PINBALL WIZARD

Text:  John 9:1-41

Theme:  "Pinball Wizard"

4th Sunday in Lent

March 30, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said,^[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Back in college days, we played ping-pong and shot pool at the student union.  On Friday afternoons, at various fraternity houses, we played foosball.  In high school the big thing, at least where I grew up, was pinball.  Right next to the Alco department store was a pizza restaurant and a movie theater.  In the hallway that connected the two was a row of pinball machines.  There we would stand -- "loiter" is probably a better word -- waiting our turn to play.  Of course, one of the hit songs back then was "Pinball Wizard" by the rock band, The Who.  Elton John also had his own rendition of the piece.

Ever since I was a young boy I played the silver ball --

from Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all.

But I ain't seen nothing like him in any amusement hall.

That deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball.

To be deaf means that you cannot hear.  To be dumb means that you cannot speak.  The man featured prominently in today's Gospel is not deaf; he can hear.  Neither is he dumb; he can speak.  But he is blind.  He cannot see.  In fact, he was born that way; he was congenitally blind.

Years ago as a chaplain, I was assigned to the 6th floor at Children's Medical Center in Dallas.  That was where they treated young children suffering from cystic fibrosis.  Depending on the condition of their lungs, they would come to the hospital for treatment that usually ran a day or two.  One day, making rounds, I dropped in on a patient:  a teenager.  We got to talking, and I asked:  "What's it like to have cystic fibrosis?"  The patient replied:  "What's it like NOT to have it?  I don't know what it's like NOT to have it."  Cystic fibrosis, that progressive disease that strikes people down in the prime of their lives, was the "normal" for this person.

I suspect the man born blind would give the same answer:  "What's it like to be congenitally blind?"  "What's it like NOT to be congenitally blind?  I don't know what it's like NOT to be this way.  I've never seen light, or a sunrise, or a sunset.  My imagination is stunted because I cannot picture anything in my mind.  Why?  Because I haven't seen it -- ever; I have no point of reference."

But he could hear and he could speak.  Blind?  Yes.  But that doesn't mean that he wasn't aware. His condition forced him to adapt. 

Jesus and His disciples were walking along one day.  They see this blind man who could not see them.  There he is by the side of the road.  Curiosity gets the better of the disciples, and they ask Jesus:  "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Who was it that sinned and, thus, caused that mudslide in Seattle?  Who was it that sinned, on that Malaysian Airline flight, and caused it to disappear and reportedly crash in the Indian Ocean?  There is a thought, ancient and still somewhat persistent, that hold that bad things (illnesses, tragedies, deaths, what have you) are divine retribution -- punishments, if you will -- for sin. 

Jesus puts this thought to rest.  He says:  "Neither this man or his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."  Think of it!  God can have good use of a blind beggar.  To everyone else, he is a man to avoid or to feel sorry for from a distance.  But God isn't "everyone else."  God is God, and, as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: 
"...God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

One of the things I love about being a follower of Jesus is that it's so messy, so dirty, so gritty, so real, so incarnational.  I don't see Christianity as another religion among many.  I see it as a way -- a way that at times includes means such as water, bread, wine, spit and saliva, dirt and mud. 

Jesus literally takes matter into his own hands.  He takes the initiative.  He spits on the ground.  He makes mud with the saliva.  And it is that crude, revolting paste, that means of grace,  that he smears on the blind man's eyes.   I was told, and perhaps you've been told as well, that "Cleanliness is next to godliness."   Here, cleanliness is not that important.  What is important is that the works of God be made known through this man. 

What an awful, pathetic sight!  Insult is added to injury.  The poor blind man's eyes and face are lathered and slathered with spit and mud. Get this whacked out rabbi away from this unfortunate soul.  For heaven's sake, hand him some soap and water and a towel.  Jesus says:  "Go wash in the pool of Siloam."  He didn't see Jesus, but he certainly heard him.  The man went.  He washed.  He came back.  There was no spit and mud; it was cleansed away -- and the blindness right along with it.  He could see for the first time.  

He had never seen a thing  his entire life, but now he could.  You've heard the leaves rustle, but now you see the tree.  You hear the water ripple, but now you see the river.  You know what it tastes like, but now you see the bread in your own hands -- hands that you now see, too, for the first time.  This isn't even to speak of colors and shapes and dimensions.  He saw, for the first time, what he could not even begin to imagine.  Who could not marvel at this man or, at least, be a half a bit interested in what he had to say?  What a perspective he would bring!

