It’s easy to miss the deeper meanings of many texts in John’s Gospel if we’re unaware of the multiple meanings of key words 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. Today’s brief Gospel contains four examples of this. 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). Fr. Felix Just writes that both are possible meanings of the Greek preposition anothen, but Jesus tries to move us beyond the physical to the spiritual level. Similarly, the Greek word pneuma can refer to the “wind” blowing through the trees and the “spirit” moving within us. Moreover, the verb “lifted up” can refer to Jesus’ being physically “hoisted up” onto the cross, but more importantly, it also refers to his being spiritually “exalted” in glory. Finally, “eternal life” is not just a prolongation of “life-without-end,” but more importantly, it refers to a “life with God” that transcends the death of our mortal bodies. 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 everlasting joy and gladness.