On Sunday, we heard this in the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus: Jesus answered [Nicodemus], “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.” Hopefully at some point you have heard your pastor talk about how that phrase can be translated “born from above” or “born again.” If you haven’t and you would like to know more, please ask your pastor. I’m going to go off in a different direction from here.
“Being born from above” made me think about coming at things from a different direction. You can look at the same scene from two different directions and come away with very different perceptions and ideas. The two pictures above are both of the Christmas market in Innsbruck, Austria. In the first picture, you see a tower on the right. The second picture is taken from the top of that same tower. The picture “from above” reveals so much more!
This year I hear Jesus say that to see the Kingdom of God, it takes the perspective of coming from above — not “above” in the sense of “better than” but “above” in the sense of a broader perspective, God’s perspective. That’s a bold claim to say that we can see something from God’s perspective! I think maybe it starts with this — being willing to try seeing something from a perspective (any perspective) other than your own.
Because of who God is — not being bound by space, time or mortality like us — God’s perspective is vastly different, grander and broader. But I do think that Jesus is encouraging us to follow him up the steps of the tower — to listen and learn from him — so that he can show us something so much greater than we ever imagined!
+BJST