[AI translation] I would like to begin the Advent season, which begins this Sunday, by putting a fundamental question, the need for rebirth, very concretely and simply before us, or rather, by putting ourselves before the requirement of rebirth. For the question of why Jesus came to this earth two thousand years ago, and why he has continued to come to all people in every sermon ever since, could be answered: so that we might be born again! To make it possible for us, for all of us, to be born again. So what does it mean to be born again?First of all, what is clear from Nicodemus' whole conversation with Jesus Christ, that Christianity is not a doctrine, but a life! This Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night, was a man of a typically theoretical bent. He begins the conversation as seriously as when two very wise men sit down together to discuss some scientific question. He says: "Master, we know that you have come from God to teach, for no one can do these signs that you do, but God is with him." (Jn 3,2) This profound introduction is just a breath of fresh air for some difficult theological problem to be presented here in the quiet of the night. He will come, for example, with such a perceptive question as whether it is possible to do good on the Sabbath to someone who is in trouble; or: whether it is possible to help someone with money that one has already given to the church; or: which of the hundreds of laws, of small ordinances, of all kinds of divine commands, is the first and greatest; or: how many angels can fit on the point of a needle, and how angels speak in heaven; or: how is it possible that Moses, in describing the creation of the world, speaks first of the existence of light and then of the creation of the sun?
We don't know what deep theological, scientific problem Nicodemus would have wanted to present to Jesus, because right after the introduction Jesus cuts the thread he had begun and starts talking about something quite different: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." As if to say: Let's not talk in vain, let's get to the point: Are you interested in my cause? Well, here on this earth, my cause is that your life be renewed! That's not what Nicodemus expected, but what he heard, he felt, hit him full on. It was an unexpected turn of events, like what had once happened in the quiet of a pastor's office: A man was explaining at length and intelligently the essence of the sin against the Holy Spirit, and asked what the pastor thought about this problem? The pastor replied simply and briefly: Tell me, dear Brother, what specific sin are you trying to cover up with this problem? Have you not committed some infidelity against your wife? That also hit me full on!
It is always suspicious when one starts with such a theoretical, abstract problem, when one's faith is hung up on such things. These problems are very apt to make one avoid a decision. Oh, but so many times, younger and older people have asked: what will be the fate in eternity of those who have never heard of Jesus Christ and so have not been saved? Jesus does not even enter into a discussion of such theoretical questions, but simply asks back: What about you, brother? For unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God! Since two thousand years, Christianity has always been willing to live itself out in a clear, well-formulated doctrine, because it is the easier way. It is always easier to work out and master a certain material than to live a certain way of life. That is why it must be emphasised that Christianity is not a doctrine, but a life! And a particularly great lesson for followers of Jesus Christ throughout the world today - and one that needs to be learned very well - is that Christianity is not one worldview among others, but a way of life, a certain way of living, which is equally valid in any worldview. Christianity is not a certain ideology alongside the others or in opposition to the others - it would be very wrong, for example, for someone who is a believer in Hungary today to feel that he or she has a Christian ideology as opposed to a Marxist ideology. Christianity is not an ideology, it is a way of life, and that is why it is possible to live as a Christian in any ideological society.
The cause of Christ is not something that can be done in a late-night conversation, or in the quiet of a study isolated from the world, or in the devotions of a Bible study, in the sublime hour of a church service, in a sublime hour of silence - but Christianity is something that must be lived from morning to night and from night to morning, every day anew! Christianity is life-transformation, Christianity is victory over sin, love in action, Christ's zeal made visible, humility for all, in short: a born-again life! And if it is not, if it is only talk, if it is only theory: then it does more harm to the cause of Christ than denial of God!
For the Christian man who is known to go to church but behaves selfishly towards his colleagues, for example; the Christian man who prays in the factory kitchen before lunch but is known to always pull himself out of the harder jobs; the Christian man who is not ashamed even to talk to anyone about Christ but is incompatible, quarrelsome in nature; the Christian man who speaks in fine, anointed words, but ruthlessly exploits his employee, or who prays beautifully in Bible class, but is able to berate an absent brother, expounding the truths of the Christian faith with great skill, but at home is able to tolerate his wife hunched over doing the heavy laundry on second shift: such a Christian man deceives himself as to his own Christianity, and discourages others from the cause of Christ! If a Christian man does not help others where he can, is not friendly, not modest, not kind-hearted, not cheerful: his Christianity is not only worthless, but it does him harm, because it increases pessimism in the world, disillusionment, and strengthens people in the belief that Christianity is worthless, and that following Jesus Christ is not worth following.
