Sermon Note: This story sermon is best read with a “special” voice reserved for the scripture included in the story. Read the scripture with a lower and slower voice so that the congregation realizes that all the rest is the story is “commentary” on the scripture.

When the last farmer from the most distant field arrived home to his family and the temple police were tromping their patrols around Jerusalem’s walls and the remaining member of the Sanhedrin set aside the last legal brief and blew out the seven candles at the entrance of the Sanhedrin’s chambers, Nicodemus left his quarters. He looked quickly left, then right, and walked out into the night. The first blast of wind hit him around a corner like icicles flying sideways. He jerked his cloak tight.

To anyone passing, this old man,…