“TENDING TO GOD’S MYSTERIES” (PART 4 OF 4)
“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?”
– John 3:5-12
Aeon’s ago… the people thought the world was flat. The people also refrained from eating pork. They watched people die and told everyone they knew… ‘don’t eat hooved animals. The same with shellfish as people got very sick and you have to wonder how many berries of a variety of plants took out people’s lives before another group of people began to catalog the results… creating the good lists and the ones not so good! Life is full of mystery. We tend to them every day.
In the Gospel of John there is a story about a man named Nicodemus who came to Jesus … ready?… at night. In secret as he was an important leader of the Jewish faith community and people would have spoken negatively about him had he been caught with infamous rabbi, Jesus. But he did and in the darkness began asking Jesus questions. You know stuff about the kingdom of God… where it is and how we see and participate in it. Was this kingdom a condition of life or was there a map to it? The conversation went on… about birth and re-birth… you know those transformation moments we all stumble on when the time is right… and Jesus reminded Nicodemus he needed to be ‘born again’ if he was going to be a participant in this new venture being revealed. But… as Nicodemus asked… ‘how could that be?’ How could something like him… conceived of two small cells bumping into each other eventually creating something of human form like himself find his way back into his mother’s womb? Inconceivable! Perhaps. Faith matters!
Yet… Jesus continued. Teachers of the mysteries of God will do that. And Jesus changed the subject… by saying… ‘well… the wind blows wherever it wants. You don’t know where it comes from, and it does what it does because you feel it and have witnessed its work… and then connects that thought to people born of the Spirit of God… the jumping on point for this last attempt to comment on God’s mystery.
In the Old Testament the word for breath and wind and spirit is the term… ‘ruach’ (pronounced RU-auck) and its counterpart in the New Testament is the term, ‘pneuma’ like in the word ‘pneumonia’ and ‘pneumatics’ a word folks in the oil and gas industry or NASA staff folk are familiar with. And if we know anything about the wind… we cannot control it as we find smoother sailing with the wind to our backs and a much more difficult jaunt when walking into the wind.
So here’s the answer to at least one mystery… as God sends the wind… we can travel with God or we can go against God. Simple as that and as a result… over time life can be oh so difficult or we find in life strength and direction.
As I pen these words at the end of St. Patrick’s Day… may God’s wind always be at your back!
The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Gigee is a long-time resident of Pearland, having pastored four churches over the last four decades in Texas and Louisiana. Read more following Brian’s blog ‘murmurings’ at https://briangigee.wordpress.com/. Send comments and/or questions to godworks247365@gmail.com.
