"Holy Baptism: Born of Water and the Spirit" Midweek in Lent3 March 11, 2015 John 3:1–16
The Catechesis of Our Lord in the Gospel According to John In John’s Gospel account we find our Lord teaching us, His Church. The Catechism lays out in a simple way the core teachings of the Bible. How does John in his Gospel account show us our Lord teaching us these core teachings? On the Wednesday evenings in Lent we will meditate on these core teachings as our Lord catechizes us. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. In learning from our Lord the core teachings of the Bible in the Gospel According to John, we have seen that the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer are indirectly taught by Him. Now that we come to Baptism we have direct teaching of this Sacrament. If the first three chief parts of the Catechism lay out the essence of salvation and the new life we have in Christ, now in the second three chief parts, Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper, we have the ways our Lord delivers that salvation and new life to us and how He sustains us in them. Other than Matthew 28, where our Lord instituted this Sacrament of Holy Baptism, perhaps the most recognizable passage in Scripture is the one that is our focus tonight, John 3. This is a well-known passage. We’re familiar with Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night and Jesus telling him that unless one is born of water and the Spirt he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. We’re familiar with Nicodemus’ confusion about being born a second time; how can you go back in your mother’s womb? And of course we’re most familiar with Jesus’ famous statement of how God loved the world: He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. The Catechism has a remarkably simple explanation of what Baptism is: Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word. In fact, Baptism is almost so simple that perhaps we can understand why so many Christians do not see it for the Sacrament that it is. By Sacrament we mean a rite instituted by our Lord for the purpose of forgiving us and saving us. In answering the question of the Catechism, “What benefits does Baptism give?” and in giving the answer, “It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare” one begins to see that we do not believe that this ritual of applying water to a person and speaking the words of Christ is a mere symbol or an act in which we are dedicating our life to God. This is actual saving work of God going on. And because something so simple as water and the spoken word of Christ seems to be too, well, simple to bring about these amazing salvific work of God, the Catechism goes on to ask a follow-up question: “How can water do such great things?” The answer is that it is not the water doing it but the word of God in and with the water that does these things. Many people today have the same confusion Nicodemus had with Jesus. Jesus was speaking of being born in a new way. He was not speaking of a symbolic act. He was speaking of actually being reborn. What Jesus said to him is that unless one is born in this new way he cannot see the Kingdom of God. This new way is ‘anothen’. That’s the Greek word Jesus used. Usually English translations translate it as “born again,” and that’s certainly one way it can be understood. Interestingly, it’s the way Nicodemus apparently was understanding it. He just could not wrap his mind around being born again. When you’re old, how are you going to get back into your mother’s womb to be born a second time? But could it be that Jesus was using the word ‘anothen’ in a different way, as ‘born from above’? His talk of being born of the flesh in contrast to being born of the Sprit might just indicate that. This new way you must be born of is being born of God, from above; from the Holy Spirit. Now this certainly doesn’t negate being born again. It most certainly is a second birth, and so therefore it is certainly being born again. The way Jesus speaks of this new birth, of water and the Sprit, is very mysterious. Just as the wind blows where and when it pleases, so it is with the one who is born of the Spirit. Once again, Nicodemus was flummoxed. How can these things be? Jesus said to him, are you a teacher of Israel and you don’t understand these things I’m telling you? This is the way it is with God. He makes Himself known in His Son, Jesus. That’s why after speaking of being born of water and the Spirit He speaks of Himself. Who is the one who can ascend into heaven? It is the one who has Himself descended from heaven, the Son of Man. He is the one sent from God to earth to then be lifted up for all. He says that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. We are so much like Nicodemus. Because we are born of the flesh we are of the flesh. We don’t understand the things of the Spirit. We don’t understand the things Jesus is speaking to us of being born anew, of being born from above. So Jesus spells it out clearly. Moses lifted up the serpent, the Son of Man will be lifted up. He Himself will be raised up on the cross for every person. This, then, is how God loved the world. He gave His only Son to die on that cross so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. This is what Baptism is all about. It is about being born of the Spirit. The one who was born of the flesh of the Virgin Mary but conceived by the Holy Spirit is the one who joins you with Him in His death and resurrection in your Baptism. The Catechism quotes this passage from Romans chapter six: “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” This is the new life we receive in Baptism, having been born from above in that very Baptism. Christ’s death and resurrection are at the heart of this being born of water and the Spirit. Those who look at Baptism the way Nicodemus did jump right to the faith that is necessary in Baptism. They jump right to John 3:16 where Jesus says that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. But this belief is not something that can be accomplished by one who is born of the flesh. Whoever is born of the flesh is flesh. True faith does not spring from a fleshly sinful heart. It springs from one who has been born of water and the Spirit. That is the faith Jesus is talking about in John 3:16. Whoever believes in Him has eternal life because he has been given new life, life from above in the washing of water and renewal of the Holy Spirit, as Paul describes it in Titus chapter 3. This everlasting life He gives is certainly life in heaven, once our Lord calls us home. But it is also life even now. It is a life of faith. It is a life in which we live by the Spirit, not by the flesh. When one is born that person has life. There is no need to tell the person to keep living. In fact, infants are unable to understand any sort of rational thought anyway. They live because their lungs are working and their heart is pumping blood. Yet, as they have been given life by being born, they need to be nourished in that life. They are fed and cared for. So the life of the one who is born of water and Spirit is one who has been given life by God. As a Christian, you live a life of faith. You daily drown to your sinful flesh in confession of sin. You daily rise to new life in the certainty that you have life from above—your sins are forgiven, your life is life that is forever. Just as you were given faith in Baptism, so you continue to live in that faith. You are kept in the sustaining grace of God as you live as a Baptized child of God. It is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you. For you have been raised up with Him in life from above that is birth of water and the Spirit. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
