Not only do we have this puzzling language about being ‘born above’—which we have gone at lengths to explain here—but we have talk about seeing the kingdom of God. It seems that Nicodemus and Jesus are talking right past each other. Or are they? As Pope Benedict explains in his book, Jesus of Nazareth, we ultimately must understand the ‘kingdom of God’ in its most profound sense to refer to Jesus Himself: “Jesus himself is the Kingdom; the Kingdom is not a thing, it is not a geographical dominion like worldly kingdoms. It is a person; it is he.”
Defined this way, the two statements start to line up. Nicodemus is talking about one way of seeing Jesus—as teacher, miracle-worker, one ‘with’ God. Jesus, in responding, corrects him, explaining that no one can see Him for who He really is—not just one who is ‘with’ God but One who is God unless he have this radical new birth, seeing Jesus with fresh eyes, with the new vision of reality and our destiny that comes with grace. As John Chrysostom puts it,
He says therefore, Except a man be born again, be cannot see the kingdom of God: as if He said, You are not yet born again, i.e. of God, by a spiritual begetting; and therefore your knowledge of Me is not spiritual, but carnal and human. But I say to you, that neither you, nor any one, except he be born again of God, shall be able to see the glory which is around me, but shall be out of the kingdom: for it is the begetting by baptism, which enlightens the mind.
To be a ‘born again’ Christian, then, really is what being Christian is all about: seeing Jesus as God and accepting our calling to a new destiny through Him.
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