Schindler’s Hope

"Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him." Jesus replied, "I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." "But how can anyone be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked Him. "Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?" Jesus answered, "I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. – John 3:2b-4 HCSB

“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. A rather ridiculous question, don’t you think? What does your age matter? You can’t reenter your mother’s womb even if you are only five minutes old!

Nicodemus was a renowned teacher of the Law, familiar with the subtle interpretations of Proverbs and prophecies. He wasn’t so obtuse as to think Yeshua was suggesting crawling back into one’s mother’s womb. He was asking – is it too late for me? Can I start over, have another chance, do I get a “take back” even at my age?

It is never too late. Even without Christ’s empowering spirit, people change and improve late in life. Take Oskar Schindler for example. By all accounts, Schindler was a scoundrel. He was a womanizer who could not hold onto a job. He tried establishing several businesses that went bankrupt. He betrayed his native Czechoslovakia and worked for the German intelligence. When he got caught, he went to jail for treason. He joined the Nazi party and some think that he helped the Germans set up Poland’s invasion.

He was a war profiteer who gained ownership of a factory from a ruined Jewish industrialist named Nathan Wurzel and began running the factory with 1,000 Jewish slave laborers. But his relationship with Mr. Wurzel and a Jewish accountant named Itzhak Stern caused Mr. Schindler to begin putting a human face on those he had previously despised.

He began trying to protect his slaves, using his status in the Nazi party and his skills as a salesman to get them out of trouble over and over again. He got Gestapo officers drunk, bribed others, lied with great flair and forged documents. But rather than being motivated by money, he was now motivated by love. In the end, he managed to save around 1,100 souls from the depredations of the Nazis.

Mr. Schindler did this on his own, under his own power. There is no evidence that he ever became a Christian. He did not hold to ANY religion as a matter of fact.

Imagine what could happen in the life of a person who yielded to the ministrations of the God-man for whom it is never too late. Yeshua not only raised a man who was four days dead[1], but also raised himself from the dark clammy embrace of the tomb. Imagine what He could do for you.

[1] John 11:39