Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Many of us of a certain age remember the wonderful television programs of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. At least, they seemed "wonderful" back then. I am going to share with you a list of my "Top Twenty" classic TV programs, all of which debuted more than thirty years ago. If you used to regularly watch a program on this list, please raise your hand. Put your hand down if I mention one that you didn’t watch regularly, and then raise your hand again when I mention another one that you watched regularly. Be sure to look around, and you will see why these became "classic" television shows. Here is the list, in chronological order:

(1951) I Love Lucy

(1954) Lassie

(1958) The Donna Reed Show

(1959) The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

(1960) My Three Sons; Route 66; and The Andy Griffith Show

(1961) Car 54, Where Are You; Mister Ed; and The Dick Van Dyke Show

(1962) The Beverly Hillbillies

(1964) Gilligan’s Island

(1965) I Spy

(1968) Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-I

(1970) The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Odd Couple

(1971) All in the Family

(1972) The Bob Newhart Show

(1974) Happy Days

(1975) Saturday Night Live

These twenty programs are just a selection of more than 100 classic television shows that have been presented on the network known as "Nick at Nite," since it started up on cable television in 1985 and subsequently spread to satellite TV. Over the years, the "Nick at Nite" network not only has provided re-runs of these classic programs for those of us who saw them when they first aired, but also has attracted a new generation of younger viewers who are viewing these programs for the first time. In effect, "Nick at Nite" provides a place where grandparents and grandchildren can share in the experience of the good old days.

Without a doubt, these shows have been given new life on "Nick at Nite." When they ended their first runs decades ago, they were consigned to the Laurel Land of television – where even the most successful and longest-running programs eventually came to be buried. Now, thanks to "Nick at Nite," they have enjoyed a renaissance. They have been reborn.

This provides us a playful way to enter into the world of Nicodemus, the Jewish leader who came to see Jesus at night. Nicodemus’s first statement to Jesus is revealing. He says, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God." This implies that Nicodemus speaks not only for himself but also for an unspecified larger community – whether the entire Jewish community or the Jewish ruling council of seventy members in which Nicodemus was a leading member, or the disciples who must been with Jesus in that place on that night.

Even though Nicodemus spoke to Jesus in the first-person plural, Jesus answered Nicodemus – directly in the singular – with one of the best known scriptural word plays: "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again [or "being born from above."] Not expecting such a statement from Jesus, Nicodemus replied rather lamely, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?"

Jesus gave Nicodemus no quarter, declaring, "Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above [or born again].’ 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." As if a word play on being "born again/born from above" were not enough, Jesus confounds Nicodemus with another one, since, in first century Greek, the word for "wind" and the word for "spirit" were the same.

In the spirit of Jesus’ word plays, let us consider this peculiar man known to us only as Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, a member of the seventy-member ruling council, a man who must have had considerable wealth. Nicodemus appears in the Scriptures only in John’s Gospel, where he sought out Jesus at night (3:1). Nicodemus re-appears by name in verse 4, where we find him engaged in a dialogue with Jesus. This exchange continues to verse 9, where Nicodemus continues their dialogue by asking Jesus, "How can these things be?" This is the last time that Nicodemus appears by name in chapter 3 of John’s Gospel.

(Just as a footnote, Nicodemus comes into the New Testament story twice more – first, in John 7:50-52, when Nicodemus asked one more question – this time not directed to Jesus, but to his fellow members of the Jewish ruling council, which was contemplating the arrest of Jesus. His rhetorical question was straightforward: "Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?" We can tell from the wording in the Greek text that he expected an unhelpful response from his colleagues on the council. And, sure enough, the other council members replied sarcastically, "Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee" (7:52).

The final appearance of Nicodemus in the Scriptures is in John 19:39ff., where he joined Joseph of Arimathea in "bringing a mixture of myrhh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial customs of the Jews.")

But let us return to that night when Nicodemus came to Jesus.

After verse 10, the words of Jesus are no longer addressed to Nicodemus alone, but to a more general audience – even though there is no evidence in the text that others were present in that place at that moment.

What makes us believe that the level of Jesus’ declarations have shifted from the one to the many? The answer: he switched from the singular "you" to the plural "you" in verses 11 and 12, declaring, "If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?"

This switch to the plural provides the transition to yet another word play. In verses 14-15, Jesus said to Nicodemus (and the others who must have been present in that place), "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." By the time that John’s Gospel was available to first-century Christians, this reference to being "lifted up" brought to the minds of Jesus’ listeners not only the resurrection but also the prior act of crucifixion. We remember this double meaning in the oft-sung hymn "Lift High the Cross," No. 371 in The Presbyterian Hymnal.

Still appearing to speak beyond Nicodemus, Jesus continues his discourse with what has become one of the most memorized verses in the Bible: "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" (3:16). This global declaration is sustained in verse 17, where Jesus further declares, "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (note: although verse 17 is the last verse included in our lectionary reading, the discourse continues in the same manner through verse 21.)

From the beginning of chapter 3, where we meet Nicodemus, to the end of Jesus’ discourse in verse 21, the emphasis shifts from the questions of a particular individual called Nicodemus to God’s response to all of the people in the world. In a sense, Nicodemus stands as humanity’s representative before Jesus and before God. What Nicodemus learned is that God loves us, no matter who we are, where we are, or even how old we are.

In reading and re-reading the encounter of Nicodemus and Jesus, I am struck by the importance of the word plays in this story – from the idea of being "born again/born from above" to the power of the "wind/Spirit," to the double meaning of being "lifted up" as "crucified/resurrected."

But, just as significant is the name of the one who calls on Jesus at night, the one named Nicodemus. This unique name appears nowhere else in the Scriptures. In the Greek, the name Nicodemus literally means "victory" + "people" – which can reasonably be translated into English as "victory of/for the people." What could be more appropriate than to have man named Nicodemus come to Jesus at night, speaking not only for himself but serving as one who represents "the people." In his role as an inquirer, the aptly named Nicodemus assumes a unique role in John’s Gospel and in the New Testament. He – and all of humanity through him – becomes the object of Jesus’ declaration that God loves all people everywhere. What a great "victory for the people!" For some two thousand years, we have been blessed with continuing re-runs of this original "Nic at Night!" Thanks be to God. Amen.

© 2008 Van Kemper (e-mail: rkemper@trinitypresdallas.org)