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Grace mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord

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and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Amen. Please pray with me.

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Lord God we come before you gather together to sing your praises to

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hear your word.

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We ask that you would speak into our hearts and Minds that we would

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hear your truth in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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I'd like you to imagine as a student

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or just a person that you have the opportunity to interact with

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someone who you look up to a favorite professor or an example in your

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life.

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And this is an opportunity to interact with them on a personal

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one-on-one basis, perhaps the classroom has emptied and now you get to

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bring your thought-provoking ideas or clever questions to the

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professor to show.

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That example how valuable your classroom discussions are your worth

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your intelligence. Unfortunately as the conversation continues the

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thoughts begin to escape your mind that conversation seems to fall

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apart in your mouth the arguments slide away from you.

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You feel a little bit childish you try to end the conversation quickly

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and just end any further embarrassment and get out of the classroom

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and and you're worried that the teacher really just doesn't think too

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much if you anymore.

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I think that Nicodemus maybe felt this way after his conversation or

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at least at certain parts of his conversation with Jesus, in our text

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for today.

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You see Nicodemus of course was a teacher of the Jews a ruler among

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the Pharisees and example to the people one of those aloof elusive

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people who really seems to know a lot and here was his chance to sit

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down with someone who impressed even him.

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However, as the conversation went on Nicodemus began to question

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things he spoke some truth about Jesus but seem to find a way to miss

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the point.

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And Jesus words seem to go over his head and he's left feeling like a

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child in the presence of a master.

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Of course,

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Jesus listens to what Nicodemus says and tries to explain to him what

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he means, but even just nine versus into the chapter Nicodemus faces

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the question how can these things be. Looking at his palms no longer

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being able to draw those connections that he thought he could no

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longer able to impress this teacher

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he was trying so desperately to please.

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And Jesus continues we speak of these things that we know and you do

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not listen, how can I speak of you of heavenly things if I don't even

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know that you understand the earthly things. And so we laugh with him

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at the old foolish teacher.

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But is it so easy for us to align ourselves with Jesus in this text?

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I don't know if you were smiling to yourself

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like I was as we read through the reading but

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at a certain point as we squint our eyes in that dimly lit room.

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Perhaps a single candle or a lamp on the low table trying to make out

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what it is

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Jesus means reading and rereading the text trying to understand what

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he's saying so that we can align ourselves with him.

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And sheepishly as her mind begins to scramble

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we let our heads fall to our feet

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we trace the Shadows across the room.

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We follow the flicker of the flame.

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We look up and see a familiar glimmer and glint in the eye of the

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person who sits across from us.

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We recognize him.

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Something stirs within us we wouldn't be able to recognize Nicodemus

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if we saw him, but we can't keep from recognizing the person who

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actually is sitting across the table from us not next to us.

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It's Jesus himself

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the Son of Man. We're scrambling for an explanation.

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We look down at our palms and we just have to wrestle with the

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question.

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How can these things be?

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Now maybe, maybe you're not identifying with the idea of being fooled or or

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or lost in this conversation before you get that knowing smile on your

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face or that clever

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look of satisfaction.

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I would just challenged you to try and come up with the correct answer

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to the questions Jesus or Nicodemus asks asks, or try to explain what

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Jesus means in verse 8 or what he's talking about in verse 12.

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As the questions begin to pile up in the books begin to pile up

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trying to answer them.

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We're lost.

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Feeling like children in the presence of a master asking the question

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yet again, how can these things be?

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Interesting that this text falls for today for us and I don't mean

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today as in the Second Sunday in Lent.

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Or today as in March 4th, but rather March 4th 2020 today today.

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Chapel at Concordia Seminary today.

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Because as we gather in this place of worship, we are faced with kind

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of an empty room, and I'm not just talking about the pews.

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Instead look a little bit further than that were once there was a

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grand and majestic mosaic for trained leaders and teachers of the

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church Timothy and Titus. Adorned with places of learning from the

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Mediterranean all the way to St.

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Louis.

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When the sun would shine through that window sparkle in our eyes and

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we would feel the warmth of God's gifts shining upon Us. Instead we

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have

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this blank window and it's not really anybody's fault or anything like

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that.

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But there's no flaw in architecture here or someone missed something.

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It's just that as the sun would shine through that rainbow Mosaic

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I think we would sort of miss

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what's hanging in front of it.

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And so now we can't escape this empty window this barren tree an empty

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sky.

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We can't escape the serpentine picture of Christ hanging on a cross

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above a empty wilderness.

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Silent

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forcing more questions than answers at times.

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And yet a constant reminder that though

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we might be called as teachers or as preachers or as leaders in the

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church.

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First and foremost

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we are called to be children

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to look upon him and believe and have life.

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In Jesus name. Amen.