The man's neighbors don't appear to care at all about that.  They're not even sure it is him.  They engage him; they want to find out who did this to him.  They're not curious about the blessing and how incredible it was for the once blind man.  They want only to know what happened; they want an explanation.  Sadly, that's what we so often want:  an explanation.  In some ways, we've lost the ability to be moved by mystery, to be in awe, to marvel, to rejoice, to celebrate our own good fortune or someone else's.  Instead, we want some other thing called an explanation. 

Point by point, the man explained exactly what happened.  Still, that wasn't enough.  They brought the man to the Pharisees.  Again, he explains what Jesus had done for him.  The Pharisees, the purveyors of religion, did not see in Jesus a cause for rejoicing.  No, Jesus was the proverbial burr in their saddle -- a threat to their religion.  So if they could trip him up in any way, they were going to do it.

He healed someone on the Sabbath?  Why, no one can work on the Sabbath. Therefore, this man is not from God; he is a sinner.  Case closed.   They even went to  badger the poor man's parents.  "Is this man your son?  Was he born blind?"  "Ask him yourselves," the parents replied.  "He is of age," they said with fear in their voices.

With the second round of questioning, the man who had received his sight had had enough with this religious harassment.  He tells them again that it was Jesus.  The Pharisees do not even know where Jesus came from.  The man who washed away the spit and mud said to them:  “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.  If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

In other words, they kicked him out of the synagogue; they gave him the boot. 

As Judy Collins sings in "Both Sides Now":  "Something's lost and something's gained in living every day."

The man lost his religion.  But he gained his sight, and he gained his Lord.  "Lord, I believe," he says to Jesus.  Leaving religion behind, He became a follower of Jesus and journeyed on with him to cross, to crown, to never-ending victory.  You might spot him in heaven playing pinball. 

Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind but now I see.

Amen.

The Thing Behind the Thing

Text:  John 4:5-26

Theme:  "The Thing Behind the Thing"

3rd Sunday in Lent

March 23, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

On the first Sunday in Lent, Lord Jesus had chat with the devil in the wilderness.  Last week, Lent 2, Lord Jesus had chat with a man at night.  Today's Lent 3 Gospel gives us Lord Jesus having chat with a woman in broad daylight.  There's lots of chatting going on!   The conversation partners change, and so do the locations.   But the constant is the Lord Jesus.  He certainly wasn't anti-social.  He valued a good chat!

Speaking of Lord Jesus, what was He doing in Samaria? Chat up someone in Samaria and you might get cold-cocked in the jaw.  Was He nuts?  Samaria wasn't some Spring Break port of call -- like Galveston, Padre, Cancun, or the French Riviera (if you've got mega-bucks).  For the good Jew, Samaria was like a bad neighborhood; you don't go there unless, for whatever reason, you have to be there.  And you want to get out as soon as humanly possible.  Jews didn't get along with Samaritans; there was no love lost between the two. 

To make matters worse, Jesus was tired from all the traveling.  This highlights the human nature of God's Son.  He did get tired from time to time.  Fancy that!  It would appear that He is thirsty too.  He sits down by a well -- and not just any well:  it was Jacob's well.   And the chat was about to begin.

The woman appears.  Up comes another red flag.  What was she doing out there in public,  in broad daylight?  In those days, women were supposed to be hidden; they were to stay out of sight.  This woman, before uttering a single syllable, was a tradition-breaker.  She must have been a blue-stater transplanted in a red state; she must have been some sort of liberal.  You see, conservatives, generally speaking, place great value in traditions.  "But," as a favorite author of mine, Richard John Neuhaus, has written:  "...from time to time a decision must be made that a cause (or tradition) is lost.  Those who adamantly decline making that decision are commonly called reactionaries." 

For example, the British author Evelyn Waugh was quite reactionary when asked to comment on an upcoming election in England; the year was 1959.  Waugh said:  "I have never voted in a parliamentary election.  I shall not vote this year....In the last three hundred years, particularly in the last hundred, the Crown has adopted what seems to me a very hazardous process of choosing advisors:  popular election.  Many great evils have resulted....I do not aspire to advise my Sovereign in her choice of servants."  Even great authors can be reactionary.

This woman, though, was no reactionary.  "To heck with tradition; to heck with staying home and out of sight.  My family needs water, and I'm going to the well to get some."

