Christmas is a season of gift giving. The gift that started it all, though, is not restricted to a single day or month of the year. The birth of Jesus signalized the greatest gift of all—the power of God's ideas to break through the limitations of material concepts, and improve and regenerate human lives. This gift is here for everyone to receive and benefit from every day. But in order to partake fully of these benefits, we need to be willing to reconsider the way we think. Ideas from God are always new, and often startling, to matter-oriented thinking. Jesus' virgin birth, the "miracles" he performed, and the arresting authority of his teachings, all prod the intellect to consider ideas beyond its preconceived concepts. While this prodding can arouse discomfort and resistance in thought, it can also arouse irresistible hope and curiosity, as it did in the case of Nicodemus, one of Jesus' contemporaries.
While Nicodemus's peers in the Sanhedrin (the Jewish governing body) openly expressed disapproval of Jesus, Nicodemus was thinking way outside the box of traditional beliefs. He had become convinced by Jesus' miracles that Jesus was "a teacher come from God," a conviction he explained upfront to Jesus when he sought Jesus out for a private interview (see John 3:1–13). Jesus' unhesitating response introduced an even more expansive view: Nicodemus would have to do more than recognize Jesus as having a spiritual origin. In order to truly understand and experience what Jesus preached and practiced, Jesus said Nicodemus would himself have to be "born again."
Nicodemus was at first baffled by this idea, an idea altogether outside the parameters of material conceptions. As Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again'" (John 3:6, English Standard Version). The demand on Nicodemus was to accept and yield to what Jesus' birth pointed to—Jesus' spiritual identity as the Christ, the Son of God. His birth also pointed to the spiritual origin of everyone else as the reflection of God, who is Spirit.
