The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit

 

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. 

 

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from  God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  

 

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  

 

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?   No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

 

- John 2:23—3:15 

 

On Saturday we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

 

  Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.   St. John's Gospel gives us three Passover feasts between the Lord's baptism and His Passion (see also John 6:4; 11:55). This teaches us that Christ's earthly ministry lasted three years.  

 

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from  God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."   My study Bible comments that Nicodemus believed Jesus was from God, but his faith is still weak at this point, as he is afraid of his peers and so came to Jesus by night.   After this conversation, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51) and finally making the bold public expression of faith of preparing and entombing Christs body (John 19:39-42).  Nicodemus' memory is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on the third Sunday of Pascha (Easter) together with the Myrrhbearing Women and Joseph of Arimathea.  My study Bible reports that according to some early sources, Nicodemus was baptized by St. Peter and was consequently removed from the Sanhedrin and forced to flee Jerusalem. 

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."   In the Greek, the word translated again can also be understood as meaning "from above."  It therefore clearly refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13).  This heavenly birth, my study Bible explains, is baptism, and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  It is simply the beginning of our spiritual life, with its goal being entrance into the kingdom of God.  

 

 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Nicodemus misunderstands, and questions the possibility of a second physical birth.  This is frequently a pattern in St. John's Gospel (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  Jesus uses such opportunities to elevate an idea from a superficial or worldly meaning to a heavenly and eternal one. 

 

 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  The birth of water and the Spirit is a direct reference to Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given at chrismation, my study Bible comments.  To be born of the Spirit is to participate in adoption as a child of God.  It is not a matter of ethnic descent, nor natural birth, nor by our own decision.  To become a child of God is a spiritual birth by grace, my study Bible says, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit.  It's accomplished and manifested in the sacrament of Holy Baptism (see also Titus 3:4-7).  Jesus' teaching includes a play on words. The Greek word pneuma/πνευμα means both wind and Spirit.  The working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, my study Bible explains, is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  So also, the Spirit moves where He wills and cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas. 

 

 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?   No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."  According to my study Bible, St. John Chrysostom comments that earthly things refer to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These are "earthly" in the sense that they occur on earth and are given to creatures, not that they are not spiritual.  The heavenly things involve the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, my study Bible says. They relate to His eternal existence before all time (with the Father and the Spirit) and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world.  It notes that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among human beings before one can even begin to understand things that pertain directly to God Himself.  

 

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from the deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  This miracle-working image prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross, my study Bible says.  It notes that as believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  Just as the image of a serpent was the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself. 

 

 John's Gospel dives more deeply into the mystical reality which Christ brings into the world in today's Gospel reading.  We have gone from the beginning of Christ's public ministry with the baptism of John the Baptist, to here, in which Christ begins to explain what it is to be "born again" or rather, "born from above," meaning to be born of the Spirit in Christian Holy Baptism.  Just as Jesus must use "earthly" language to describe spiritual realities, so we know that the Incarnation is the powerful plan of salvation in which God the Logos comes to us in human form, and gives us gifts which enable us to participate in the kingdom of heaven even as human beings in our world.  Once again, we observe the reality of Christ that He brings into the world as something which is "hidden in plain sight," even as He seeks to explain to Nicodemus the Pharisee, who comes to Him by night to learn from Him.  Here is one more gem hidden in this Gospel, that of the story of Nicodemus himself.  For we do not expect, those of us who have perhaps becomes a little too used to the stories we hear in Church, that there is at least one among the Pharisees, and perhaps many more, who were actually believers in Christ.  We're told that besides Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea also figures prominently in the story of Jesus, and both of these significant men among the Sanhedrin, the ruling Council.  Notably, it is St. John's Gospel which tells us the fullness of this story, despite the fact that the term "the Jews," so often used in this particular Gospel to indicate the religious leaders, has been misconstrued throughout history.  It is also St. John's Gospel that will tell us, "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43).  Let us endeavor to read carefully as we continue, for there is so much hidden in plain sight.  It's all too easy to miss, and to generalize.  Just like the mysterious wind that blows where it wishes, the Scripture gives us glimmers of light and reveals things we don't expect.  But let us praise the Gospel in the truth and light it brings to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

 

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. 

