In John
chapter 3, Jesus has an interesting conversation with a man named Nicodemus,
who was a wealthy Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, which was the
legislative body of the Jews. In short, he was a part of the most highly
educated and affluent circle of his milieu.
We
see again and again in scripture that when people have an experience with
Jesus, their lives are transformed forever. Nicodemus didn’t know what the deal
was with Jesus, not yet, but something about Jesus had captivated him, and he
came with a humble heart ready to be taught, calling Jesus “Rabbi,” and asking
him questions. This, from one of the preeminent religious teachers and an
expert on the law. Asking for theological insight from a social nobody, a
carpenter, from a poor family in a poor mountain town. It was unprecedented. Or
it would have been, if we weren’t talking about, you know, God.
Nicodemus
tries to start slow with a very typical logical Rabbinic dialogue, but Jesus,
who liked to answer the questions that people hadn’t asked, yet were truly what
their hearts wanted to know, gets right to the point. Jesus tells him about
being born again, which means being spiritually reborn by the perfecting and
redemptive power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in verse 5 that one can only enter
the kingdom of God if one is born of “water and the Spirit.” But what does that
mean exactly, and who or what is the Spirit, really?
Well,
the Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the Trinity. He possesses all of
the divine attributes of God (he is eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent,
omniscient, and holy), but he also plays a distinct role in the story of
redemption as the one that empowers and equips believers to complete God’s
mission of spreading the gospel of Jesus in a broken world. The
Spirit has existed from the beginning and was an agent of creation, along with
Christ. St. Irenaeus refers to the work of the Son and the Spirit in creation
as the “two hands of God,” as evidenced in Psalm 33:6, which says, “By the word
of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their
host.” The word for Spirit in Hebrew is ruach,
which also means breath or wind. Picture the Spirit of God “hovering over the
face of the waters” in Genesis 1:2. The Spirit also sustains all of creation;
Job 34:14-15 tells us, “If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself
his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would
return to dust.”
Additionally, the Holy Spirit makes us new creatures in Christ
Jesus, who redeems us from the curse of the law so we can receive the Spirit
(Galatians 3:13-14). When we are filled with the Spirit, we experience the
power of the Spirit, which fills us with deep joy, peace, and boldness. And
when we walk in the Spirit, we reflect the character of Christ and bear the
fruit of the Spirit. The ultimate purpose of the Spirit is to glorify the Son
(John 16:14).
Now
that the introductions are over, let’s get back to Jesus and Nicodemus, because
Jesus is explaining a very complex and beautiful metaphor. When Jesus tells
Nicodemus of the water and the spirit, he is not referring to baptism, but to
the spiritual cleansing God wants for his people, which we read about in
Ezekiel chapter 36, when God says:
“I will take you from
the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own
land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your
uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you
a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the
heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my
Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey
my rules. You shall dwell in the
land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be
your God” (24-28).
In chapter 37, God proceeds to direct Ezekiel to look out over the
valley, which was littered with old, dry bones (which, gross) and to prophesy
over the dry bones so that they would come to life. Okay, God. Ezekiel is
apparently not scared of a little Walking
Dead action, so he says: “Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I
will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon
you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put
breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD”
(5-6). So Ezekiel obeys and the bones stand up, but they are still not alive
until God commands his breath to enter them. Remember that Hebrew word ruach? Breath. Wind. Spirit. The chapter
ends with the prophecy that God will make his dwelling among his people
(remember how Jesus tabernacled among
us?!), and the nations will know that God is the Lord.
Spoiler: we are the dry bones. We are the dead. We are completely dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13). We have no life in us nor any power within ourselves to regenerate. We are utterly lost. But if we are believers, Christ has cleansed us from all uncleannesses by the power of his blood and the Spirit has indwelt us, giving us new hearts and new life. This is an incredible gift. And each day, the Spirit prompts us to fight the good fight of the faith, to draw near to God, and to reflect the image of Christ. What an honor, friends! This is the story of redemption that Jesus tells Nicodemus that night, using the ancient stories with which Nicodemus was familiar. Nicodemus’ mind is blown. “How can this be?” he asks. Maybe he is starting to understand that the law, which he has studied his entire life and in fact has memorized, is entirely about the man sitting across the table from him. I like to think that Nicodemus became born again that night, but the scripture doesn’t say. We see him again in John 7, urging his colleagues in the Sanhedrin that the law says they must hear Jesus out before condemning him. And again in John 19, giving Jesus’ body a royal embalming with a king’s wealth of spices. As Jesus said, we never know when or how the Spirit will move, but we do know that God is always at work through the power of his Spirit in us and all around us. It is our privilege to play a small part in the story of what God is doing in his world. Let us cry out to the Spirit that by his power and presence the world will come to know our God.
Written By: Jess Upshaw Glass