John 3:1-8

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”  Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:1-8

At long last we finally arrive at the famous John 3.  John 3 itself is not necessarily famous, but it is the verse, John 3:16 that is famous.  It is perhaps the most well known verse in the entire bible.  However, we're not there yet...

The chapter begins as a Pharisee named Nicodemus enters the scene.  It is night and he is meeting Jesus in secret so that others wouldn't know.  Though the pharisees may not have been on board with Jesus, we see Nicodemus acknowledge him saying “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him".  He calls him "Rabbi" and acknowledges that Jesus is a teacher come from God.  Now, one might object saying that Jesus is not "from God" but he is God.  Well, they're both true.  Jesus is God as you may already know from John 1:1.  We read in 1 John 4 that Jesus was sent by God.  Perhaps there's a better verse for this, but that's the one that came to my mind.  In any case, they're both true.

I find it interesting that in response to this, Jesus says something that seems irrelevant: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”.  I don't really understand how the conversation went there, but as the conversation progresses we see Nicodemus having a hard time understanding what Jesus is saying.  He doesn't understand what it means to be born again and he can't understand how things can be the way Jesus is explaining them.  To be fair, being born again is probably a difficult concept to grasp or understand to those who don't know already.

As it is with the book of John, things are quite complex and deep, yet it is at the same time simple.  Jesus is merely having a conversation with Nicodemus and Nicodemus isn't quite getting what Jesus is saying.  However, looking into it more, we read about being born again and the spirit.  These things in the book of John can be very complex.

Followers of Jesus can be referred to as being born again.  It makes me think of Romans 6 which talks about being buried with Christ and being raised with him.  Perhaps not the best place, but it's what came to mind.  Maybe Romans 8 which talks about the spirit and the flesh.  In any case, what Jesus says is that being born again is a requirement of seeing and entering the kingdom of God.  We are born of the flesh, but to be born again is to be born of the spirit.  Jesus even uses the wind to explain it.  You may not know where the wind comes from or goes, but you can hear its sound.  Similarly, we may not understand all there is to know about being born of the spirit, but you can see evidence of it.  Perhaps with something so key to the kingdom of God, it is important to be born again.