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

 

- John 2:23—3:15 

 

Yesterday we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.   And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

 

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  How do we know that Christ's earthly ministry lasted three years?  It is in John's Gospel that Jesus is recorded attending three Passover feasts between His Baptism and His Passion.  The other two occurrences are at John 6:4 and 11:55.  Here John testifies to Christ as the "knower of hearts,"  an attribute of God (see also Acts 1:24, 15:8).

 

 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."   My study Bible says that Nicodemus, this man of the Pharisees, believed that Jesus was from God, but here his faith is still week, as he was afraid of his peers and so therefore came to Jesus by night.  After this conversation, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of taking the brave step of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51), and eventually making the bold public expression of faith in preparing and entombing the Lord's body, together with Joseph of Arimathea, another prominent member of the ruling Council (John 19:38-42).  According to some early sources, my study Bible adds, Nicodemus was baptized by Peter and consequently removed from the Sanhedrin, and forced to flee Jerusalem.  

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  My study Bible notes that the term in Greek translated as born again can also be translated as "born from above."  It clearly, therefore, refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13).  This heavenly birth is baptism, and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  The new birth, my study Bible tells us, is just the beginning of our spiritual life.  The goal of this life is the entrance into the kingdom of God.  

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Here Nicodemus misunderstands, and so questions the possibility of a second physical birth.  Misunderstandings are frequent occurrences in John's Gospel (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  Jesus uses such opportunities to elevate an idea from a superficial or earthly meaning to a heavenly and eternal meaning.  

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."   Christ makes clear that to be "born again" (or "from above") is a reference to Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit given at chrismation; that is, to be born of water and the Spirit.  

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'"   To be adopted as a child of God is not a matter of the flesh, but a matter of the spirit.  My study Bible calls it a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit.  This is the action in the sacrament of Holy Baptism (see also Titus 3:4-7). 

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."   This is a play on words used by Jesus:  the Greek word πνευμα/pneuma means both wind and Spirit.  My study Bible comments that the working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  Similarly, the Spirit moves where He wills and He cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas.  This is yet another attribute of God.

 

 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible notes here, earthly things refer to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These are earthly, not in the sense of "unspiritual," but only in the sense that they happen on earth, and that they are given to creatures.  The heavenly things would concern the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, and they relate to Christ's eternal existence before all time and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world.  It says that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among human beings before one can begin to understand the things that would pertain to God Himself.  

 

 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  Jesus refers to the time during Israel's wandering when Moses lifted up an image of a serpent to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  This miracle-working image, my study Bible notes, prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  As believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, it says, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  Just as the image of a serpent was the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself.  

There is a lot of what we might call "paradox" to contemplate in today's reading.  First of all there is the classic sort of misunderstanding that occurs when Nicodemus hears Christ's "earthly" descriptions of being "born again" or "born from above" in Baptism.  This is the way that we are introduced to this subject through Christ's teachings with Nicodemus in John's Gospel.  This paradox of earthly understanding and what we might call the sacramental understanding contained in the things of the Church and the ministry of Jesus Christ to us in the world becomes the foundation of our faith, and what we experience in our faith.  It is this paradox of spiritual things coming together with worldly things -- the spiritual reality of Christ permeating worldly things to be present to us -- in which we find the practice of our faith.  Thus, Christ uses worldly terms to describe what is a sacramental event, the "washing" of the Holy Spirit in Baptism.  When we are "born again" or "born from above" it is in this sacramental coming together of earthly elements and the Holy Spirit working through them.  This sort of paradox gives us a picture of so much that is a part of our faith, of the birth of Jesus Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, so that as Son of Man He is both fully divine and fully human.  As He indicates in today's reading, He is that Son of Man who came down from heaven, so that He is both heavenly and earthly at the same time.  Moreover, Jesus gives us in today's reading a teaching about the final sign that will come in His ministry, His "lifting up" on the Cross.  So, just as Moses was directed by God to lift up the image of the snake for the people to focus on, to save them from the venom of the snakes biting them, so Jesus will also be the life-giving image on the Cross for all of us -- and through this instrument of dreaded death by Roman punishment, He will be the ultimate Liberator from death for all of us.  This paradoxical event is perhaps the greatest paradox for us of all, but it is the way our God comes into the world as one of us, interacting with all that we know, and transforming all of it, even with us in this world.  But just as Christ says in today's reading, it's important to remember that "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes."  This power of the Holy Spirit is the power of God at work, as unpredictable to us as where the wind comes from and where it goes, for God works in ways we don't know and don't understand -- we cannot contain nor prescribe the way of God.   "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).  As Jesus says, these things are "earthly things," for Nicodemus as a teacher of Israel surely must know of the working of the Holy Spirit through the events of the Old Testament, God finding ways to be present and active among God's people.  But these are sacramental things, where God comes to work with us, within us, and among us amidst the things of this world.  In our sacraments of the Church, earthly things become vehicles by which and through which God is active in the world -- such as in the sacrament of the Eucharist.  These are mysteries to us, but they are mysteries made for us here in this world, just as the Son of Man has come down from heaven for us as well.  Let us be grateful for the things He reveals, and the gifts of sacrament we are given.  

