Spring is an exciting time of year. After enduring the harsh winter, spring brings a sense of physical renewal. The birds chirp, the plants bloom, and it feels like we are blooming with them. This physical renewal mirrors the spiritual renewal that God works in our lives. While the change in weather uplifts our minds and bodies, Jesus explains to Nicodemus in today's Gospel reading that our souls need God to uplift and revive them completely. Spiritually, our need is not just for refreshment but for a complete revitalization, to be brought from death to life.

Jesus says in John 3:5-6, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." This highlights the necessity of Christian rebirth for salvation. Scripture continually testifies that we are spiritually dead and unable to help ourselves. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2 that before knowing Jesus, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, following the course of this world. Paul consistently follows Jesus' example by comparing the Spirit and the flesh, describing them as opposites. We are born from below, trapped in sin, and unable to produce any spiritual life on our own.

In nature, dead things do not produce life. However, God, as our soul's caretaker, sees our deadness and, instead of casting us off, calls us His excellent creation. He gives us heavenly water that we cannot supply ourselves, which has the power to resurrect and revitalize. No human soul is beyond His reach. The Spirit stirred Nicodemus to go to Jesus, who directed him to the promise of the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism. Jesus promises in Mark 16:16 that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Baptism saves because it is connected to Jesus' death and resurrection, which gives it its saving power.

Through the word of Christ and the gift of faith imparted by the Holy Spirit, God has remade us genuinely and spiritually. When the Spirit came to us at our baptism, we experienced a second birth, a rebirth from above. This new birth is not based on our feelings or experiences but on God's declaration. His word accomplishes exactly what He intends. We are His plants living in His garden, and He gives us His water to enliven us so that we might bear fruit pleasing to Him.

Even though we may not always feel new, our rebirth has produced fruit. This fruit manifests when we trust God's promises, thank and praise Him, seek wisdom from His word, and show love to our neighbors. By the power of the Spirit, there is evidence of new life in all who seek healing in Christ. The wind of the Holy Spirit blew into our hearts at baptism and continues to come to us through the word of Christ. We have received forgiveness and will someday receive ultimate healing and restoration. The newness of life God has given us will culminate in its whole, final, and eternal bloom. God will work the fullness of the renewal of life in us because He loves us. Jesus tells us in John 3:16-17 that God's motivation for the cross was His love for us, to give us eternal life and not to condemn us. By the power of Jesus and His Spirit, we are immersed in the grace-filled water of life to make us new.