"Are you born again?" That's a favorite question of our evangelical brothers and sisters. "You must be born again," the conversation between me and a co-worker went. "And you must be able to tell me the date and time." I couldn't. I had grown up in the church. So I must not be "saved," another favorite term.

I'm not sure why people latch onto John 3:3 as the be all and end all way of entering the Kingdom of God. First, the Greek itself, anothen, can be translated either "born again" or "born from above." The NRSV uses the latter translation. Second, the term ONLY appears here, in this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to Jesus in the darkness (literal and spiritual) of night.

Jim Jackson suggests that because Nicodemus was a Pharisee, he would understand that the Kingdom belonged to Israel, and him in particular, by birth. This covenant relationship with Yahweh was, Nicodemus thought, a birthright thing. But no, Jesus said. If you think it comes to you by birth, you must be born again, or born from above. "Feel the wind, Nicodemus? It blows wherever it wants. It is not as certain as a birthright."

Jesus' "selling" of the Kingdom of God is not formulaic. He does not preach "you must be born again" to everyone, in fact, He doesn't preach it ever again in this gospel. As Jesus goes about revealing the Father's glory, His approach to each person -- the woman at the well, His own disciples, etc. -- is unique each time and tailor-made for each individual.

I wish I had known this when talking to my co-worker. I wouldn't have felt inferior!