 

 

 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life

 

 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  

 

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  

 

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

 

"Do not marvel that I said you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  

 

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  

 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  

 

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

 

- John 3:1–21 

 

On Saturday, we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.   

 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."   Today the Gospel gives us a faithful man of the Pharisees.  As the text tells us, this means he was a ruler of the Jews, part of the religious leadership in the temple.  My study Bible comments on these first verses that Nicodemus believed that Jesus was from God, but at this point, his faith is still weak, as he is afraid of his peers, and so therefore came to Jesus by night.  After this conversation, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51) and finally he will make a bold public expression of faith by preparing and entombing Christ's body (John 19:39-42).  In the Orthodox Church, his memory is celebrated on the third Sunday of Pascha (Easter) together with the Myrrhbearing Women and Joseph of Arimathea (who was also a prominent member of the Council and a wealthy man).  According to some early sources, my study Bible says, Nicodemus was baptized by Peter and consequently removed from the Sanhedrin and forced to flee Jerusalem.

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Regarding the term born again, the word translated as "again" from the Greek literally means "from above."  It clearly refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13).  This heavenly birth is baptism and our adoption by God as our Father, my study Bible says (Galatians 4:4-7).  This new birth is just the beginning of our spiritual life; the ultimate goal is entrance into the kingdom of God.  

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"   Nicodemus misunderstands, and so asks about being physically born a second time.  These types of misunderstandings are frequent in John's Gospel (John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30:34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  These become opportunities for Christ to elevate an idea from a superficial or earthly meaning to a heavenly and eternal meaning.  

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  The birth of water and the Spirit is a direct reference to Christian baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given at chrismation.  This is a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit, and thus adoption as a child of God (see Titus 3:4-7). 

 

"Do not marvel that I said you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Here there is a play on words.  In the Greek of the Gospel, the Greek word πνευμα/pneuma means both wind and Spirit.  The working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, my study Bible comments, is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  Similarly, the Spirit moves where the Spirit wills, and cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas.  

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."  My study Bible cites St. John Chrysostom, according to whom earthly things is a reference to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These things are "earthly" in the sense that they occur on earth and are given to creatures, although they are spiritual in nature.  The heavenly things referred to here are the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, and they relate to the Son's eternal existence before all time and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world.  My study Bible comments that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among human beings before one can even begin to understand the things that pertain exclusively to God in God's identity.

 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  In Numbers 21:4-9, we read that Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes.  This was a miracle-working image, which, as Jesus indicates here, prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  As believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, my study Bible says, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  Just as the image of a serpent became the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself.  

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  My study Bible comments that to show the reason the Son must be crucified (or "lifted up" as He refers to it in the preceding passage),  Jesus here declares God's great love not only for Israel but for the world.  This single verse, cited quite often, expresses the whole of the message of John's Gospel, and, my study Bible adds, of salvation history.

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."  My study Bible says of this passage that, while Christ came to save and not to condemn, human beings have free will.  So, this gift can be rejected; and a person effectively be condemned through one's own rejection.  

