WB Literalism
“Jesus does not pander to Nicodemus coming to him at night, allowing himself to be flattered by the attention. He knows the desires by night which are in contradiction with the desires of the day are signs that both are distorted. He gives it to Nicodemus straight: there is no such thing as a closet disciple.”
Nicodemus wants to know Jesus by night, to stay in the safety of the closet, instead of coming out in the light of day to prove his discipleship to this wandering Rabbi. Nicodemus desires to remain separate from the Jesus Movement in the daytime. But this distorts his desires to know Jesus in the secrecy of night. Refusing to come out of the closet, Nicodemus does not really wish to know Jesus on his own terms. Insisting on a secret conversation with Christ, the pharisee disembodies discipleship and refuses to join the marginalized community. Only hearing Christ literally, he misses the spiritual truth boldly proclaimed in the daylight: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Regeneration
On Sunday, my pastor, Rev. Justin Coleman preached an incredible sermon comparing the new birth in John 3 with the regeneration of time lords in the Dr. Who series. (Watch his sermon here, it starts at minute 10). It got me thinking about the nature of Christian regeneration (what it means to be born again). In Dr. Who, the Doctor regenerates after a natural death, and comes back with a different look and a bit of a different personality. While we know that this is primarily so a 60-year-old show can keep replacing its main actors, it’s actually written into the story as a narrative development. The Doctor grows into a new creation. The Doctor is regenerated. There is a genesis.
The old doctor doesn’t go away because he was bad or worthless. He doesn’t get a new body because his old body was something to be ashamed of. Rather, there is a natural progression from death to life.
So in the Gospel of John, I think it’s important to note what Christian regeneration is, and what it is not.
The New Birth is a change in relationship. It is a natural development from death to life, from distance to closeness. Once we didn’t know Christ. Now we know that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son, the Christ. Because Christ himself is Light and Life, to know him is to live in that Light and Life. To know Jesus is to come out of the closet. Join Elsa of Arendell and glamorously proclaim, “Here I stand in the light of day!” Everyone who looks upon the crucified Christ and sees him for who he is experiences the truth: eternal life.
So often we quote John 3:16 and leave off its sister statement. Verse 17 states: “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Regeneration is light and life. It is NOT condemnation of who you are or were. Like Dr. Who regenerating into a new actor, the old you does not stand worthless and condemned. All of you is welcomed to abide in friendship to Christ. And in so doing, you can’t help but be reborn, renewed. Believing in the One who first believed in you, you are set free to believe in others fully. Loving the One who first loved you, you are freed to love others completely.
Your Coming Out Party
Can you really know Jesus if it’s only ever on your own terms? In the darkness of your literalism, of your shame, of your self-loathing or self-righteousness…can you really meet Christ? Jesus calls us to stand in the light of truth, to come out from behind our perfect masks, to be reborn into eternal life. And I have experienced that eternal life to be much like the regeneration of the time lords in Dr. Who. I may go through many seasons knowing Christ fully in one way, only to be reborn again as Christ meets me in entirely new ways for a new season of my life. Who I was before is not irrelevant. If it was Sin, it was not the condemning sort, but the sort that I didn’t know Christ fully and had plenty of room for growth. It’s part of the narrative development of my life in Christ. With each new season in Christ, I am born anew to abide more deeply in Light and Life. And let’s face it, some seasons are just better than others.
New Charlie Baber
The Rev. Charlie Baber, author of Wesley Bros cartoon.
When not drawing the Wesley Bros cartoon, the Rev. Charlie Baber, a United Methodist deacon, serves as youth minister at University United Methodist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C. His cartoon appears on United Methodist Insight by special arrangement.