Sermon Tone Analysis

"Nick At Night"

A Sermon for June 15th, 2003, Year B, Trinity Sunday

Selma Original Free Will Baptist Church, Selma, NC

By The Rev. Philip R. Taylor, Deacon, Free Episcopal Church

Lessons

Exodus 3:1-6; Psalm 93; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-16

John 3:1-16

There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews,2 who came to Jesus by night and said, ’Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.’

3Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.

4Nicodemus said, ’How can anyone who is already old be born?

Is it possible to go back into the womb again and be born?’

5Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit; 6what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above.

8The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

9’How is that possible?’

asked Nicodemus.

10Jesus replied, ’You are the Teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things!

11’In all truth I tell you, we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence.

12If you do not believe me when I speak to you about earthly things, how will you believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things?

13No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man; 14as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up 15so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

16For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

My wife, Susan, and I are sometimes insomniacs.

Translation, we sometimes get up in the middle of the night...

unable to get back to sleep...

we turn on the TV.

When it's me awake in the living room...

I usually have the news on or the replay of a hockey game.

Susan, however prefers "Nick At Night"...

a channel that has reruns of situation comedies from 20 or 30 years ago,

"Happy Days", "Mary Tyler Moore", "Sanford & Son".

A couple of years ago...

a friend of mine who pastors a Disciples of Christ congregation...

asked if I would come and preach one night during their revival week.

He suggested that I might preach on being 'born again'

and use John 3:1-16 as my text.

I was excited about this unexpected invitation

and shared the news with Susan.

She immediately suggested that I title my sermon, "Nick At Night".

Now I thought this was silly at the time... but never of course told her that.

When I told Susan recently that I would be preaching again on this same text,

she once more suggested "Nick At Night" as an appropriate title.

You can sometimes fool my wife once,

but not two times on the same subject.

No, that's not going to happen.

So here we go with "Nick At Night",

brought to you by cable TV,

my Lebanese wife's insistence,

and the Gospel of John.

...Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews,2 who came to Jesus by night...

Nicodemus does indeed come to Jesus by night.

John tells us that very plainly.

But why did he come at night?

Much has been made of this phrase 'at night'.

John allows us to wonder and muse...

and generally make fools of ourselves...

as we attempt to get into the mind of Nicodemus.

The truth is we don't know why.

But we do know something about nighttime.

Nighttime for John...for Nicodemus...for Jesus...and for us...

is the same as for all humans in all times and all places.

Nighttime is many things for us...

as it must have been for Nick...and Jesus...and John.

It is sometimes a time of rest...angst...worry...fear...

pleasure...prayer...darkness...

terror...insomnia...and dreams.

It is these things and many more such feelings and emotions.

Later in John's Gospel...

Jesus will be arrested at night...

and in the first few verses of his Gospel, John tells us:

4What has come into being in him was life,

life that was the light of men;

5and light shines in darkness,

and darkness could not overpower it.

John's Gospel frequently offers us the night

and the contrasting light for us to ponder.

Night is a daily occurrence for most of us.

I say most of us...

because I once lived 30 miles above the artic circle in Kotzebue, Alaska...

at the expense of the USAF.

It was night there for several weeks during the winter.

The extended night of the artic was overpowering...

and depressing...

but sometimes beautiful...

as the 'northern lights' danced through the clear cold darkness.

The night is no stranger to us...

but it is often a mystery.

Nick's nighttime visit to Jesus is a bit of a mystery too.

Some say he was afraid...to be seen with Jesus... in the light of day.

Some say he was ashamed...to be seen with Jesus.

Some say this...and some say that.

For a moment...

let's suppose that John...

through this story of Nick's visit at night...

is suggesting to us...

that we too can approach Jesus at night...

as we rest...and angst...and worry...

as we pleasure...or pray....or sit silently in the darkness...

as we feel terror...or can't sleep,

or when we dream dreams.