"Give me a drink," comes a voice, a masculine voice.  Oh my!  The traditions, the sacred cows, are falling down everywhere.  Men weren't supposed to talk to women out there in public like that.  But this man, this Jew in Samaria, the Lord Jesus does just that.

The woman replies:  "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.  How can you ask me for a drink?"

Lord Jesus then speaks of "living water" that He would give -- His water, His H20 and not the stuff you had to drag up with a bucket from Jacob's well.  This water would spritz up to eternal life. 

The woman wants some of that water.  Hey, she's all in!  Jesus says:  "Go, call your husband and come back."  "I have no husband," she replies.  "You are right," says Jesus.  "The fact is, you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband.  What you've said is quite true."  Shockingly, she didn't cut and run when the truth came out in public-- and neither did Jesus. 

Here, amid all these old traditions crumbling and new one presumably being built up, we get to the heart of the matter.  You see, it's not about traditions or the lack of traditions.  Those are the outward things.  Christian congregations -- predictably, understandably, and frustratingly -- tend to get obsessed with them at times and thereby miss the truth.

Now we get to the thing behind the things.  In  short, we get to the truth:  Lord Jesus knew that woman better than she knew herself. He knows you and He knows me better than we know ourselves.  And He accepted that woman, welcomed that woman, loved that woman, and gave that woman living water that spritzes up and gushes forth to everlasting life. 

They started talking about worship of all things!  Where's the right place to worship?  On a mountain?  In Jerusalem's temple?  At 1114 W. University Drive in Denton?  In Louisville, Kentucky at denominational headquarters?  No, no.  Those are the outward things.  The thing behind the thing is this:  Jesus says, "True worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks."

The woman seems confused.  She says, "I know that the Messiah is coming.  When He comes He will explain everything to us."

Some time ago, I picked up this little nugget of advice about explanations.  It goes like this:  "Never explain yourself.  Your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe it."

Jesus doesn't seek an explanation from you.  His Spirit seeks you and not the explanation you give of yourself.  He seeks us, finds us, and still finds us even when we hide behind old traditions. 

So we take our leave from Jacob's well, and on we go.  Conversation partners change.  Traditions change.  But the constant is Jesus -- and His welcome, His acceptance, His grace, and His love for everyone.  On we go with Him  -- to Jerusalem; to Palm Sunday's parade; to Maundy Thursday's upper room, agonized prayer in Gethsemane, betrayal, and arrest; to Good Friday's trial, crucifixion, and burial; and to Easter Sunday's empty tomb. My Lord, what a morning!

 Living water -- spritzing up and gushing forth to everlasting life.  It's the thing behind the thing.  Get yourself some!

Amen.

NICODEMUS

Text:  John 3:1-17

Theme:  "Nicodemus"

2nd Sunday in Lent

March 16, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^[d]

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.^[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”^[g]

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

It has been awhile back now and my memory isn't quite as sharp as it once was, but I do remember those heady days leading up to ordination in the Presbyterian Church. It takes me back to 2010.  Grace Presbytery's Committee on Ministry had examined me, and so did the presbytery itself when it took up consideration of my call.  One question both the committee and the presbytery asked had to do with women in the Bible.  I was asked to name three and then explain why they were influential to me.  I mentioned Rahab, the prostitute.  You may recall that God used her to help the Israelite spies as they moved in on the promised land.  The second woman was Ruth.  What loyalty she demonstrated to Naomi!  She had such an earnestness of faith.  Finally, I mentioned Lydia who we encounter in the New Testament book of Acts.  She became a follower of Christ, and she extended hospitality -- room, board, and then some -- to the apostles.  She was a business woman -- a dealer in purple goods.  She didn't stay home and bake cookies -- although I'm sure they would have been tasty cookies. 

No one ever asked me about men in the Bible.  But if they asked now, I would put one gentleman at the top of the list.  His name is Nicodemus.  "He was a Pharisee,", we are told, "who was a member of the Jewish ruling council."  So it's pretty safe to say that he was not an atheist or an agnostic, as we know of them today.  He was a religious man, and his religious beliefs informed his calling.  Sounds good, doesn't it? Being both a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council, he was also an educated man. 

