SOMETHING THAT BEGINS WITH…

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

February 24, 2002

Text: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher” (John 3:2)

First Reading: Genesis 12:1-4a

Second Reading: Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17

As I remember it, my mother liked to shop a lot. In those days she wouldn’t think of going into San Francisco without hat and gloves on. Since she didn’t drive it was my father’s task to take her into the city. And, since I was the baby in the family, and my brother was inevitably out doing something, I had to go with my dad and mom on their trek across the bay bridge. Fifty years ago there were no shopping malls, all of the major stores were right downtown, with no parking lots close by. So, what we’d do would be to drive to the store, let my mother out and then go find a place to park for the allotted time she would be shopping.

After we found a place to park on the street, to spend the time waiting for my mother, my dad and I would always play a game. We could call it, “I see something that begins with…,” then we’d look around, find our target, and give the first letter of the clue. Usually, we tried to be very clever. For example, the other day I was parked in the garage of the Anne Arundel Medical Center, waiting to see one of our patients there. I noticed the weather vane on the roof, there to guide the helicopters to land, is such be necessary. I was thinking about my dad and our game together, and I thought about what clue I could give. “I see something that begins with…” My first thought was “v” for vane, but that would be too easy. So, I thought about “s” for sock. A weather vane is also called a weather sock. That’s what my dad and I did, we would take the obvious answer and think about something creative that would make the person think. It not only prolonged the game; it also stretched our imaginations. My dad was pretty smart. He took something that not only made the time waiting for my mother go quickly, but he also helped me develop my right brain, creative awareness.

That’s what Jesus does for Nicodemus. Here’s Nick, a good Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, well versed in the left brain, legal parlance he’s learned all of his scholarly life. Yet, he’s drawn to this Jesus, this miracle worker, this Rabbi who claims that he’s been sent by God. Nick’s left brain logic tells him that Jesus couldn’t do what he does without some guidance from God. But then Jesus pulls a right brain response, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” I can almost hear my dad saying, “I see something that begins with…” Like my dad did with me, so Jesus does with Nicodemus, he answers his left brain logic with some right brain imagination and thereby creatively gets him to search a little deeper. (I owe this thought to Patricia Farris, “Late-night Seminar,” Christian Century, January 30-February 6, 2002, page 19)

Nicodemus continues with his left brain logic, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Again, we’d have to agree with his logic, but Jesus doesn’t use logic. He uses creative imagination. It’s the right brain thing again. This time he pushes the envelope even further and talks about water and the Spirit. He then goes into this big description of the wind blowing where it will, how no one can see it, even though we can hear the sound of it. It reminds me of the windsock atop Anne Arundel Medical Center. I could tell you the direction the wind was blowing, but couldn’t see it or hear it. “I see something that begins with ‘w’!” By this time poor Nicodemus is so confused, “How can these things be?” little knowing that Jesus, like my dad taught me, is trying to get him to think outside the box.

After their conversation together we don’t hear too much about Nicodemus until after Jesus’ death. It is he along with Joseph of Arimathea who ask Pilate for Jesus’ body so that they can wrap it in myrrh and aloes and entomb it in the proper fashion. Obviously, Nicodemus is somebody more than just a left-brained Pharisee who finds Jesus curious. He goes on to become enough of a believer to follow his progress and his ministry throughout the years. He sees something that begins with faithfulness.

“Several centuries ago, the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to leave Italy. There was, of course, a huge outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal. He would have a religious debate with a leader of the Jewish community. If the Jewish leader won the debate, the Jews would be permitted to say in Italy. If the Pope won, the Jews would have to leave. The Jewish community met and picked an aged Rabbi, Moishe, to represent them in the debate. Rabbi Moishe, however, could not speak Latin and the Pope could not speak Yiddish. So it was decided that this would be a ‘silent’ debate.

“On the day of the great debate, the Pope and Rabbi Moishe sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Rabbi Moishe looked back and raised on finger. Next, the Pope waved his finger around his head. Rabbi Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope than brought out a communion wafer and chalice of wine. Rabbi Moishe pulled out an apple. With that, the Pope stood up and said, ‘I concede the debate. This man has bested me. The Jews can stay.’

“Later, the Cardinals gathered around the Pope, asking him what had happened. The Pope said, ‘First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions.

“Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground to show that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that God absolves us of our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?’

Meanwhile the Jewish community crowded around Rabbi Moishe, asking what happened. ‘Well,’ said Moishe, ‘first he said to me, You Jews have three days to get out of here. So, I said to him, You and whose army! Then he tells me the whole city would be cleared of Jews. So I said to him, Listen here Mr. Pope, the Jews…we stay right here! ‘And then?’ asked a woman. ‘Who knows?’ said Rabbi Moishe. ‘We broke for lunch.’”

The Pope saw something that begins with one thing while Rabbi Moishe saw something that begun with quite another thing.

The storytellers have placed this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus at the beginning of Lent for a particular reason. Lent is customarily a time when the Christian world looks at its spirituality, its religious disciplines and how faithfully it responds. In other words, it’s a time for introspection and some correction before celebrating the Day of Resurrection. So, oftentimes Christians seek to strengthen their faith, usually in the customary ways they’ve practiced for so long.

Then along comes Jesus who challenges Nicodemus to explore new ways of thinking. There’s a reason that our lesson closes with mention of the wind. “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.” In other words, Jesus challenges us to break out of our customary and usual practices and let the winds of the Spirit carry us into new ventures of faith. If Nicodemus had been a current day Christian he would have been quite comfortable only enhancing his left brained, legalistic practice of the faith and calling it his bit for Lent. But Jesus didn’t let him.

The little game my dad and I played while waiting for my mother to finish her shopping got me to think outside the box. I learned well to use my imagination while looking at very customary and usual objects. Each time I tried to think of another way to express them before I said, “I see something that begins with…” Today, as I remember that simple game I don’t think my Dad was just playing with me. Neither was Jesus just playing a game with Nicodemus. Nor should we enter this Lenten season intent just to notch our belt up another notch and keep on doing the usual and customary observance, only a little bit more serious.

Rather, we should let the winds of the Spirit encroach on our space and blow where it wills. Who knows? We may be led into right-brained responses that stretch us and lead us into new and venturesome faithful endeavors. It worked for Nicodemus. It’ll work as will for us.

Thanks be to God

Amen