Submitted by Pastor Julie Sanders,

Tarkio and Westboro United Methodist Churches

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Nicodemus asked, “How can someone be born when they are old, surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” John 3:3-6

Some of us might agree with Nicodemus; the concept of rebirth can be a bit confusing. When we look at it in literal terms, like being reborn, then it does seem completely impossible, but when we look at the rebirth of a seed, a flower, or a plant, suddenly the idea of rebirth takes on a whole new meaning. It is in the rebirth of a seed that we can see the possibility of being born again. If being born again meant entering the mother’s womb for a second time, then salvation would be impossible!

Thank goodness it means transformation from our former ways. It is a place where God takes all our bad choices, our mistakes, our wrong decisions, and our sins and recreates them into something beautiful, and something good.

There’s a wonderful story, “The Gardener and the Brier Patch,” that illustrates this. Once there was a brier growing in a ditch. One day a gardener saw this brier patch and decided to dig it up and take it home. As he dug around it and lifted it up the brier said to itself, “What is he doing? Doesn’t he know I am a worthless brier?” But the gardener didn’t think so. He took it to his garden and planted it with his flowers, while the brier said, “What a mistake he has made planting me among these beautiful roses.” Then the gardener grafted it with a rose and when summer came lovely roses were blooming on that old brier. Then the gardener said, “Your beauty is not because of what came out, but because of what I put in.”

Through rebirth, the Holy Spirit is grafted into our hearts and our minds. Once we were nothing more than a thorny patch, but now because of Jesus we can be a beautiful work of the gardener’s hands. It is through rebirth that we become this beautiful reminder of what Jesus did on the cross. It is through rebirth that we have hope that this old fallen world does not have the final word. It is through rebirth that we are sons and daughters of the living God.

That’s what Easter Sunday is all about – it’s about Mary finding the tomb empty, early that morning. Transformation is possible, rebirth is real, and Jesus Christ is alive. Amen