On Nicodemus and the New Orleans Saints

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
(John 3.3, ESV).

It was a special night in the Crescent City. This past Monday night the NFL celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the reopening of the Louisiana Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. The home of the New Orleans Saints became a refugee camp after one of America’s most devastating natural disasters in August 2005. During the interim 13 months, the late owner of the franchise, Tom Benson, openly considered relocating the team to San Antonio, where the team played their “home” games for the 2005 season. But the Saints stayed home and on week 3 of the 2006 NFL season, the Saints hosted division rival Atlanta Falcons in what former ESPN (and current NBC) analyst Mike Tirico called, “The most significant game in the history of New Orleans.”

Sports are often a vehicle of hope. Fans from different walks of life, different political affiliations, socio-economic backgrounds, and cultures find unity and fellowship rooting for their favorite team. The city of New Orleans banded together in the wake of disaster and the Saints were not merely a weekly distraction, but a rallying point, an embodied parable of perseverance. The Saints stayed in New Orleans and as Drew Brees said in his Hall of Fame speech, “If you love New Orleans, it will love you back.” The team and the city had been through hell – a type of death – but after death comes resurrection.

2006 was the dawning of a new era in the history of the New Orleans Saints – Sean Payton was their first-year Head Coach; Drew Brees their first-year Quarterback. The golden age of New Orleans football was about to begin, and it turns out the ceremonial inauguration was a special teams play. Steve Gleason’s blocked punt (recovered for a touchdown by Curtis Deloatch) was the Saints’ announcement to the world that they were alive, but it felt like more than that. It meant more than that in a building that was refugee housing in a city that was under water 13 months earlier. This most special of special teams plays was immortalized, not only in New Orleans lore, but also in stone.

The statue bearing the image of Gleason’s iconic play, also bears the engraved name - Rebirth. It was the rebirth of the New Orleans Saints, who fought their way to the NFC Championship that season, and won the Super Bowl, beating Peyton Manning’s Colts in 2009. But it was a type, a shadow, of the rebirth of the city. They had survived the storm. They would rebuild. They were reborn.

This Tom Rinaldi-esq human interest story tugged my heart strings Monday night. Not simply because it’s a powerful story of the intersection of football and human survival; not even because of my personal connections to the city - my wife Bethany lived in New Orleans for the first eight years of her life and my college buddy, Matt Delaughter planted a church in New Orleans; several years ago CCC received an offering supporting the church plant, Matt visited our church to preach, and we even brought a group of students down to New Orleans on a mission trip - but because I was reminded of a true and better story of rebirth.

In John 3 a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Jesus was slowly becoming public enemy number one to the Jewish leadership, which explains the nocturnal setting. Nicodemus, eager to speak with Jesus, confessed no one can do the signs that you do unless he is a teacher from God. In classic Jesus fashion, the Lord responds, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus was no doubt a learned man, but Christ left him confused - “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” The Lord was teaching Nicodemus (and us!) about spiritual rebirth – a rebirth of water and the Spirit. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Jesus speaks here of the Spirit’s work of regeneration. To be born again is synonymous with regeneration - a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit:

“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

In Scripture wind is often a metaphor for the Spirit (the Hebrew word רוּחַ, ru’ach means, “wind, breath, spirit”). Citizenship in the Kingdom of Christ initiates with the sovereign regeneration, or spiritual rebirth, of the Spirit. Just as we were passive participants in our natural birth, so are we passive participants in our spiritual rebirth. The result of our rebirth is our reception of the gift of faith and repentance.

On Monday night New Orleans remembered and celebrated their “rebirth.” On Sunday morning we’ll do the same. Through the Word and the sacrament, we’ll remember and proclaim our spiritual rebirth – a gift of God’s sovereign grace. I was reminded of this Monday night and I yearned for Sunday. I couldn’t help but sing along – “Lord, I want to be in that number; when the saints go marching in.”