Born Again

Back in the day, folks would hear Jesus talking about belonging to a new tribe, a new nation, a new kingdom. The crowds who gathered in dusty villages and on the banks of muddy lakes and in rustic amphitheaters heard an invitation to join a community that promised something special, a quality of living that Jesus referred to as "eternal life."

So some of these folks would approach Jesus and ask, "It sounds good, Professor. I'll buy it. Count me in. So what exactly should I do to join this family, and inherit this eternal life?"

Jesus could give a great speech, like in the Sermon on the Mount, but I think he was often at his best at these press conferences, when he had no script, when he was reacting and responding rather than composing and formulating.

So to the rich young ruler who asked how to get some of this eternal life, Jesus replied, "It's easy. All you need to do in order to inherit eternal life is to give all your possessions to the poor. There's nothing to it. That's all."

Gulp.

To a crowd of grave adults worried that he was being frivolous by spending too much time talking to and horsing around with children, Jesus said, "Hey, if you guys want to enter the Kingdom of God, you will need to be just like one of these children."

To Peter, Jesus said, "You want to follow me, Big Guy, Rocky, you salty, fishmongering sonuvagun? Sure, come on. It's a piece of cake. All you have to do is to strap a cross to your back. Enter a cell on Death Row, order your last meal from the menu, and walk right behind me down the corridor as the bystanders taunt, 'Dead man walking'."

Then to one certain character, a guy named Nicodemus, Jesus said, "Now in your case, Pal. this is tricky."

You see, Nicodemus was one messed-up first-century Jewish dude. He was trying to pass as a good Roman citizen by collecting taxes from his peers and turning it over to the government, adding a percentage for his troubles and overhead. Why not? A guy's got to make a living.

"Nicky," Jesus said as took the full chronological measure of this collaborator's confusions, "If you want to enter this community, you're gonna need to go back to the beginning, crawl into your mother's womb and get born all over again."

Gregory Mobley
Associate Professor of Old Testament