At this point it's important to point out that the group of folks he hung out with, the Pharisees, were not exactly "buddy/buddy" with Jesus.  Jesus wasn't their "BFF" or "bestie" -- to use two of the more popular terms.  As Reza Aslan has pointed out in his recent book Zealot:  The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus wasn't the only rabbi -- or would-be Messiah -- running around that had a group of followers.  There were quite a few that go unmentioned in the Bible. 

Two things made Jesus of Nazareth stand out, however.  First, He called His followers.  His followers didn't first ask Him if they could be His followers.  That made Him different.   Second, Jesus performed signs or miracles.  This second item may have motivated Nicodemus to seek out Jesus for a chat.   The circumstantial evidence suggests as much -- and even the text:  "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him."  But, by and large, for the people that Nicodemus ran around with, Jesus was an agitator, a fraud, a liar.  C.S. Lewis put it nicely when he remarked that Jesus is  "a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord."  The religious establishment of Jesus day didn't see Him as the Lord, so that left liar and/or lunatic.  And fine religious people can't have liars or lunatics running around the countryside upsetting their cherished traditions and moral applecarts, can they?  So Jesus has to go.  They hadn't even arrested Him, but they already convicted and executed him in their minds.

Apparently, Nicodemus did not jump to those conclusions.  He would draw his own.  He was not, as they say today, "closed-minded".  At this point, I don't believe He had gone all-in for Jesus, but neither do I think He was ready to reject Him out of hand as liar or lunatic.  He may have been confused, but he had an open mind. 

Not only that, he had an inquiring mind.  Thus, if you're confused about a few things and if you have an opportunity, why not go to the source?  Don't bother with hearsay or second-hand information.  Seek the person out and have a one-on-one chat with him. 

But wait.  What if that gets you in hot water?  What if you're spotted by your closed-minded friends?  Why, they might accuse you of guilt by association.  "You're associating with Jesus?  Has He flipped you or something?"  They could run you out and run you up on a Roman cross -- like they did with Jesus. 

I love it!  The intrigue is starting to mount!  Nicodemus, in planning on a visit with Jesus, was thinking about some seriously risky business.  It took some guts.  As Vice-President Francis Underwood says in the Netflix series House of Cards, "It's hunt, or be hunted." 

You know, if you venture out at night, you're not as easily spotted -- and that for the obvious reason that it's dark outside.   Do wear dark clothing too.  Go out the back door and slip through the fence.   People don't see as clearly; there are shadows.  Nicodemus would have to had picked a night when the Sanhedrin was not in session.  He has a little free time.  I wonder if he came up with a pre-arranged alibi?

How did he know where to find Jesus?  I have no idea.  But He did. 

Jesus didn't think Him a liar or a lunatic.  He didn't say "Get out of here; you're a piece of work;  you make me sick."  He welcomed the man; he engaged the man in a brief conversation that is one of the greatest in recorded history.

It was to this man, Nicodemus, who had come to our Lord at night, who first heard the words:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

I wonder what impact those words had on Nicodemus.  Perhaps someday we'll know. 

The next time we hear of Nicodemus, we discover that his colleagues, the Pharisees, are trying to arrest and condemn Jesus essentially without cause.  Nicodemus, then, speaks up:  “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”  He knew the answer.  His own closed-minded colleagues were subverting the very law they were pledged to uphold.  That may have been the last straw for Nicodemus.

The final time we hear of him, he is together with another man by the name of Joseph from Arimathea.  Nicodemus goes to Jesus again, but this time it didn't matter if it was dark outside.  Everyone can see him now.  Everyone can see Jesus too, for Jesus is dead.  Together with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus removes the lifeless body of Jesus from the Roman cross.   It was the last labor of love for the Man who said:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."

The name Nicodemus means "victory for the people."  Amen.

The Way It Was, What Happened, and How It Is Today

Text:  Romans 5:12-19

Theme:  "The Way it Was, What Happened, and How it Is Today"

1st Sunday in Lent

March 9, 2014

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

¹³ To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

The Bible goes to great lengths to tell us the way it was, what happened, and how it is today.  The Word of God is at great pains to tell us the way it was, what happened, and how it is today.  The Scriptures desperately want us to know the way it was, what happened, and how it is today.  The season of Lent is a prime time to begin to learn, or to learn again, about the way it was, what happened, and how it is today. 

Why is it important to know the way it was, what happened, and how it is today?  Because it is the essence of Christianity; it is the core, the kernel, the seed.  It is the main message and, indeed, the narrative of life. 

