Anothen

Bill Watterson is the author of a wonderful comic strip called “Calvin and Hobbes,” which I absolutely love. I have every book of every strip ever written, and on those days where I just need to read something for the pure joy of it…I pick up one of those collections.

In a running joke throughout that comic strip, Calvin, the 6 year old with a penchant for mischief and a terrific imagination so much so that his stuffed tiger comes to life and is his best friend, Calvin treats his dad like it is an elected position, and that he is his campaign manager.

So he makes these fake charts talking about what the “polls” say about his position as “dad.” How he is losing the votes of average household six year olds with his limited dessert policy, and how if he were to change his hard-line stance on a bath before bed-time, it could really boost his numbers going into the election season.

It is witty and clever, and disarmingly honest.

And after sharing with his dad some bad news from the polls, Calvin informs his dad that the voters are beginning to question his qualifications and credentials to be “dad.” And so Calvin asks him, how did you become dad anyway? And his dad told him that when children were born, all parents are given an instruction manual on how to be parents.

“Really!?” Calvin asks, “Can I see it?”

“Unfortunately no,” his dad says, “because when you were born they knew the rules wouldn’t apply so all we got was “good luck!”

We always want an instruction manual. Something that will tell us the way to do things. Whenever we get a new piece of furniture, it comes with instructions on how to put it together. The new crib that we got for our daughters had instructions, and Meredith read a review online that said her husband set it up in 20 minutes by himself the installation was so easy! She told me to set aside an hour and a half to put it together. But the instructions were great! I’m just a little slower I guess.

An instruction manual for life would be nice wouldn’t it? A reference book for all things that you are going to encounter? Like, when you graduate college, and start living on your own, this is how insurance works…or this is how investing works…or something that would be an easy instruction manual. So when you face questions and decisions, like we all do every day, there would be something concrete that would tell us what the right decision is. Its almost like almost every one of us is like Calvin and his dad. When we were born, all we got was good luck!

But I think so many people are hungry for this clear-cut answer to our decisions that they turn the Bible into that instruction manual. They look at it, see its diagrams and read its stories as if they were blueprints for their lives.

And this passage from John that we read this morning, is one of those passages that would definitely be included in a lot of people’s instruction manual. And it is frequently used that way.

“In order to have eternal life, you must be born from above.” Is the first of the two verses that is most familiar in this incredibly rich interchange between Jesus and Nicodemus. This verse, along with probably one of the most famous verses from John, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but will have everlasting life” are two verses that if you put them into an instruction manual are used as spiritual tests. Are you born again? Becomes a code phrase used by insiders to determine if someone is also an insider.

But look at the whole story. Nicodemus doesn’t understand what Jesus is saying, and maybe neither do we that use this as our instruction manual. Nicodemus wonders how in the world he is going to get back into his mother’s womb. Which is a huge misunderstanding. But it is also a misunderstanding to think that “born again” has only one meaning, and to limit its power by saying it only refers to one kind of faithful person is, I think, an equally big misunderstanding.

Remember, John testifies about Jesus. And Jesus testifies about God. They are claiming what they have seen. And when Jesus says that we must be born again, or in some translations it says, born from above…he uses a word in Greek anothen, that literally means both. It means again, and from above. So it’s not an either/or choice, but both.

So as I began to read this with that new bit of information for me, I began to really appreciate the nuance and subtlety of Jesus’s words. And if you have ever read an instruction manual, nuance and subtlety are the exact opposite of what you need to get the job done. But when you face decisions, that all of us face everyday, nuance and subtlety are the precise thing that we need in a world that is becoming increasingly black and white. Insiders and outsiders. One against another. And I call that nuance; grace.

So I began to think about what it means to be born. On September 22nd, 2009, I became a father. And on that day I received a new appreciation for what being born means. So I want to share that with you.

When the child is in the womb, that is their world. Everything is provided for them. It is dark, and it is safe, and it is contained. And when they are born, reality completely changes. All of a sudden there is this much bigger world. There is a lot more stuff in it, and more people. It is dangerous, but there is also learning. The world into which they are born into is huge compared to the one they just occupied, and it is bigger and brighter, with more people and more possibility than they ever could have imagined.

And this is the change that I think Jesus is saying we must go through. Its as stark of a change as when there was chaos, and then God breathed over the waters and brought forth life in creation.

Jesus is witnessing to what he has seen. There is a bigger world than you one you currently occupy. It is a world filled with light. It is a world that forgives sinners, and cares for the poor. It is a world filled with blessings and happiness. It is a world where death has no power, and resurrection and redemption are law. And it is one beyond your imagination if you are limiting your imagination to things that only exist in the world you now occupy. So be born. Come into the light. Come into eternal life.

We will meet Nicodemus again. He shows up later in the Gospel of John when he calls out the leaders putting Jesus on trial for not giving him a fair hearing. He also shows up again with a tremendous gift of burying spices to put on Jesus body after he gave up his spirit. But every time Nicodemus shows up, it is in the dark. He shows up at night here. He sticks up for due process, he doesn’t stick up for Jesus. And he comes to bury Jesus when he is dead. He doesn’t stick around to Sunday morning.

And these words of Jesus keep coming back, almost like a song chorus for Nicodemus’ life. Be Born. Come into the light. In the dark, you only see so far. In the light, life is eternal. Come into the light.

And it could be a chorus for our life too. Nicodemus, I think, is a pretty relatable character. Be born. Step into the world that God sees. Get a glimpse of God’s imagination. Reconcile relationships that are hurting. Stop holding onto grudges, and talk with one another. Put your value in the things that last; community and family. Give. Give to eternal life.

When I got into Geometry in school, on the first day of class you get your textbook. I was non-chalantly flipping through the pages when I noticed that the answers were in the back of the book. To every odd numbered problem! I thought the teacher had made a mistake, and given me an old teacher’s manual. I thought I had struck gold. It turns out…every book had the answers in the back of it. I was extremely disappointed when I found that out. But through the year, I understood the reason for that. Because in math, just like in life, the answer is just the end point. What you really need to learn, and what you really need to concentrate on, is all the stuff in the middle. The work. The process. If you do that right, then you will come to the right answer.

And that is what I think Jesus is talking about. Being born Anothen, again or from above, however you want to translate it…isn’t the answer. It’s the process. It’s an every day process.

I talked to my friend Brad Sherill about Nicodemus. Brad, if you recall, is the man who has memorized and performed the entirety of the Gospel of John over 600 times. And he said that whenever he hears the question are you born again, he thinks to himself…every day. I wake up every day wanting to be born again. By the grace of God, God brings me into this world of light every day. It’s the important thing that we must concentrate on. To get to the answer, where we are born into eternal life.

Someone here may be facing a big decision. Someone here may be facing a big life change. Someone with whom we may come into contact may be dealing with a tough situation. We don’t need to throw words at them like they are the answer to their problems, because the Bible is not an instruction manual. We need to be born into the life God has for us, and see that we are called to walk with them…just as Jesus comes and walks with them too. And if we can touch this imagination. If we can be born into this world that Jesus is telling us to do. Come out of the dark and into the light…the possibilities of what Christ can do in this world are endless. They are eternal. And they bring life.