What is salvation?  One must consider all the ways in which we come to understand how salvation works.  There is first of all Holy Baptism, of which today's passage speaks.  This is baptism with both water and the Holy Spirit.  We recall that John the Baptist baptized with water, but not with the Holy Spirit, and his was a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah (the Christ).  Baptism with water is a type of symbolic burial and rebirth; to be submerged is to take off the old life, and rise up out of the waters of sin, to repent and to seek another way.  But to remit sin, to "put away" sin, is the property of God in the person of Jesus Christ.  Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are given the capacity to become children of God, and to be transformed into those who may enter the kingdom of God.  So to be reborn in the Spirit is a process of faith, a transformation throughout our lives so that we may be saved in that sense -- to enter into this quality of eternal life.  These are indeed mysteries of God, but they are "earthly" in the sense that they have been given to us, and through the life of the Church and its saints, through the experience of countless faithful, grace has played a role that we know and can experience and see.  Again, we revisit the words of Christ, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:27).  To be baptized in Holy Baptism is therefore a tremendous gift, made possible through the life, death, and Resurrection of Christ, and the grace freely given to us all.  But we remain free to reject this salvation, and to lose it.  Let us remember, everything is given to us from God's love, which Christ lives and enacts throughout His ministry.  Let us receive His way to the life He offers to us. 

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life

 

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

 

- John 2:23—3:15 

 

Yesterday we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all  out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.   

 

  Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  As mentioned in yesterday's reading and commentary, this is the first of three Passover feasts reported in John's Gospel, between Christ's Baptism and Passion (see also John 6:4; 11:55).  These show that Christ's earthly ministry lasted three years.  Let us note also the powerful word of discernment here, that Christ did not commit Himself to those who were persuaded only by marvelous signs.  This also is Christ presented to us who is the "heart-knower" (καρδιογνώστης/kardiognostes); this is the Greek word used in Acts 1:24; 15:8.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  My study Bible comments that Nicodemus believed Jesus was from God, but his faith was still weak, as he was afraid of his peers and thus came to Jesus by night.  Following this conversation, it notes, Nicodemus's faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51), and finally he will make the bold public expression of faith of preparing and entombing the body of Jesus (John 19:39-42).  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, his memory is celebrated on the third Sunday of Easter along with the Myrrbearing Women (those who were at the tomb) and Joseph of Arimathea.  According to some early sources, my study Bible also tells us, Nicodemus was eventually baptized by Peter and consequently was removed from the Sanhedrin and forced to flee Jerusalem.  

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  This phrase, born again, is translated from a literal meaning of "from above."  It indicates both "again" and "above" so that there is a clear indication it refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13).  This heavenly birth, my study Bible notes, is baptism and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).   This new birth, it says, is the beginning of our spiritual life, with its goal being entrance into the kingdom of God.  

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Nicodemus misunderstands Jesus' teaching, and questions the possibility of a second physical birth.  This sort of misunderstanding -- an earthly understanding of the terms Jesus uses to illustrate heavenly things -- is a frequent occurrence in John's Gospel, and a method of teaching (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  Jesus uses these opportunities, my study Bible explains, to elevate an idea from a superficial or earthly meaning to a heavenly and eternal meaning.  

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This birth of water and the Spirit clearly references Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given at chrismation.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  In the Prologue to John's Gospel (John 1:1-18), we read, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13).  Thus we understand adoption as children of God is not a matter of ethnic descent, nor natural birth, nor by a person's own decision.  This is a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit and is our understanding of Holy Baptism (see Titus 3:4-7).  

 

 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  This is a play on words in the Greek.  The Greek word πνεῦμα/pneuma means both wind and Spirit.  My study Bible explains that the working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  So likewise, the Spirit moves where the Spirit wills and cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas.

 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."   Citing St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible suggests that earthly things refer to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These are "earthly," not in the sense of "unspiritual," but only in the sense that they occur on earth and are given to creatures.  The heavenly things involve the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father; they relate to Christ's eternal existence before all time, and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world (Matthew 13:35).  My study Bible adds that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among humankind before one can even begin to understand things that pertain to God Himself.  

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  Here Jesus refers to the time when Moses lifted up an image of the serpent in order to cure the Israelites from the deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  This miracle-working image, my study Bible notes, prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  It says that as believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  Just as the image of a serpent was the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself.  

