Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter
Today’s beautiful and familiar Gospel text begins, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus spoke those words to Nicodemus, and he speaks them afresh to you and me. God the Father sent his Son to earth and to the Cross so that we might be born again to eternal life! Eternal life begins with our Baptism – God desires that we enjoy this reality with him now! As Easter people, overcome with Paschal joy, let us celebrate God’s gift of eternal life and enjoy it today in abundance.
We must read today’s passage from John 3 in its context of Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. The entire conversation is rich and deep, but I want to highlight Jesus’ declaration, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). That word “anew,” anōthen in Greek, means both “again” and “from above.” Jesus teaches us that we need to experience a spiritual rebirth, we must be born again with a new life that finds its origin in heaven. Jesus continues, “. . . unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (vs. 5). Spiritual rebirth gives us eyes to perceive the kingdom of God; Baptism becomes our entry into it!
I think it’s important to circle back and catch that context for today’s text because experiencing eternal life with God through Christ is only made possible through rebirth. Think about how strange this notion would have been for Nicodemus. As a devout and learned Pharisee, he would have believed in the resurrection of the dead. But for Jews, that possibility was only realized after one’s death. Faithful people looked forward to the resurrection of the dead, but they did not experience any aspect of it during their earthly life. Not so with us! We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, yes indeed – we profess that in our Creeds. But through the Paschal mystery of Christ, we can and do experience eternal life and the fruits of Christ’s resurrected life in the here and now!
“God SO loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son . . .” (emphasis added). From the depths of his endless, merciful, boundless, extravagant, marvelous love, the Father gifted us his Son. From the eternal self-giving love of God, we receive the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life. God the Father doesn’t just want to save us from the fires of hell, our heavenly Father makes us sons and daughters in Baptism as we are “born of water and the Spirit.” God the Father desires to love us with a passionate, intimate, nurturing, sustaining love – deeply relational as Abba with his children. This is eternal life – abiding now and forever in the intimate embrace of our Father, in the eternal “circle dance” of love that is the Holy Trinity.
God’s gracious self-giving makes it possible for us to enjoy eternal life NOW – we need not wait for the resurrection of the dead (even though we rightly and devoutly long for and pray for that). Later, in Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse” to his disciples, he prayed, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Knowing God, knowing him relationally, intimately, and personally – this is eternal life. In describing himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus lovingly declares, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Jesus desires to shepherd you and me such that we walk every day with him in the abundance of eternal life – the fullness of life in him.
Where do you find yourself today? I invite you to fill your name into this powerful truth and allow Jesus to speak it over you: “God SO loved [fill in your name] that he gave his only-begotten Son . . .” As one deeply beloved, created in God’s image and declared very good, God’s extravagant, self-giving love is poured out on you; that amazing merciful love is directed at me. Do you believe this Good News? Are you walking in the abundant, eternal life right now that Jesus won for you on the Cross and bestowed upon you in your Baptism? If not, I encourage you to commit yourself to prayer that God will reveal the depths of his love for you and help you, like Nicodemus, to have eyes to see and a heart to accept the kingdom of God in all its fullness. And may each of us walk this day in Easter joy and experience the fruit of eternal life.
I’ll see you in the Eucharist,
Elizabeth Wells