Gospel: John 3:1-8
Among the Pharisees there was a ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus. He came to Jesus by night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God to teach us, for no one can perform miraculous signs like yours unless God is with him.”Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again from above.”Nicodemus said, “How can there be rebirth for a grown man? Who could go back to his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Because of this, don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again from above.’The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Reflections

“Truly, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again from above.”We must be“born from above” (another in Greek) to enter the kingdom of heaven. Other translations render it as “born again.” Had the author meant born again, he could have used palin. Born again Christians get their name from the mistranslation of John 3,3. To be born from above is to be baptized.Jesus discusses with a big figure of the Pharisaic group the necessity to undergo baptism as preached by John the Baptist. When one is baptized, he is born from above. He becomes a child of God. The first birth occurs when one is delivered from the mother’s womb. The first is the natural birth, while the second is the spiritual birth.When one is baptized in water and Spirit, the person now belongs to a higher realm. He enters God’s realm.The Catholic Church teaches since the beginning that its baptism is indelible. One cannot be baptized again if he is already baptized. If he leaves the Catholic Church and joins another religion and then returns, he needs not to be baptized again. When God declares us children through baptism, let us begin living according to the Spirit, no longer according to the flesh.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2019