DAILY GRACE
April 21, 2020, Tuesday in the Second Week of Easter
Scripture: John 3:7b-15
Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“You must be born from above.”
Jesus spoke these words in the night to one man, Nicodemus. The Apostle Paul proclaimed and explained them to each and every Christian — to you and me. Hear these words as if spoken to you: “If then you [name] were raised with Christ, see what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you [name] have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1-3).
Can you trace the story of your rebirth throughout your life? After being reborn in baptism, Kathryn J. Hermes had her first major “rebirth” at the age of twenty-one when she had a stroke. She writes: “It completely changed my life, and my struggle with the resulting physical and psychological complications have made me who I am today. I had another moment of rebirth during a year of failure. Everything I did turned to dust in my hands or was blocked by someone else. Although it seemed so senseless, I knew deep down that this was exactly the way it was supposed to be. I needed to be undone if I was eventually to look for the things that were above. A third moment of rebirth came when I fell and shattered my arm at age forty-six. I had given my life over to God and asked him to accomplish in me himself all that he desired of me. He took me at my word. Temptations and weaknesses I had struggled with for many years were eliminated in an instant as I had to give up efficiency and be tutored in love and abandonment.”
I can relate to what Hermes has written. I imagine you can too. Rebirthing events teach us three things: a new perspective; the power of God’s love and grace to change our lives; and authentic redirection in every level of our being, something we could never accomplish on our own goodwill alone.
Have you traced the story of your own rebirth?
Prayer
Lord, some aspects of my thinking, behaving, and loving bother me. They are not “reborn from above.” No matter how hard I try, I seem unable to change them. Send into my life your gentle yet mighty Spirit to raise me up with you. Accomplish in me yourself all that you desire of me. Amen.
Contemplation
My life is hidden with Christ now.