It’s easy to miss the deeper meanings of many texts in John’s Gospel if we’re unaware of the multiple meanings of keywords and phrases. So much of what Jesus says has both an earthly and a heavenly level of interpretation. When Jesus speaks, the Gospel characters often first misinterpret his words by assuming an ordinary/physical sense, while Jesus is trying to convey a more profound truth on a religious and spiritual level. When Jesus says, “You must be born from above,” Nicodemus initially thinks Jesus means being “born again” (physical rebirth), while Jesus really means being “born anew” (reborn spiritually). We may think this refers to the sacrament of baptism, and indeed it does. But it means more. To be “born from above” means to accept the grace of baptism as the source of a whole new way of living in the world. Indeed, it isn’t a one-time event but an ongoing, lifelong process of embracing a way of life that both loves the world and everyone in it and rejects all that is at odds with the Spirit of Christ. So we are being born from above daily, day in and day out, for as long as we live. The words of Jesus throughout this Easter season will continue to prod us to look beyond our physical lives on this earth and recognize our spiritual destiny, our eternal life with God, as the source of our eternal joy and gladness.