Today’s gospel passage must be one of the most well known in the whole compendium of well known stories. It contains those two keynote sentences:

No-one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit,

and

God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life

And (if truth be told) I’m not a great fan of either statement! They are sometimes used to determine the status of other people. They are sometimes used by people who assume they have got their ticket to heaven, to determine whether somebody else is carrying a valid travel document. They are sometimes used to say “I am in, and you are out”.

It seems to me that these two phrases have all too often become (and I do not think this is what Jesus had in mind when he said them) the property of the kind of Christian that jealousy guards the frontiers of God’s heavenly kingdom. It’s like these phrases have become the criteria against which those who might try to sneak, unobserved, into the presence of God are now judged. These two phrases define the immigration control to heaven. And I can understand how we’ve got to that point of view.

Take the first sentence: No-one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit

If I use that sentence to determine whether you are ‘in’ or ‘out’, I am coming at you from a position of supposed superiority. In other words, I would hardy be likely to use this criteria if I didn’t think that I was on the inside. So by using this statement, I am saying to you that I judge myself to be within the kingdom of God, but I’m not sure about you.

Similarly with the second statement: God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life

Again, I’m not likely to go around quoting this sentence unless feel certain that I’m heading for eternal life. This leaves open the suggestion that you, therefore, are likely to perish.

Like the debate that is hotting up between our political parties about immigration abuses and border controls, these two statements are used to show that I am OK, and you are not; that this is my homeland and only those who fit the bill, who agree with my criteria, who will merge into the landscape and not spoil the view, are welcome.

Let’s compare that, for a moment, with another one of Jesus’ statements about who can enter the kingdom of God:

If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me

Now I know that that phrase is said to one person, but so are the others. They are not said to the crowds, but to Nicodemus, alone, at night. But, despite that, I have to accept that the statements to Nicodemus do seem to be about everyone; whereas this other statement is addressed to one individual and seems to be about that one individual.

But there is one other comparison worth noting: the story we’ve heard this morning, the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus, is only recorded in John’s gospel. Whereas the need for those with possessions to sell everything they have in order to know real treasure in heaven, is recorded in all the others:

Matthew writes: If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.

Mark writes: Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

Luke writes: Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

Why is this important? I think this is fundamentally crucial about understanding the nature of God’s kingdom; about who is welcome; and about whose ‘home’ we are talking about anyway.

If I stand over you and say “Unless you are born again you are not getting into heaven” I am taking place of power and judgement over you and denying you the ability to judge whether or not I have the right to make the assertion that I do indeed fall inside the heavenly group.

If instead I stand over you and say “Once you have given away all that you have, then you will have treasure in heaven”, I am giving you the power to judge me. It is obvious to everyone that I have not given away all that I have. It is obvious to me and to you that owning two cars, paying for our children’s out of school activities, having two or three holidays a year (to say nothing of my plans for this particular summer) that, on that criteria, I fall outside the heavenly gates.

You get my point? The criteria that some of our brothers and sisters throw around, seek to show that they are in; that this is my home; that there’s a real distinction between those of us who belong here and those of you who do not.

Whereas using the alternative criteria takes us to a very different place. To a place where those who say they belong can easily be judged by those who do not belong; where those who position themselves on the inside will be found out for who they really are; where ‘home’ isn’t a refuge against the trials and tribulations of the devil and his angels, but (ironically) is to be found within and amongst the people who may not have heard God’s love song, who may not have responded to the whisperings of God in the night‑time, who may be spending more time concerned about the God they believe in and not enough time resting in the love of the God who believes in them.

This is a radical readjustment that we are called to make: to give the power to others so that they may judge us. It goes against everything we instinctively want. It reverses the way we want to live, holding things close to our chest, keeping ourselves to ourselves, closing the door and drawing the curtains on our lives so that the outside world can’t get in. But it isn’t up to us to determine who’s in and who’s out – thank God. Otherwise we’d all be heading out the back door. And I am increasing sceptical of those who come with a tightly packaged, neatly wrapped understanding of the kingdom of God. Because (surprise, surprise) those who propagate such a gospel always draw themselves safe and sound within the boundaries of heaven.

But the boundaries of God’s heavenly home (of which the church should be a model) are not drawn like national borders, with immigration control trying to keep the bad people out. Rather they are drawn around the cross and the resurrection, through which and by which and in which, we, and all creation, through one perfect sacrifice, have been made right with God and can rest assured in God’s love both in this earthly home and in God’s everlasting home.