Monday of the Second Week of Easter
Being reborn in the Spirit
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Jn 3,1-8
Nicodemus was an old, well experienced person, who belonged to the Sanhedrin as a doctor and many in Israel turned to him as a man of wisdom and knowledge. Today he would be called an opinion leader, a person who guides the other ones’ thought. He was also humble, ready to perceive the signs of the times and the novelty of the Spirit; indeed, he goes to meet Jesus, whose signs were clearly those of a God sent person, even if he goes at night because a teacher who goes and see a new teacher risks losing much of its credibility. After Nicodemus has introduced himself and after the first introductory words, Jesus goes straight to the heart of the matter: “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above”.
Nicodemus also wastes no time and immediately raises the typical question of a wise person who realizes that he has not yet reached the joy and amazement of those who have come to the source of life and mystery. His question is that of every person who, after learning enough about the facts around him, feels the need of a second birth, a jump in faith to enter the spiritual realm where finding the answers to the whys and wherefores of life: “How can a person once grown old be born again?” Jesus gives a very clear answer to this question: he tells Nicodemus to look forward to new reality of the kingdom of heaven, while he tells us to look back to when, through our baptism, we became part of the Kingdom. He asks us to revisit what we have lived and understood ever since with a new spirit, in order to penetrate the mystery of joy, faith and hope, and newly make ours the life project we have been entrusted with. It will not be difficult, just pull our too earthly oars on the boat and raise the sails of faith, abandoning ourselves to the wind of the Spirit: “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes”. Let us trust that wind.