Changed by Grace
John 3:1-17[1]
Most of us have a
healthy dose of skepticism these days. If something sounds too good to be true,
we tend to think it is. And we have good reason to think that, with all the
various scams going around. Of course, skepticism is nothing new. People used
to say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. That’s because the people who
offered you a free meal usually wanted you to buy something from them. While
self-reliance can be a part of a healthy outlook on life, you can take it too
far. Especially when it comes to faith. One of the problems Jesus encountered
in John’s gospel was the skepticism of people who thought that what he was
offering was just too good to be true.
I think that’s because
they tried to fit Jesus into the box of their preconceived understanding about
God. But there’s not much about Jesus or God in John’s Gospel that fits into
any kind of man-made box! The basic affirmation of John’s Gospel is that in
Jesus, the one who was “with God” and “was God” in the beginning became a human
being (Jn 1:1, 14). And by doing so, Jesus has made God known in such a way
that those who trust in him and the gift of “eternal life” may have that new
life now. And most of them looked at him like he was crazy. Or they walked away
shaking their heads at what sounded too good to be true. Or they kept asking
him what they were supposed to do, and he kept offering them eternal life as a
gift that only God could give them.
Our Gospel lesson is
one that most people have at least heard about. John 3:16, “For God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
perish but may have eternal life,” may be the one Bible verse they know. But
we tend to read it as if Jesus were offering a choice, not a gift. You can
believe and receive eternal life. Or you can choose not to believe and
“perish.” But Jesus wasn’t talking about a choice. He was talking the gift of
new life from God.
When Nicodemus came to
Jesus at night, he very likely had a question on his mind that a lot of people
shared. It’s the question that others asked Jesus: “what must I do to inherit
eternal life?” (Lk 10:25; 18:18). Nicodemus never actually asked that question,
but Jesus’ response to him shows that he knew that was what was on his mind.
And Jesus’ answer put the question of “inheriting eternal life” completely
outside of what anyone could do: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the
kingdom of God without being born from above” (Jn 3:3). When you read that
against the backdrop of Jesus’ teachings in John’s Gospel, the point is that
eternal life is something only God can give. No one can ever do anything to
“inherit” or earn it!
Of course, that
translation of Jesus’ answer, that you must be “born from above,” is not the
one that most people know. Most people know it in the version that they’ve read
in their Bibles from the days of the King James Version to the New Living
Translation: “you must be born again” (Jn 3:7). Again, the problem is that’s
not what Jesus was talking about. He was talking about a process that is both
powerful beyond our understanding and also mysterious as to how it happens.
It’s described in John’s Gospel as being “born of God” (Jn 1:13) and being
“born of the Spirit” (Jn 3: 8). It’s something that only God can do, and we can
only receive it as a gift.
The reason for the
confusion about all this is that the phrase in the original Greek version can
be translated both ways: “born again,” or
“born from above.” Very likely that was intentional. In John’s Gospel
Jesus uses phrases with double meanings that people misunderstand. In our
lesson Nicodemus thinks Jesus is talking about some process by which adults
must somehow climb back into their mothers’ womb and be “born again.” When
Jesus tried to explain it in terms of being “born of God” and “born of the
Spirit,” Nicodemus was completely stumped. And he was a “teacher of Israel,”
which meant he had a significant understanding of the Bible. But this was
something he had missed in his study of the Hebrew Bible: that God had promised
to give new life to his people, and through them to the whole world. The way he
would do that was by changing their hearts (Ez 36:26-28).[2] Again, that’s something only God can do!
In our day those who
talk about being “born again” throw that phrase around as if it’s the easiest
thing in the world. All you have to do is pray a prayer and you’re “born
again.” Unfortunately, I would say that notion bears little resemblance to the
powerful and mysterious process that Jesus was talking about.[3] That’s because it doesn’t result in much change. What it results in is a lot of
people claiming to be “Christians” whose lives look pretty much exactly like
everybody else. When you pay attention to what Jesus was saying about being
“born from above,” it’s pretty clear that he’s referring to something
altogether different. He’s talking about a change that God brings about in our
lives so that we can know “eternal life.” There’s nothing “simple” or “easy”
about that!
When we read this
passage from the perspective that it’s about a change that God is making in our
lives, a change that only God can make, we see John 3:16 in a wholly different
way. It’s much bigger than a “get out of jail free” card or a ticket to heaven
for certain individuals. It’s about the amazing thing God is doing in all our
lives. It’s a declaration that underlies everything in John’s Gospel: that the
power of what God is doing through Jesus, his incarnation, his death on the
cross, his resurrection to new life, and his ascension to reign at the right
hand of God, is something that is meant to change the whole world! And everyone
in it!
We’re a lot like the
people Jesus encountered in John’s Gospel. The good news of God’s gift of
eternal life is so far beyond our ability to grasp that we don’t know how to
respond in any other way than to ask, “what am I supposed to do with this?” I
would say the first thing we should do is to realize that it’s out of our
hands. This is something that only God can do for us. It has to come “from
above.” What we can do is what Jesus called us to do: believe. And by that I
think he was calling us first and foremost to trust God to accomplish all that
he has set out to do in this world and in our lives. Beyond that, Jesus was
calling us to entrust ourselves into his hands as our Savior and Lord, not just
once but every day, throughout our lives. We do so in the confidence
that through him all our lives are being changed by God’s grace.
[1] ©
2023 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 3/5/2023 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] On
Nicodemus’ misunderstanding, cf. Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII, 138-41, where he points out
that there was ample background for the idea of the outpouring of the Spirit in
preparation for entering God’s kingdom.
[3] Cf., similarly, Gail R. O’Day, “The Gospel of John,” New Interpreters Bible IX:554-55.
She says (p. 555), “By codifying the expression ‘born again’ and turning
it into a slogan, interpreters risk losing the powerful offer of new life
contained in Jesus’ words.”
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