only this time, our mother is Christ and the church (cf. John 3:4) and the womb is the baptismal font.

Lutherans believe that the sacrament of baptism is not just an ordinance, not merely a ritual that we are commanded to do. No, baptism is the source of our being born again. We believe that this sacrament, this water re-birth in the Spirit is generative, regenerative, creative and recreative. And in one and the same action we are given new birth and the gift of the Spirit, conveyed in the laying on of hands and making the sign of the cross on the forehead with oil.

And this rebirth by water, word and Spirit also births our faith, our belief in Christ, our trust in God’s grace, for God’s “promise [to us] depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace” as Paul says in Romans as we heard today (Romans 4:16).

Theologically speaking, it’s justification by grace, effective through faith, that makes for our being born-again. Not a lukewarm faith, but one living and active, as exemplified by Luther himself who when he rediscovered the centrality of grace apart from our works he felt as though he had been born again.

And while our rebirth by baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection happens once and for all, we return to this reality daily, and are in a sense reborn again and again and again on a daily basis as we die to sin through repentance and rise again, are born again, through God’s forgiveness in absolution as we also remember and give thanks for our baptism.

And we are not the ones who make all this happen, we’re not the agents in all of this being born again and again. It’s not our decision that ultimately counts. No, it is God active in the Holy Spirit who makes all this happen, as Jesus testifies in John: “The wind [the Spirit of God] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” (John 3:8)

Moreover, Lutherans believe that our rebirth in the Spirit happens not just to individuals but to the whole community, the church, the body of Christ. It was the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost that gave birth to the church, our community.

And furthermore, Lutherans believe that our being born again is not just for ourselves and our individual, personal salvation. Rather, our being born again is for the sake of the world that God loves so very much. Our being born again happens so that we can love and serve our neighbors. Our faith, then, births our loving ministry to our neighbors as we give birth to God’s loving word in our own words and deeds.

And all of this contributes to the fulfillment of God’s promise that one day our whole world, the whole creation, will be born again, as God’s reign of justice is birthed once and for all in the resurrection at the last day when Christ returns in glory.   

In short, there’s a lot of being born again going on here! So, if someone asks you if you’ve been born again, now you can give them an earful in reply – Yes, thanks be to God, in Christ, I am, and we are, born again and again and again each and every day as part of what God is up to in redeeming all of creation! Thanks be to God. Amen.