When the Pharisee and religious leader Nicodemus comes to Jesus, he slinks in at night. Why exactly Nicodemus is there, he doesn’t say. Instead, he comes and tells Jesus about Jesus.

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” (John 3:2)

Jesus, in turn, tells Nicodemus about Nicodemus:

“Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (John 3:3)

That “I tell you”—somewhat unnatural in English—hints that Jesus isn’t just theologizing, but addressing what Nicodemus himself lacks. But Nikki is a bit slow on the uptake:

“How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4)

Perhaps Jesus had hoped “the teacher of Israel” would be a bit more sensitive to metaphors. Ah well, he goes on to explain himself:

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5–8)

Some have thought “being born of water” might refer to natural, human birth—later called being “born of the flesh.” The problem with this view is that if that’s what Jesus meant, he’d more likely say “born of flesh and Spirit.” Also, does Jesus really want to emphasize that someone needs to be physically born to enter God’s kingdom?

A more likely view is that Jesus is alluding to Ezekiel 36–37. In that passage, Israel is exiled, and God tells Ezekiel to prophecy to them:

It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:22–29)

Here God sprinkles clean water on the people to purify them and puts his Spirit in them so that they will obey him faithfully. God will be their God and restore them to the land. Or, in Jesus’s words, to “enter the kingdom of God” they must be “born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5).

But the allusion to Ezekiel keeps going. In the following chapter, Ezekiel sees a valley full of dry bones. God says,

“Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” (Ezekiel 37:3)

This, it seems, is a prudent answer. God tells Ezekiel to speak to them, promising that He will breathe life into them. As Ezekiel speaks, the bones rattle together, form skeletons, and grow flesh and skin, but they’re still lifeless corpses. God instructs Ezekiel to tell the wind to fill the bodies with “breath,” and they come alive, standing as a huge, living army.

It thus seems to be no coincidence that Jesus goes on to talk about the “wind,” a word which in both Greek and Hebrew also means “spirit” and “breath.”

The wind is a fitting illustration for God’s Spirit. Like wind, the Spirit cannot be contained. If you fill a box with wind, it won’t be there when you open it. We cannot grasp the wind, yet it moves us. And while we might explain the concept of wind, it is impossible to predict its precise movements.

Jesus seems to think that the allusions to Ezekiel are perspicuous enough, but Nicodemus still isn’t getting it.

“How can these things be?” (John 3:9)

He hasn’t learned from Ezekiel’s example to say, “Lord, you know.”

Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? (John 3:10–12)

I used to think Jesus seemed a bit harsh here, but he expects “the teacher of Israel” to get the allusions. It’s like a literature professor not getting a Shakespeare reference. Remarkably, Jesus says that the workings of the Spirit are not heavenly matters. Jesus has been speaking of the Spirit’s work on earth. Jesus continues:

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For 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. (John 3:14–16)

Jesus then alludes to Numbers 21, where the wilderness generation complains about the how much they hate the free food God sets out every morning. God responds by sending serpents among them. The people admit they’ve sinned and ask Moses to intercede for them. God instructs Moses to set up a bronze serpent on a pole and whoever looks at it will live.

But perhaps there is a final resonance with Ezekiel. In Ezekiel God says

It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name. (Ezekiel 36:22)

In John, Jesus says that God’s love for the world motivates the rescue plan. But perhaps these are two ways of saying the same thing for the God who is love.