BORN OF GOD

 BORN OF GOD
 John 1:12-14
“ … As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. “

Once upon a time in the year of 1945, near the village called today called Nag Hammadi, at Jabal al-Tarif, in Egypt, they found ancient scrolls buried deep in the sand. The scrolls belonged to the so-called Desert Fathers, a monastery community cluster, which existed for centuries.
The scrolls were dated back to the early 4th century and among them, in the Codex II, was found a document, the Gospel of Thomas, probably written originally in the early 2nd century.

We can immediately realize from its name that it is not within the Bible, as it has never been canonized, so it is an external document regarding the Bible.
Its genre is the so-called saying gospel, containing 114 sayings attributed to Jesus.
As a saying gospel it does not contain any narrative account of the life of Jesus.
There is nothing about his family tree, nothing about his birth, his upbringing, nothing about even his miracles he did in his lifetime.

Nothing about his passion and crucifixion, nothing about his resurrection, and it doesn't even talk about the Messiah role of Jesus.
Instead of biographical details, the Gospel of Thomas contains some 114 attributed sayings of Jesus, and more than two thirds of them are parallel or closely  resembling to the sayings found in the Biblical Gospels.
Although it omits the Nativity story completely, it still has a remarkable point among many points made by it, when around its end, in the text Jesus said, that "He who shall drink from my mouth shall become like me; I myself will become he, and the hidden Kingdom shall be revealed to him."

Although this exact wording cannot be found in the official Gospels, it is still very similar to the statement, when the Gospel of John declares, that Jesus “came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

This leads us straight to the Christmas mystery, as there is a real mystery there, mentioned also by Jesus to Nicodemus, that :
"Most assuredly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can't see the kingdom of God." John:3:3
It means that every person who wishes to see the Kingdom of God, must be born anew, or even we can say, that every such person must be born again to enter Heaven.

And exactly, that was the question of Nicodemus to Jesus, that I am old, so how can I be born again? "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
Jesus' answer to him was marvelous, by declaring "That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'

Nicodemus did not get it, and it is certainly not easy to grasp it.
In order to understand this, let us imagine, that every human person is like an egg.
The eggshell is our body. We can agree that eggshells are very fragile. They can break very easily, they can be shattered momentarily within a twinkling of an eye. Still within the eggshell, like in a container, there is the most precious treasure inside, called the soul, the life of the person dwelling in the body. However, we have to understand that this precious treasure inside was only born once and it has only the potential of being born for the second time.

Within the egg the life must be fertilized in order to be born again.
It is as the field in the parable. Although the field must be fertile in order to give great yield, it still needs the seed to bring forth new life.
Same with the egg. Inside of the egg, which is the human soul, there is the potential for the new life, for the spiritual new birth in the Spirit World.
The egg is like the field, it needs the seed of God, to become fertilized.
The seed of God is the Word of God, which enters the human soul, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, it brings forth its fruit, the new birth.
Jesus insisted that if someone is not born again, he will not enter the Kingdom of God.

That is why, it is pivotal to pay attention to this, because it means that being born again is a life or death importance to us or more precisely a life after death importance.
But not only. Being born again happens not only in the Afterlife, but it can happen in the realm of the here and now.
That is the mystery of Christmas. As Mary bore the Christ under her heart, so we, each and everyone of us must or should conceive the Christmas Child in our hearts by the very Word of God received in our soul.

After the conception, the very birth of the Christmas Child in our hearts takes time, sometimes it takes a lifetime to experience the new spiritual birth, as Jesus said: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
But when it happens, then the saying in the Gospel of Thomas will become perceivable, where Jesus declared that " He who shall drink from my mouth shall become like me; I myself will become he, and the hidden Kingdom shall be revealed to him.

Just as a newborn baby received eyes to see this world, so the new born spirit baby receives spiritual eyes to see the Spirit World. Thus, as the kingdom of God, though it is hidden, it will be revealed, what is hidden, will be seen.
As the newborn babe receives legs to walk in this world, so the spirit baby receives legs and even wings to walk and journey with Jesus in the Spirit World, which is the Kingdom of God.

Saying it together with the Gospel of John: May we receive the Lord, and with him may we receive the right to become God’s newborn children,  as those who believe in his name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The Word became flesh, and lived among us. May we see his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
AMEN.