On Being Born Again

Ancient Judaism celebrated several rituals which marked the stages of the Jewish life cycle, beginning with birth and circumcision (Gen 17:10-14; Josephus, Ant. 1.10.5), continuing on to ordination and various levels of Jewish leadership, and culminating in the death of that individual at a ripe age. Nicodemus was in his final stage of such a life cycle (ripe age and high-level Jewish leadership status) when Jesus surprised him with his statement that “you must be born again.” Later in the story, Jesus respectfully challenges Nicodemus’ affiliation with the Ioudaioi ("Jews/Judeans") by saying: “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” (Jn. 3:10)

In verse 8 we read that Jesus explained to Nicodemus that God’s Spirit is an unbridled personal cosmic force that submits to the leadership of God alone. This personal cosmic force brings about the new birth that allows someone to be counted among those belonging to the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ rhetorical question to Nicodemus was also a challenge to the authority of the Ioudaioi of which Nicodemus, at least for the time being, was still a part. Throughout the Gospel we see that the Ioudaioi show themselves to be clueless and insensitive to the things of the Spirit. It is no wonder that Nicodemus, the best and most spiritually aware of them, does not know what the One sent by God has in mind.

On one hand, this challenge showed the Jerusalem leaders in a negative light, while at the same time it was meant to provoke an appropriate question in the mind of the Samaritan and other Israelite readers: “What if my sages/leaders are also just as blinded and spiritually incapable as the leadership of Jerusalem?” The story was a Judean self-critique that was meant to provoke Samaritan Israelites, among others, to challenge their own authorities and to seriously consider pledging their allegiance to Jesus. The main challenger to the current Judean and Samaritan leadership structures was talking with Nicodemus at night. His name was Jesus. He was the Son of the Living God