Jesus speaks of Moses lifting up his staff with the serpent fashioned on it (Numbers 21:4-9).  This was done at the time when "fiery serpents" plagued the Israelites.  Moses was told to fashion a bronze image of such a "fiery serpent," and raise it so that the people could gaze on it -- and when they did so, they lived, even if they had been bitten.  The word "fiery" suggests some interesting things, as does "serpent."  Combined they hint at characteristics of demons.  Angels (the same type of creature in origin) are often called "fiery" in many traditions, and the serpent is associated with Satan (Genesis 3).   Clearly Jesus' purpose in comparing Himself on the Cross to Moses' command to lift up the image of the fiery serpent in order to save Israel is a powerful message about His willing sacrifice on the Cross.  It will be the "lifting up" of Christ on the Cross that will "save Israel" (God's people) from the things that tempt and bite and cause harm.  In the Lord's Prayer, when we pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," that can also be translated from the Greek, "deliver us from the evil one" (implying Satan and the demonic).   That word for evil or the evil one is πονηρός/poneros in Greek, and its root is πόνος/ponos which means "pain."  That "pain" can also include wearisome laborious toil, anguish, distress, and suffering.  The "fiery" quality of such serpents can also describe the burning and painful effects of venom, and we can also look at such poison in its metaphorical senses as well.  Taken all in all, Jesus gives this comparative image of Moses' staff with the bronze serpent in order to tell us something profound about His being raised on the Cross; that will be the ultimate instrument that defeats evil, death, pain, poison -- those things that plague and are destructive to human beings and to life.  In the Orthodox hymn for Easter, it is sung that Christ "trampled death by death" and in so doing gave life to those in the tombs.  It might be worth noting here that the word for medicine and the word for poison is the same in Greek (in modern Greek there is simply an accent on a different syllable).  In the Bible that same word is also used for sorcery.   For us, it is that greater power of the Lord that turns Moses' serpent into a saving measure, and the Cross into salvation for the world.  In this transformative power, a Man's self-sacrifice becomes the ultimate act of conquest.  The power that Christ brings into the world is transformative in a way that overrules everything else, turns anything to God's purposes, and defeats that which is against God and seeks to harm.  If we pay close attention to today's reading, Jesus gives us a sense of the greater meanings of the spiritual reality He brings with Him that add layers and depth to the things that are "earthly," that we experience of this world.  To be "born again" or "born from above" does not mean to be born once again from the womb in an earthly sense.  This is why we read these passages and seek to understand the power in Christ's teachings, and especially here on the power of Holy Baptism (water and the Spirit) to transform one kind of birth to the birth of a spiritual inheritance, the adoption claimed by God in this salvation mission of Christ.  For just as Moses' staff, and the Cross of Roman crucifixion, were transformed by the power of Christ, so everything touched by God (Father, Son, and Spirit) and faith is transformative in our lives.  But we must have the eyes to see and ears to hear for this.  Jesus teaches Nicodemus by night so that Nicodemus can come to an understanding of these "earthly things" that God, through Christ, gives to the world -- but he is also told that there are greater things which are mysteries beyond them.  Christ comes from that place of heavenly mystery to bring some of heaven to us, to be at work among us and within us in this world, and we discount that power at our peril.  For when we fail to discern Christ's power of judgment -- at work in Moses' fiery serpent and the Cross of Christ -- then we lose that which delivers us from the pain of the evil that plagues us, transfiguring what we know.  We don't want to be so used to those "fiery serpents" that bite and burn and sting and hamper our lives that we simply accept that is all there is.  Let us take hold of Christ's words and look to His Cross.  In Luke's Gospel (Luke 21:28), when Jesus speaks of His Second Coming, He says that when the signs He warns about begin to appear, His disciples are to "look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."  The Cross is that sign and remains that sign for us.  Let us not forget its power, and what it is all about, nor that He is the ultimate way to address our pain.

Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"

Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

- John 2:23-3:15

On Saturday, we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And he said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.   Jesus is making an impression.  People recognize the signs He does.   But He is also the Judge; He discerns what is in everyone, without needing testimony.  This word for "commit" is the same word in the New Testament for faith.  Christ asks us for our faith or trust in Him, to believe in Him.  But He did not put His faith in these who are impressed by the signs, even to believe in His name.  He is looking for something more than that!

 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."    Nicodemus is a Pharisee, and he comes to Jesus by night.  Jesus is not sanctioned nor recognized by the ruling parties, but Nicodemus is one of those who has seen Jesus' signs.  He has the beginning of faith.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  The words for "born again" can also be translated "born from above."  It's interesting the ponder all the possible meanings for "see the kingdom of God."  Is this about the future life?  Eternal life?  Or is it about the ability to perceive the presence of the Kingdom in this world?

