What I’m Thinking: Fresh Start

Jesus told Nicodemus that people should be “born again,” to which Nicodemus asked, “Can a man return to his mother’s womb?” Well, what if Nicodemus understood the metaphor perfectly well. What if he was asking the really hard question:

“How do people make a fresh start?”

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking this week about Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, which is found in the Gospel of John (John 3:1-17). 

Nicodemus is not an ignorant person. He is, in fact, a senior authority in the synagogue of his day. 

It’s during this conversation that Jesus tells Nicodemus that in order to truly become part of God’s community, people have to be born again. Nicodemus asks how that is possible, and Jesus tells him that anything is possible with God.

Honestly, the symbolism is not that difficult. It’s about starting over; it’s about getting a clean slate; it’s about, well, a beginning that is different from where you left off.

You know, it doesn’t get much harder than that, does it?

Leaving aside all we’ve known, all we’ve believed, all that we have worked for, and committing ourselves to some new way of being in the world – I’m not sure Jesus ever asked us to do anything much more difficult, and that includes the statement, “Don’t be angry with one another.”