Archpriest Viacheslav Reznikov's reflection on John 3:1–15 Christ is Risen! Both day and night the disciples come to the Lord Jesus. During the day - those who have found the determination to leave everything and follow Him. And at night - who, although he is drawn to the truth, is still unable to leave worldly attachments, unable to rise above worldly fears. And the Lord accepts everyone. He gives everyone what he can handle, and pushes everyone to greater and better things. One night Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews, also came. He came and spoke about one thing, and the Lord immediately spoke to him about something else, about the main thing, about the need to be born again if you want to be with God. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus asked in surprise: “How can a person be born when he is already old?” What kind of birth can there be when death is soon? To which the Lord replied: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Here the Lord speaks about Holy Baptism. As in birth according to the flesh: the baby is in the mother's womb in complete darkness, and suddenly comes out into a blinding light. He is immediately surrounded by many objects, air changes begin to affect him, he hears the voices of his parents. Everything is new for him, but the child does not immediately realize what happened to him. The ability to sense and remember only gradually develops. Only gradually does he become accustomed to God’s world, but then he no longer imagines how it could have been otherwise, how he could not exist? So it is in Holy Baptism. Man is born of water and the Spirit into eternal life. The son of carnal parents is adopted by the Heavenly Father, who is the Spirit. And just as the light of God’s world is not comparable to the darkness of the womb, so the light of the Kingdom of Heaven is not comparable to this world. Anyone who has seen this light can no longer imagine how he could live without it. And even when the baptized person does not immediately experience the fullness of feelings, it is all the same: the event has happened, and now he will grow spiritually and hear the voice of the Heavenly Father more and more clearly, about which the Lord said to Nicodemus: “The spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, but you don’t know where it comes from and where it goes.” We don’t know where from, we don’t know where, but we know that this voice of the Spirit sounds for us everywhere: in church services, in the Holy Scriptures, in the exploits of true Christians, and in the wise order of the world. And the Paschal joy that we experience these days is also the voice of the Spirit. Where does this come from? We see that people are dying, we know that the gates of death and decay await us. So where do we get joy, where does hope come from? We don’t know where it comes from and where it goes, but we know that it is there. And this is so true that they could not and will not be able to drown out this voice, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor sword” (Romans 8:35). We were all born of this Spirit, and even though we are still infants in spiritual age, but in these days we, together with the perfect, rejoicing in the Lord our Savior, bring each other the great news: Christ is Risen!
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