“That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
One of the most basic questions a stranger is asked is “Where are you from?” Another question often follows: “Where are you going?” When the angel of the Lord appeared to Haggar in the wilderness she asked him, “Where have you come from and where are you going.” When Jacob’s wandering was nearly over and he found a well to water his sheep he asked the shepherds already gathered: “Brothers, where do you come from?” One of the great mysteries of the Gospels is the origin of Jesus. At one point in a confrontation with some Pharisees Jesus responded: “I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I am come or where I am going.”
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night…”
This event appears to have occurred fairly early into the public ministry of Lord. It is hard to tell exactly when Nicodemus visited with Jesus, but clearly it was a time when Jesus was in Jerusalem and it was after he had attracted the attention of the ruling class by working miracles. There are those who think that Nicodemus was not a real person, but a foil invented by the Evangelist to contrast the Pharisees with Jesus. But there is no good textual reason for that position and, in my opinion, it is the product of an overly active imagination and suspicion brought to the text. There is every reason to believe that Nicodemus was in fact exactly as he is presented by John: a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, a member of the 70 – the Sanhedrin, as well as a kinsman to a wealthy, aristocratic and prominent family. I think that most Jews upon hearing this narrative, certainly those in Jerusalem, would pretty easily identify the man and his household. His connections surely put him in starp contrast to this itinerate, working-class preacher. Nicodemus has come to Jesus under the cover of darkness to learn more about him first hand. He was not alone in his curiosity and he says to Jesus:
“Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him…”
“Thou are a teacher…” not, “thou art a prophet.” As I said, Nicodemus is not alone in this judgment. “We know thou are a teacher…” There are others, probably in the Sanhedrin who recognizes in Jesus’ teaching and his works that he is a man sent from God. But you see how Nicodemus is all about what is here below, not what is from above? He has not one clue that he is having a conversation with the God his ancestors. That’s not all Nicodemus didn’t know.
“That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
The origin and destiny of wind remains as baffling for us today as it was for people in antiquity. Nicodemus was as unequipped to recognize the origin and character of the children of the Kingdom as he was to gauge the origin and destiny of the wind blowing through the high grass of Jerusalem. It sways one way now and then another way. And yet even here we are not describing the wind, but evidence of the wind made visible or made audible through rustling leaves –“thou hearest the sound thereof.” The wind itself remains invisible, mysterious and free; and so is the Kingdom of God. And the children of Kingdom, as well, are mysteriously, invisibly born from above, born of heaven, born of God, and born again.
Jesus is not saying that the children of God are impulsive and flighty. He is saying this: The children of God are those who are born of God from above – miraculously birthed into this world. The new beginning required of Nicodemus and everyone else is not a new beginning on the merely human plane. That would be the case with the baptism of John the Baptist. Let me underline this point: this is not a matter of second chances or personal reformations. What is required for one to see the Kingdom of God is a new beginning from God – a miraculous birth into God’s family. This is something that the intended readers of the Gospel already knew because they knew that the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven. John’s intended audience brought this information to the account of Nicodemus coming to Jesus. But they not only knew about the Holy Spirit and the New Birth – through the grace of baptism they had made Children of God. They understood all this, but they also understood that the world is utterly unequipped to register either the presence of the Kingdom of God or the Children of God.
This is the irony of hearing the sound of the wind. The world only hears wind. The world does not know what the assumed reader of the Gospel of John knows, namely that the wind is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The sound of the wind is the voice of the wind and that is the voice of God. But only the children of God can hear his voice. The sheep recognize the voice of their Shepherd. The children know that Jesus is the voice of God, the Form of God, the Word of God, the enfleshed of Life of God.
“That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Jesus explains all this to Nicodemus. He repeats what he said before, but includes “of water and the Spirit.” “You must be born of water and the Spirit.” This is a new beginning that is required of Nicodemus and of every son of Adam in order to enter into God Domain. But listen: in no way is Jesus deprecating Flesh by what he declares to Nicodemus. He is trying to break it down for this Ruler of the Jews. Look we have two realms: Flesh begets flesh. That is how you got here in the first place. But Spirit of necessity begets spirit. Flesh is good. Flesh is not the opposite of spirit. In fact, flesh is created such that, in order to reach its full potential, it must receive and even participate fully in the Spirit, but that requires the Spirit’s begetting.
Now we have to give Nicodemus some credit. He perceived that this is humanly impossible. That much he got right. But he, a Teacher of Israel, entirely missed the point that what is impossible with man, is possible with God. In the end of the conversation the only thing he can say is “How can these things be?”
“Are you a master of Israel? And you don’t know these things?”
Why doesn’t he recall Genesis 1: 1 & 2?
“The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters;” and the first thing God did was to call forth Light and then Life.
And why doesn’t he recall Ezekiel 36:
“I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I put within you: I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh…And I will put my Spirit within you…”
My point is that this is not entirely absent from the Old Testament. God has been, at least, hinting along these lines for several thousand years through revered ancestors. But in all fairness to Nicodemus, he could not have seen what the first Christians saw in this Gospel narrative: A familiar experience in the Church. God begetting children of his very own through the water of Baptism. The Spirit that hovered over the formless waters on the first day creation now hovers over the baptismal font to beget children of the Father and craft a Temple suited for Divinity in our bodies of the flesh.
Well that is the account St. John the Theologian preserved for us. And I have given you the Church’s interpretation. But here’s one last question: Why would our Father’s in the English Catholic tradition select this Gospel for Trinity Sunday? I think mainly because we have all three Persons of the Trinity identified and acting. It takes a Father to beget children and so we have God the Father as the One who begets. We have God the Son in flesh bringing the Divine Kingdom to his own chosen people. And we have God the Holy Spirit who, if I may put it so crudely, is the Instrument who actually effects the new birth through the sacrament of Baptism.
“That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again…”