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Again we see the "device" used by John's Gospel to draw us into the meaning of Jesus' words.  What does He mean by being born again, or born from above?  Nicodemus asks Him quite literally about birth.  Jesus here clearly refers to Baptism, being born of water and the Spirit.  And He emphasizes the need for the Spirit -- the One who sanctifies and gives life.   Jesus' words about the wind are actually a play on words.  Pneuma is the word in Greek meaning spirit, wind, and breath.   My study bible says, "The working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  Likewise, the Spirit moves where He wills and cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas."  Nicodemus is still quite puzzled, and asks, "How can these things be?"

Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"  Jesus, in His turn, marvels that Nicodemus is a teacher of Israel, and does not know these things about the Spirit.  And again there is language about testimony.  Jesus is the One who witnesses of God, of the Kingdom.  He calls these "earthly things" (meaning baptism, and the grace given to man in the working of the Spirit with "earthly things" like water).  "Heavenly things" would be the great mysteries that are ungraspable for we human beings, says my study bible.  That which relates to Christ's eternal existence before time, or the immensity of God's plan of salvation for the world are things beyond us.  My study bible says, "A person first must grasp the ways in which God works among mankind before he can even begin to understand things that pertain to God Himself."

"No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  Jesus speaks of Himself as Son of Man, the One who came down from heaven.   It's important to understand the way the Greek is used in the phrase "who is in heaven."  That phrase begins with the Greek version of the name of the Eternal, the One who is (Ο ΩΝ).   It speaks of the Son's eternal presence in heaven, as the I AM.  Jesus refers back to the Old Testament to give us an image of the Crucifixion, when He will be raised on the Cross, just as Moses lifted up the bronze image of the serpent so that those who focused on it would not die by the bites by the serpents at the feet of the Israelites (see Numbers 21:4-9).

From this early teaching directly about Baptism we see its essential nature to the ministry of Christ, to the understanding of the early church and our identity as followers of Christ.  Jesus clearly refers to the Baptism as something much more than a "ceremony" or initiation rite.  Baptism has the effect of rebirth, and a particular kind of rebirth -- being born into an ability to "see," a perception of spiritual things.  Water and Spirit is an image that gives us a "taste" also of the image He gives us of salvation:   the Son who will be raised up on the Cross, and who will defeat death, for all of us.  In the Crucifixion, the dreaded instrument of death is transformed into the instruction of Resurrection.  Jesus contrasts being "born again" with the birth that is merely "of the flesh."  This is not a contrast of spiritual things vs. worldly things.  It is something quite different.  It is a contrast of the world viewed purely on material terms or the world viewed with the understanding of how the Spirit is at work, in and through all things, and how spiritual life permeates our life in this world and even the things of this world.  The water of Baptism and Chrismation, imbued with the Spirit, is one such example.  Christ's Resurrection isn't a one-time event; somehow the Resurrection is present in everything -- the sanctified waters of Baptism are those which bring the Resurrection to us so that it lives in us and may bear fruit through the nurturing of this life in which the Spirit is at work in the world and through the things and people of the world.  What is born of "the flesh" then is the perception that doesn't enable one to "see" the kingdom of heaven.  But this sight is a gift of grace, and may be active in us in the world by the kindling of the Spirit.  All of these ideas are introduced to us by Christ's teachings here to Nicodemus.  Jesus is the One who will be lifted up, bringing salvation to us all.  In  the same way, Baptism brings us this salvation plan and its unfolding, the capacity to have sins "let go" the way that the bites of the serpents did not kill the Israelites.  It is a question of the wholeness of life, the fullness of Resurrection in which His Resurrection lives in us and is alive in the world, even in the things of the world, redeemed and sanctified by grace.  This is what we keep our eyes on, this fullness of what it means to be really human, a child of God, claimed and redeemed, washed and quickened by grace.  We must keep alive our baptism by faith and nurturing, so that we bear the fruits of the grace with which  we are endowed and is at work in us.  In the eternal day of Christ, His Resurrection is always present and with us.  This is the promise of our Baptism.