In a passage many of us could quote from memory, Jesus sits down for a quiet conversation with Nicodemus and says something that still surprises us: “You really must be born from above.”
This week we lingered with that familiar story from John 3 and tried to hear it again with fresh ears. Instead of rushing past it to slogans or assumptions, we noticed how gentle the scene really is. No spectacle. No altar call. Just two teachers talking at night.
Note: this is the first in a sermon series called “Walking with John” as we go through the beloved disciple’s accounts of the events leading up to Easter.
We reflected on how “born from above” is not about self-reinvention or trying harder. It is about a new origin — something that happens to us and in us, not something we manufacture. Just as we did not choose our first birth, we cannot engineer this second one. It is gift.
One of the images that helped us most was breath. In Scripture, the word for breath and the word for Spirit in the underlying language, Greek or Hebrew, are the same. Breath is given. You did not wake up and decide to breathe this morning. And yet you can notice it, deepen it, cooperate with it. In the same way, the Spirit’s life is not something we control, but something we open ourselves to.
We also remembered that birth is not an on/off switch. There are months of hidden gestation and long hours of labor before emergence. So it is with grace. Prevenient grace goes before us, stirring curiosity. Justifying grace brings a real new beginning. Sanctifying grace keeps shaping us over a lifetime. Nicodemus himself moves from nighttime questions to quiet advocacy to courageous devotion. He grows. He risks. He emerges.
“You really must” is not a threat. It is loving necessity. An invitation not to instant perfection, but to remain open to the long labor of grace.
If you find yourself questioning, wrestling, or growing slowly, that’s not failure. It may be exactly how the Spirit works. I hope you’ll take a few moments this week to listen, to breathe, and to notice the life God is already giving.
We’d love to see you in person at Lincoln Park-Lynnwood United Methodist Church, 3120 Pershing Street, Knoxville, TN. Come as you are. We’re not in the judging business. We’re in the welcoming business.
