2nd Sunday of Lent - Rebirth: the language of Salvation

Genesis 12:1-4a
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17


Growing up Catholic, I still to this day don’t quite understand the concept of “getting saved” or being “born again”. This is not to say that spiritual growth is not a part of the Catholic journey of faith – it certainly is – but the approach, I suppose, is somewhat reserved (for lack of a better word) and perhaps a little more structured, and the faithful do not do “altar calls” except by way of Holy Communion, and this requires preparation.

The differences between Protestant and Catholic are neither good nor bad; they are what they are according to their own traditions, customs, and understandings of general concepts of doctrine. It always bothered me, however, when Protestant friends and even some adults would suggest that there was a special place in hell for Catholics because Catholics were not “saved” and could not be saved because they did not believe in being “born again”. I suppose this is a driving-force reason why I am so fascinated with other denominations and even other religions. It’s not that I think I’m eternally condemned and am on a quest for truth. It just is that I have a hard time embracing something that others seem so emphatic about, and it bothers me.

Being the natural cynic that I am, I watch others who seem overly enthusiastic about the Lord and I’m left to wonder whether I’ve somehow missed the boat or if they are trying to convince themselves – and others - that all is well with their souls. I certainly am not the judge of that nor should any of us consider that we have a place in making those calls for others. Yet I encounter far too many so often, even today, who are convinced that others are condemned for all time and are more than willing to make that known to any who will listen. I am also convinced now more than ever that these self-appointed “judges” are not reborn of the Spirit of YHWH. They may well have a spirit, but it could be somewhat less than holy.

So I’ve tried to consider how one might know. I will never forget the day when one of my children came to me after having attending a church service with a friend. When it came time for the “altar call”, my daughter felt as though the preacher were looking directly at her. He kept pointing and gesturing, and then he made a few strategically placed “hell” references, and she panicked. She did not know if she was “saved”, so she took out a little insurance policy and presented herself to the pastor. When she came home, she was more confused than before because she still did not know.

Nor do I. I don’t think it is as simple as getting touched by a preacher who has convinced us that we are condemned unless we come forward. There has to be more to it than that because the implications are much more profound than what may or may not have happened at that particular moment.

So is being “born again” evidenced by the absence of evil or by the presence of good? According to St. Paul, “presence” is going to be much more compelling than “absence”. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22-23a

These are attributes which should be evident in the life of a Christian, whether one considers oneself “born again” or not, because one is not physically born a Christian even if born of Christian parents who are active in a Christian church. Being a Christian, for all practical purposes, involves a decision one must make after careful consideration because even Jesus encouraged potential followers to “count the cost” (Luke 14:28). And I’m not convinced that infant baptism changes this even though I believe infant baptism to be important to the life of the faithful. This requires faith to be able to appreciate the presence of YHWH and His hand in the Act. It is still evidence by faith, of course, because this Presence can only be “seen” with a willing heart (Hebrews 11:6).

To examine ourselves in search of the Holy Spirit of YHWH is to undergo an honest assessment of what it means to be a Christian … period. This examination is required to be ongoing and never ending because it requires that we look beyond the moment. Here is a little confession. I am still convinced that I lost my job due to internal political maneuvering. Now I could be wrong because I only know for a fact what I was told: that my position had been eliminated. But because I am still convinced somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind that I was a victim of foul play, I have more than a little bitterness in my soul. And this bitterness, dear friends, is not evidence of anything that is holy.

Whenever we look upon any human person and consider first their appearance, whether it be the way they are dressed or the color of their skin, we are showing evidence of something substantially less than holy even if we were to call ourselves “saved” or “born again”. Being that short-sighted, we are diminishing what the Lord meant when He spoke of our need to be born “of the Spirit” (John 3:8). It has to go much deeper and last much longer than a single event in a single moment of conviction.

Is it possible to become “unsaved”? For man to make this kind of call can be somewhat dangerous because we suggest that we know the mind of YHWH. If the Lord Himself is genuinely involved in a moment of conviction wherein we become convinced of our sinfulness and our need of redemption, how can any act or word or doctrine of man take this away?

“It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” Hebrews 6:4-6

Since it is impossible to crucify the Lord yet again, the writer of Hebrews seems to suggest that we get one shot at it. Yet there is even more to this than this one passage because this same writer refers often to the role of Christ as “priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”, which suggests what for us? It seems to me that if there is a priestly order, and there certainly was in the Hebrew tradition, then reckoning and atoning for our sins was then, and is now, an ongoing process because even as we are “born of the Spirit”, we remain human nonetheless.

We cannot speak of the Lord and of grace and mercy and, above all else, hope if we attempt to remove His ability and willingness to forgive. If evidence of the Spirit, as Paul wrote to the Galatians, is “longsuffering” (ie, “patience”), then we have to believe that this is more an attribute of the Lord Himself since He is the Spirit Himself. We must believe that He will give us more of a break than man ever will. This does not mean that we surrender to our own worldly attributes. It means that “rebirth” must necessarily be a process rather than a single event, just as the season of Lent is a process and not a single event.

There is more to man than what simply meets the eye because man is not capable of reading or judging the condition of the heart or the mind of another. Likewise, there is far more to the Lord God than man can ever fully comprehend because “they do not know the way of the Lord” (Jeremiah 5:4).

We can also take comfort in the words of Jesus Himself who proclaimed: “For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17).

Amen.