Born Of The Water And The Spirit

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

March 03, 2026

in Spritual Growth

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26

March 01, 2026

Readings: Genesis 12:1-8
Romans 4:1-17
John 3:1-17

2nd Sunday of Lent 2026 Homily – Abp. Hines

In the Season of Lent, we are looking forward to the coming of Christ who sacrificed His life for us. The Church has repeated the traditions of Lent over and over, but the world has not changed. It is high time for the church to really act. Never before has there ever been a time such as now with so many earthquakes and natural disasters happening. Nature is giving us signs. God spoke to Abraham in Genesis to leave his homeland in Haran to another place, where he was going to become the father of all nations. God was going to make a covenant with him and that He was going to bless those who bless Abraham and to those who will curse him, they will be cursed.

The Gospel today talks about a Pharisee who was also a part of the Sanhedrin, named Nicodemus. He was of the elite and the ruling class. The Jews believed that the first five books were the summary of God’s Law. But the Pharisees would take the five books so literally that they took many of the principles, divided it and made it into different little sub-laws, which made everything so legalistic and rigid. We see Nicodemus coming to Christ at night with questions he needed Christ to respond to. He was different from the other Pharisees because he was a sincere seeker of truth who acknowledged Jesus as a teacher from God rather than dismissing him. Jesus’ first response to Nicodemus was, “unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said, “but how can a grown man return to his mother’s womb and be born?” While Nicodemus was looking at this statement according to man’s thinking, Jesus was referring to a spiritual truth. He was actually talking about the need of a new heart in a person. Jesus further asked him, “you are a teacher of Israel, how can you not know what you are teaching?” The spiritual truth of the matter was that being born again meant that the heart must be changed. Man must be born of the Spirit. God gave His Word, the Manual by which man is to use as a guide on how he should live, and how to live out the life God has intended for us. We should live out His commandments. Unfortunately, we do not see love being manifested in our lives. We do not see the care and concern people should have for one another. Jesus may be born of flesh, but He was immediately taught and trained in the things of God from childhood. Fathers are supposed to train their children in the way that they should go. We see instead the world, not being in the condition that it should be in because we have not trained our children in the things of God. We should live our lives according to God’s Word.

When Jesus went to the Cross, His first utterance was, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” If Jesus has destroyed sin, why are we still living in the effects of sin rather than in the principles of God? As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so shall the son of man be lifted up, to deliver us from sin and the effects of sin. Why the symbol of the serpent? Because the people were bitten by the snake and they needed healing.

The Holy Spirit teaches us things that the world may not be able to teach us. God said in Ezekiel 36:26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” We have to come to a point that we believe in God fully. We have to completely and totally love the things of God. This is why in Lent, we should let God’s life be evident in our lives.