The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
March 20, 2011
Vol. 14 no. 12
You always have to watch what you say and how you say it, especially if it’s going to be in the Bible. Jesus is reported saying a lot of things, most of it public, but few of his sayings have had more impact than the intense midnight conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus, a member of the ruling council of the Jews, in John 3.
Nicodemus was not unlike many of us, intrigued by Jesus and his ideas, but knew that it was dangerous to his social standing to be caught speaking to him in broad daylight. A secret talk then, though skeptics wonder how it ever ended up in the Gospel. Who recorded it? It’s not unlikely Nicodemus eventually became active in the Church and recited the conversation as he remembered it. There is even an apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus out there. Two words, ‘born again,’ say a lot.
These two simple metaphorical words have eluded definition. Nicodemus is portrayed as someone who does not get jokes, asking how do you reenter your mother’s womb? The second word is a little Greek adverb anothen with a double meaning – ‘from heaven’ or ‘again.’ The latter translation has won the most votes, and with it came a specific kind of emotional/ecstatic experience. Born Again Christians are convinced that unless one has had some dramatic unique experience one has not really become a Christian. Too bad, because most Christians in the world do not share such an experience at a specific time, but perhaps over years or a lifetime. There are innumerable great Christians who were not born again, perhaps in much greater numbers than the born agains. Don’t dismiss Jesus’ two words, however, in each of us, something’s got to move.
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan