Water and Spirit

Greetings on this the Monday of the Second Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 4:23-31; PS 2:1-3, 4-7a, 7b-9; Jn 3:1-8
Note: We are now in the Easter Season until Pentecost.

Born of Water and spirit can be understood with many possibilities in mind.

We have the normative which I reflected on just six days ago.
The recent and previous discourse on baptism: Repent and be baptized

But there are other alternate or secondary understandings.

It is interesting to explore.

Body and Spirit division

The first reading reveals a divide between the body and the spirit.

It seems the body, always looking to protect itself, incorrectly see the spiritual life as a danger and something to be defeated or suppressed.

Why did the Gentiles rage
and the peoples entertain folly?
The kings of the earth took their stand
and the princes gathered together
against the Lord and against his anointed.

It isn’t for a lack of some sort of head nod to religion, per se. Lots of religion exists in all times.

Something more primal is at play. Once we achieve a certain understanding of life and an accommodation with reality that allows for predictability and safety we’ll do anything to protect it. Even if that safety is counter to our actual needs.

How can a man once grown old be born again?

When you think about the transformation that occurs between being in the womb and being air breathing it is both slight and a major change. You know these things but the obvious one for today is going from non-breathing to air-breathing. Becoming air-breathing is a change that fosters many other changes as well, such as, exponential growth, mental and emotional development and locomotive autonomy.

So the question becomes – Aren’t we done with our metamorphosis?

Jesus answers no. You must be born from above.

He describes it like the winds. Physical birth is easy to notice.

Spiritual birth is different.

The wind blows where it wills,
and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Here is the point I hope you are getting: we are made to continue to grow and change not just incrementally but dramatically. I find this most accessible in the Church and in the Persons of the Trinity. I hope you do too.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry