“To be born of water and of the spirit”

A Jewish magistrate, Nicodemus, came to see Jesus. From John’s account, it can be deduced that Nicodemus speaks in the name of his people, the Jews: “We know that you have come from God”…  And Jesus also responds in plural form, for the Jewish people. “You have to be born again.” This annotation is made by a scholar of John, Antonio Salas, who sees in the fourth Gospel a new way of looking at Judaism; It is not a rival, the new faith is also offered to the Jews, but on one condition: to be born again.

In the dialogue, Jesus explains that it is a matter of being born of water and the spirit. And this is interpreted as entering into a new way of life, where the law (water) is enriched by the spirit (love). That is to say, in order to have access to the salvation that Jesus came to offer, the Jews do not have to renounce the law, but to enliven it with the spirit, with love. Let us pray today for ourselves, for the Church, that spirit that fulfills and generates freedom.