You have probably heard this story before, it often makes the rounds of email forwardings: "A little girl was asked to write an essay on 'birth.' She went home and asked her mother how she had been born. Her mother, who was busy at the time, said 'the stork brought you darling, and left you on the doorstep.' Continuing her research she asked her dad how he'd been born. Being in the middle of something, her father similarly deflected the question by saying, 'I was found at the bottom of the garden. The fairies brought me.' Then the girl went and asked her grandmother how she had arrived. 'I was picked from a gooseberry bush,' said grandma. With this information the little girl stood up and began her report to class by saying: 'There has not been a natural birth in our family for three generations …'"

Under the cover of darkness a well known Pharisee comes seeking Jesus. Mentioned only in the gospel of John, Nicodemus is a central figure, woven in and out of the story. He comes at night perhaps because he has to – while he may be supportive of the Jesus movement, Nicodemus knows that as a Pharisee he can not be open about meeting Jesus. Or perhaps night is the only time he can come – as a devout Pharisee he would be spending all his daylight hours reading and studying Torah. Symbolically night sets up the contrast of light and darkness so often found in John's gospel – it is John's way of showing that a man living in darkness comes seeking out Christ, the light of the world.

Nicodemus comes representing a group: "Rabbi, we know." "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus replies to Nicodemus with the unexpected: "You must be born from above." The Greek word used can be translated as either "born again" or "born from above." Literally the Greek translation is "from up." Nicodemus goes one way with what Jesus tells him and hears this as the need to be born all over again. He splutters: "must I climb back into the womb a second time?" Jesus goes the other way with the translation and speaks of being born from above – a new beginning that has nothing to do with an action on our part, but is a birth of the Spirit within us … a beginning that is by the sheer grace of God.

I imagine this encounter with Jesus leaves Nicodemus to re-adjust all of the constructs he lived on as a Pharisee. I can picture him walking away trying to rearrange all that he thought he knew and re-fit it all back together. There is a scene in James Michener's Hawaii, that reminds me of Nicodemus' bewilderment. It happens after Abner Hale's wife dies and he is injured in an attack. "But under Whipple's care, the missionary recovered, although ever afterwards the people of Lahaina would frequently see him stop on his walks, joggle himself up and down as if resettling his brain, and then continue, an uncertain man who now required a cane." (Michener, Hawaii. page 394) For far better reasons, an encounter with Jesus is a bit like that – and one can imagine Nicodemus going off trying to re-settle his brain. And in ways reminiscent of Jacob's wrestling with God at the river's edge … coming away with a limp, forever changed – perhaps Nicodemus walked away from this encounter forever marked. There are indications later in John's gospel that this encounter did transform Nicodemus. He will be heard from again in chapter 7 arguing before the Sanhedrin that they should listen to Jesus before passing judgment on him. Then in the end he will be found with Joseph of Arimathea, helping to provide Jesus with a proper burial.

Martin Luther called the verse that we all focus on in this text, John 3:16 as the 'gospel in miniature.' Billy Graham said of it: "I think that verse sums it up, which is known to almost everybody … that's the sum total of what I preach." "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." That one verse, however can only be just that – the summary. To leave it there is to miss the richness and depth of the entire story. Unfortunately this text has also been used divisively – to separate the "have faith in the right way," from the "have not faith." To live this story is to know the action of God's grace at work in individuals and in the world. It is first to be reminded of God's grace that surrounds us and is at work in us even before we are aware of it. In good Methodist language that is prevenient grace. It is also to know that new life and transformation is possible, but only through God's grace.

Nicodemus had it right in his sputtering – how can one be born again? Indeed, how can we be transformed and experience new beginnings? Think about it – the futility of thinking that truly anything can be different … that anything can change. We all know that all the self-improvement and determination we can muster in the end will not be enough. Imagine the most recalcitrant, difficult person that you know – do you really believe that person can truly change? Can a faith community entrenched in old patterns be renewed and transformed? Again, Nicodemus had it right – how can a person, a family, a community, truly begin again? The answer is we can only do so much on our own, or even do with the help of other human beings. John the Baptist had it right when we shared his story this Advent. "I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me … he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Matthew 3:11) John's call to repent was not enough … he recognized that and pointed the way to the One who would transform.

Our encounter with Jesus may leave us forever walking around, trying to re-settle our brains so that we can re-adjust our old thinking into new ways … .it may forever leave us with some kind of "limp" to remind us that we will never be the same … but it is an encounter that calls us to new beginnings and reminds us that in "being born from above," God truly calls us to newness of life. The miracle in the story is that by water and the Spirit transformation is possible.