When Nikodemus, a Jerusalem city council member went to Jesus during that special night, Jesus told him that nobody will enter Heaven unless they will be reborn by water and the Holy Spirit. Nikodemus was around seventy years old, and he was quite reluctant to get the idea of rebirth in general and in particular, like how he could reenter his mothers womb, as an old man?
The water, Jesus mentioned, that is supposed to be the water of the baptism of John, where the water represented an extraordinary, game-changing or rather life-changing repentance.
The ancient sages said that we have to repent at least one day before we die. For we usually do not really know that special day, that is why we have to repent every day in our lives.
There is a need for the every-day-repentance too that is for sure however the repentance which leads to being reborn should be understood well. John the Baptist baptized the people by submerging into the living water of the Jordan river.
It did not mean only that as the water washes away the dirt of the body , so will the soul be cleansed from sins through repenting, but it was also a symbolic action by a prophet, called John the Baptist. This symbolic action was by being submerged in the water, metaphorically to die for our former sins, for our former life and then coming out of the water to start a brand new life with a blank slate, like being literally reborn.
In this case repentance means not only that we confess that our deeds in this world blinded by our own desires and selfishness, were wrong and we feel a deep regret over them, and also we are asking for forgiveness and mercy, but it means a brand new start as well where we are deeply committed not to repeat our wrong footsteps again. Being reborn is like taking a 180 degree turn into the opposite, into the right direction which leads to Heaven, and marching on that path for ever.
By repentance we have to leave everything behind which belonged to our old earthly life as an aim or as a goal, and we have to set sail toward Heaven, though still walking on Earth for a while.
Being reborn by the Spirit, means that the word of God, as a seed falling into our fertile hearts, watered by repentance, a new spiritual life starts to grow in our hearts, which is the change of the heart, in the life-giving sunshine of the Love of God.
Being men or woman, does not matter, we must grow a child from God in our heart which is a new birth, in order to enter Heaven in the Afterlife.
In the three level pagoda of our existence, the ground floor is our earthly body as it resides in the visible material world. There is a major misconception about the body, namely most people think that they are their body namely I am the same with my body.
One thing is re - and reasserted in the Scriptures and in the teachings of the greatest philosophers, that the human being is more than the body and even the body is more than food. Our earthly body, taken from the earth, connects us with the material of the created universe, however it is only a tool, a cloak, a vehicle, a dwelling place of the soul.
It is easily perceivable if we can realize, that as also the most powerful computer is dead without electricity and software, so the body is lifeless without the soul.
However the soul does not necessarily needs the body, because the soul is alive without the body and outside of the body. Thus the soul is not dependent on the body but the body is dependent on the soul. As the Lord says: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him (aka God,) who can destroy both soul and body in hell. " (Mt.10:28)
Any kind of Lenten practice must start with the consciousness, that I am a soul, I am not my body. My body is borrowed from the Earth. Thus do no let your body rule over your soul, for the body is not you; and moreover, the very nature of the body is a substantial animosity against God.
This is an or - or situation. Either your body will rule you with the profound animosity toward God, or your soul will rule your life, which has the very image of God on itself, as a stamp. Your soul must rule your body.
Thus the first step we have to do in order to keep our soul free or freed from the rule of the physical body, is that we have to discipline and regulate our bodies by fasting, keeping orselves self-restraint and modest, occasionally even self-denying, as it is written by Paul that " I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming the Gospel to others, I myself should not be disqualified." 1Cor.
Some people think that it is really hard to do so.
Indeed. It is hard. But the second step is even harder. We have to discipline and regulate our minds. As they used to say that it is not enough not to do evil things, but let us even not desire them, as it is written in the tenth commandment that you shall not covet.
Some say that is impossible not even to think about it to follow our desires.
The third step is the hardest, because on this level you have to fully submit yourself to God, keeping nothing for yourself. On this level I must surrender and to admit, that I am nothing, but God is everything. Total and complete surrender to God, according to the prayer of our Master, who says that your will be done, o God, and not mine.
We can see these three steps in the desert of the temptation, as first Jesus was tempted to turn the stones into bread, satisfying his hunger of the body. No wonder he was hungry after forty days. And of course his temptation was on an other level than usual, because the tempter said that Jesus, you have to use your supernatural power for turning the stones into bread, but Jesus said that :
"It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
Secondly Jesus was tempted in his mind to take advantage on his being the Son of God, and test his status as the Son of God by jumping from the roof of the temple. As it is written that , 'God will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;'. Jesus rejected also the second time the evil suggestion by quoting the Bible: “It is written, 'You shall not test the Lord, your God.”
And ultimately he was tempted to deny God and worship his own ego, which is of course the exact way of worshiping the Devil. According to the Gospel story, “ again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. He said to him, "I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me. "Then Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.' Jesus rejected the evil inclination again by quoting the Holy Scriptures, which is the word of God.
In the well structured Church year in every Lenten season we are reminded that we have a fight against the tyranny of our own body.
Every year we are reminded that we have a war against our own desires of our minds.
Every year we are reminded, that we have to completely surrender our egos to God.
We should not not hesitate, just do so, because Good Friday turned into Easter, the curse was lifted and the world became blessed in Christ, the darkness disappeared and the light of God, and it enlightened the whole world. From death life came out and brought us hope and rebirth to the humanity. Although the body is weak to act upon the faith, but the soul must be ready and empowered by the Holy Spirit. May praise and glory be to Jesus, crucified and risen who is to come again.
Amen