Richard Rohr is a Catholic priest and author.  He has written a masterful book of meditations for men entitled On the Threshold of Transformation.  Early on, he makes this startling claim -- and it's good for both men and women:  "If we don't mythologize our lives, inevitably we will pathologize them... .  If we don't move beyond the self-referential trap of our own stories and lives, and connect with the larger story of what it means to be a human, we will live lives of quiet desperation."

Don't count me in on quiet desperation; I'm not down for quiet desperation.  Been there.  Done that.  Bought the t-shirt.  Quiet desperation leads to existential despair; you despair of your own existence.  Existential despair, then, often leads to depression.  Depression leads to seeking something -- anything! -- to make you feel better.  When that something that makes you feel better no longer works, you're back to existential despair, and the vicious cycle starts all over again.  No wonder that some have said:  "Stop the merry-go-round; I want to get off."

The alternative to the sickening merry-go-round is what Rohr calls "the larger story of what it means to be human."  I'll call it the Gospel!  Enter genuine Christianity; it offers that larger story; it gives us that good news!  It tells us the way it was, what happened, and how it is today.  And it is the Holy Spirit -- who proceeds from the Father and the Son -- who convinces us that this larger story is ours, and we are part of it.  As the poet Walt Whitman puts it:  "The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."

In something along the lines of a minor miracle, today's Service of the Word (outlined in your bulletin) gives us the larger story, or the powerful play,  in a nutshell.  In the Old Testament Reading and Holy Gospel we discover the way it was.  In the anthem "Beneath the cross of Jesus", sung so beautifully by Dr. Snider and Dr. Linder, we find out what happened.  And in the New Testament Reading from Romans, we learn how it is today.  It's all there for you:  the way it was, what happened, and how it is today.  You may wish to keep the bulletin.

Also, you may have noticed that the devil shows up in our first two readings.  It makes no difference whether you believe in the devil or not; the devil doesn't care way either way.  Devil's job -- or the job of evil, if you prefer -- is to get you to doubt God.  That constitutes "winning" for the devil.  When you doubt God, when you're not sure that you're part of God's story, then you are like spiritual silly putty.  You can be molded and shaped into a little bundle of quiet desperation, existential despair, and depression.  You're put onto that merry-go-round that you end up wanting to get off.

Adam and Eve, our first parents, were cruising along just fine -- living in communion, as they were, with God and with nature.  But along comes the serpentine devil and the forbidden fruit.  The devil's logic, if you wish to call it that, carries the day.  Adam and Eve sinned, and they tried to cover it up with fig leaves.  There certainly has been a whole lot of sinning -- and the subsequent attempts to cover it up -- ever since.  The default position, the initial reaction to anything that goes wrong these days, seems to be:  "It's somebody else's fault."  We live in denial of our own complicity. 

Riding a winning streak, the devil shows up again.  This time Satan sets his sights on another human being.  This individual happens to be named Jesus.  The Scripture tells us that He is the Son of God and the Son of Mary. Thus, He is fully divine and fully human.  But unlike Adam and Even when confronted with evil, He doesn't buckle.  The devil, quoting the Bible, tried three of his best tricks, but Jesus wouldn't budge.  Three Satanic fastballs.  Jesus knocked all three of them out of the park.  Game over.  That's the way it was.

But what happened?  It's one thing to beat the devil and not yield to temptation.  Even we have managed to do that from time to time.  But what about all the times when we didn't manage to do that?  What about all those times when we tried to slap some fig leaves on our own sins?  What happens then?  What happened?

Look at what happened to Jesus.  Thank you for singing it to us, Dr. Snider and Dr. Linder. 

Upon that cross of Jesus

Mine eye at times can see

The very dying form of One

Who suffered there for me;

And from my stricken heart with tears

Two wonders I confess:

The wonders of redeeming love

And my unworthiness.

What happened to the way it was?  Redeeming love happened.  At the cross, Jesus, willingly, cleaned up the mess that we were too busy denying.  Was that sacrifice, that redeeming love, enough?  Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, says "Yes".

So finally, how is it today?  As St. Paul pointed out to the Romans, it's actually quite simple.  He says:

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

When devil, world, and even your own flesh seek to get you to doubt God, to deny God, and when countless circumstances would plunge you into desperation, despair, and depression, tell the story of the way it was, what happened, and how it is today. 

Game over.  You win!

Amen.