Born Of The Spirit

Todays' Gospel passage recounts a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, one of the chief priests, that took place at night (for Nicodemus didn't want his colleagues to know about it) before the  events of the Passover a couple of years later when Jesus was crucified, died and rose again to life.  Jesus set the stage, the framework, the explanation for his sacrifice.  "...the Son of Man must be lifted up (crucified), so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.." (Jn 3:15).  Jesus uses the phrase "born from above" (Jn 3:7b) and refers to the wind as an example:  "The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear he sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes, so it is with everyone who born of the Spirit." (Jn 3: 8).  Anyone who has experienced wind, especially the weeks of wind on the Plains, knows how exhilarating and maddening it can be.  It overpowers, it never stops, it challenges, it ignites prayer, it forces submission.  So it is with the life of the Spirit:  we are no longer "our own", but at the mercy of a force stronger than we are.  If we resist, we suffer, but if we comply, we are given a power beyond our imagination.  Nicodemus struggled to understand what Jesus was talking about, but when Jesus rose and appeared to others, he understood.  It takes an inner death to be born again; it takes a death to the flesh, to concupiscence, to self-centeredness; it takes a commitment, an adherence to Jesus,  to be born of the Spirit.
Bro. Rene