I brought a sailboat and a bicycle in with me today to help explain what is going on with the John 3 text that we have as our gospel. It is a particularly tricky text to deal with because it does not want us to come to a settled understanding of what it means. At the exact same time it wants to give us solid confidence in what God is up to and how God works.
Let’s start with what it is not. Many Christians will say they are “born again” Christians. That isn’t typical language in Lutheran churches. If anyone ever asks you are you born again, you say, “Yes, I was born again when I was baptized.” And they’ll reply that that doesn’t count as being born again. Being born again means some sort of conviction or conversion experience as an adult; a sort of proof of validity of faith and commitment.
I disagree with them, but I am not going to dismiss the concept as wrong or heretical. What is wrong, however, is that their idea of being born again is rooted in the story of Nicodemus that we read. And the root of that story is counter to their understanding of being born again.
That takes us to the bicycle. Nicodemus saw faith as being like riding a bike. When you’re riding a bicycle you are providing 100% of the energy needed to get you from Point A to Point B. I’m not talking about those new hybrid bikes which have a battery and a motor that help you along. They’re cool and all, but that’s not what I’m talking about!
You’re also producing 100% of the energy needed to get from Point A to Point B if you’re walking or running. But a bicycle is different in that it uses your body’s energy more efficiently.
Faith the way Nicodemus understood it was like a bike in that the root energy came from you; and your faith was like getting an efficiency advantage from God. It made it easier and better. But again, 100% of the energy originated with you. It was up to you. You had to create it. You were in control.
That leads to the very mechanical thinking Nicodemus has when he hears Jesus say he must be born again. It was still all about him. Those who call themselves “born again” are focusing on a personal conversion experience. And again, that is not necessarily wrong. It is just coming up short on what Jesus is getting at.
When Jesus says you must be born again, the Greek word used there is anoqen. That means both born again and born from above. It is not one or the other, but both. If you focus too much on being “born again” you are missing the born from above part. The born from above part is the uncontrolled part, the dynamic part. That takes us to the sailboat.
You may recognize this little boat as it’s the same one I’ve brought in before to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit. I think it will suit our slightly different purposes today.
When you are sailing 0% of the energy to move you from Point A to Point B comes from you. It comes from the wind. However, that does not mean you have no control. You are not limited to only going where the wind blows you and at what speed the wind blows you.
This little boat is very simple, but even so, an experienced sailor can use it to go wherever he or she wishes no matter which way the wind is blowing. Tacking and jibing maneuvers allow you to even get to a point exactly into the wind, although it is a circuitous path. The sails are harnessing the power of the wind that is out there. They do not control it. They do not make the energy. It is not like riding a bike. But it is cooperating with it, capturing it, using the energy to suit your needs. The sailor isn’t passive all. It takes skill. Strong winds take different techniques than light winds. A properly set sailboat goes faster than the wind pushing it.
And, while I am not a skilled enough sailor, I do know sailors who sail without needing to use a rudder. By the proper techniques with the main sail they can steer, go faster or slower, brake and stop, and even sail backwards. I’ve heard stories from hundreds of years ago that highly skilled crews in the American Navy could sail their ships with such agility, even going backwards sometimes, that the British navy struggled to target them with cannon fire.
And sailboats are by no means slow. If you’ve been following Ocean Race 2023 you know this year’s 32,000 mile round the world race is nearing its end. (The American team is in the lead by the way.) The ocean-going sailboats in the race are hitting around 40 mph with the right conditions.
Now let’s look at that as an example of faith being both born and again born from above. It’s not about you. It’s about the wind. Faith is not your creation. Faith is God’s energy being poured out. You do not control the wind. You do not control faith. The person who is “born again” acts as though they are now living in a new reality. Maybe so, but the new reality is not in their control.
God still gives you enormous freedom in how you want to capture the energy. Just like a sailor’s freedom for how to capture the wind. But the key thing is that the energy is not yours.
When you’re on a bicycle you can push yourself through whatever comes. It is all you. With sailing, there’s no pushing with your energy. You are 100% dependent upon that which you cannot control.
Jesus wants Nicodemus to realize that faith is not his to control or even to fully understand. But he is to realize that it is confidently there. Perhaps the breezes can be light at times, perhaps even for a long time, but it will return.
That takes us to where we will end, which if we have gotten this far by understanding we do not control or limit, then we are in a place to hear.
I think theologian Gail O’Day puts it pretty succinctly in the New Interpreter’s Bible:
“To believe in Jesus is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God loved the world so much that God have the Son as a gift. The God revealed in Jesus is a God whose love knows no bounds and who asks only that one receive the gift. If one receives the gift, one receives eternal life, because one’s life is reshaped and redefined by the love of God in Jesus. The words about judgment with which the text concludes underscore the seriousness of God’s offer.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Pg. 555)
Such is the nature of God’s love that resists all limits and all boundaries. Accept it and go for a ride. Enjoy the adventure. It’ll still be hard work, but the energy of life will all be coming from God.
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