The Bible says that the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power - in movement, in deed. Christianity is not doctrine, not theory, not science, but life - and born again life at that! And that's the good thing! Because it can never be prevented, forbidden or made impossible. Who can prevent me, for example, from loving him, or forgiving him, or having joy and peace? To let something of the powers of a higher world shine through me? It is a good thing that the kingdom of God is not in speech, for it is not always possible to speak, to preach doctrines, but to behave like a Christian, to live Christ-like: that is always and everywhere possible! In the factory even more than in the church, among enemies even more than among brothers, in trouble even more than in prosperity!
Oh, how necessary it would be if this life of ours, drowned in Christianity in words, and professing Christianity only in principle and theory, were truly Christian! And that is why Jesus Christ says: "You need to be born again!" Yes, it is necessary - and what a need it is! The new birth is not only a change of thought, but also a change of deeds, a renewal of our whole being, the miracle of becoming a completely new man! So, in short: something miraculous must happen to us. The new birth: that is the miracle! How does it happen?
Jesus Christ says: By water and by the Spirit. A page earlier in the Gospel of John we read, "They were not born of blood, nor of the impulse of man, but of God."
Not of blood and not of flesh: this means that it is not something that can be inherited. One's father may have been a Christian believer, one's mother may have been a Christian believer, one's ancestors may have been priests and sacrificial churchmen: it makes no difference, the Christian life, salvation, cannot be inherited from them. One is not born a Christian from such parents, just as being born in a garage does not make one a car. So not of blood and not of flesh... "Neither by the impulse of man": many people think that they have to perform beautiful, religious acts, or make a great resolution, or make a material sacrifice - a handout, a donation, doing good to someone - and that is how one becomes a Christian. Well, not out of any kindness to man, but the Word says: from God - that is, regeneration is an operation which we do not perform on ourselves by some pious practice, but which God performs on us and in us!
Through the power of the Spirit of God, divine life somehow flows into human life. God communicates his nature to man, implanting it in human nature. Jesus Christ Himself, therefore, is not His teachings, His principles, but He Himself somehow comes into the heart of man through His Spirit. Just as Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit, carried the divine life of Jesus Christ within her, so in a way is the new birth. At the word of God, as a mysterious work of the Spirit of God, something is born in man, a new life is stirred, the same mysterious life, LIFE, as in the body of the Virgin Mary. True faith, or conversion, or rebirth - whatever you want to call it - is this kind of experience. Somewhere in me, a new germ of life arises at the creative word of God, a light comes on, a warmth, a happiness: Christ becomes real, alive in me! It is no longer outside me, no longer an idea, not a doctrine, not a hope, but a living reality, within me!
Is it not a miracle that in a human heart that was selfish, envious, vengeful, resentful, love is born all at once?! Is it not an incomprehensible miracle that a man who persecuted Christianity with religious fanaticism should become at once the most blessed apostle of Christ? How can one explain that, for example, someone once came into this church, full of unrest, sexual sins, bondage, and left an hour later a completely different person: liberated, purified? That is rebirth!
And because there is such a miracle, it is possible, but only possible, that we, you and I, can live as Christians. That is why it is possible, for example, that if you are a factory worker: be a Christian; if you are sick: be a Christian; if you are old: be a Christian; if you are a father or a husband: be a Christian, a Christian, that is, a Christian! So, not as a man-man, a robot-man, not as a slave of a cruel life, but as a Christian man, as a Christ-man, who, through faith in Christ, experiences daily, with amazement, that with God nothing is impossible!
But if this is God's work in us, can we do anything about it? Yes! And that is that each one of us can decide for himself at this moment whether he wishes, whether he considers this complete renewal necessary for himself, or whether he is content with his old life. So you can decide that you want to become the man Jesus Christ spoke of, hating the old: a new man! A Christian with a clean heart, a reconciled soul, a washed life. A royal child of God.
No matter how sordid one's past, tragic one's present, or hopeless one's future: there is a way out. But there is only one: rebirth!
Up to now, it was still the case that when a person honestly confessed his sins to Jesus Christ, stood before him unmasked and believed that Jesus Christ had the power to cleanse, forgive, redeem and renew his life, all this was actually done: he was born again!
Jesus Christ does not fail anyone who comes to Him today! Let us sing it now and ask:
"O Jesus, poor you!
He asks, he waits, he longs to call:
Thou preparest it for thee.
This heart will be your home.
Come, then, into my faithful heart.
Though this lodging be poor,
But ever grateful,
So blessed is Christ.
Canto 312, verse 4
Amen
Date: 30 November 1958 Advent