Bp Miller’s Musings: Second Sunday of Lent

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.

Jesus speaks these words in the context of his encounter with Nicodemus, a Pharisee. This leader and expert in the Jewish teaching of his day, approaches Jesus by night. In many paintings of this encounter the artists highlight the contrast between the darkness of the night with the light of God in Jesus Christ. Nicodemus, it seems, becomes enlightened through his encounter with Jesus.

In their conversation, Jesus says to Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above (born again).” Some take this verse to indicate a need to have a spiritual birth, to be born again. I think they miss the mark. I think Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he is already born from above, that the Spirit of God has given him wisdom and understanding made evident in his earlier statement: “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.”

Nicodemus confesses that Jesus comes from God, and Jesus tells Nicodemus that this confession proves he has been born from above. Nicodemus is clearly surprised when Jesus says this, even to misunderstanding what Jesus means: “Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

“Do not be astonished,” says Jesus, for Nicodemus must be born from above, because he has said what only the Spirit could give him knowledge to say. Just as the wind blows where it will without being seen, except in the rustling of leaves or brushing against flesh, so the Spirit gives gifts to whom it wishes and becomes evident in the exercise of those gifts—sometimes without knowing ourselves.

Leaders in the church—pastors, deacons, teachers, theologians, parents, etc.—often discount those who do not have the same training or level of maturity. We become deaf to their confessions of faith or discount their words less eloquent than ours. This story of Nicodemus and Jesus teaches us to listen carefully, for 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. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

In Psalm 8:2 we read, “Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.” And in Wisdom (10:21), “for wisdom opened the mouths of those who were mute, and made the tongues of infants speak clearly.”

In what unexpected ways is God’s Spirit speaking and working through someone whom you have discounted? To whom should you listen for the Word of God? I wonder how much we miss by seeking holy wisdom only from those who are educated and trained for ministry.

O God, whose good and gracious will comes about without our prayer, we ask that it might come about in and among us. To this end, you break and hinder every evil scheme and will—such as the will of the devil, the world, and our flesh—for it would not hallow your name and would prevent the coming of your kingdom. Please strengthen us and keep us steadfast in your word and in faith until the end of our lives. May your gracious and good will be done.