The story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night is familiar to most folks who have spent any time at all in church. The phrase "born again" springs from the Greek word in this story that means both born again and born from above and has entered into our cultural language. It is a story that helps us understand the necessity of having a new start in our lives, whether we talk about it as being born again or as being renewed from above.

As with many of Jesus' sayings and teachings, there are multiple lessons and levels of meaning. In this story it starts with the word play of being born anew or from above. Nicodemus assumes one meaning and thinks of physical birth while Jesus is talking about a spiritual matter. It is on this dichotomy that we focus today by looking at Jesus' response to Ni…