This morning I would like to share with you two stories. This talk will focus around two historic events. Nineteen hundred years separate the two stories. Interestingly, there are many similarities between the stories. Each story features two men. In each story, one of the two men is a Jewish rabbi. Both stories reach their climax at night, with a knock on the door, and an unexpected visitor. Both stories tell of an event that changed a person’s life. Both stories take place in capital cities. Both stories involve a group of hostile and deadly protagonists.
So let me provide some details. Let’s start out with the protagonists…the bad guys, the villains. This first group needs little introduction. We know them as the Pharisees—the self-righteous, religious enemy of Jesus. Anyone who reads the New Testament will be familiar with them, so I won’t say much more about them. The second group is the Ku Klux Klan, which I admit, is quite a strange group to be introducing on a Sunday morning. We are familiar with the Pharisees, but fewer of us are familiar with the Ku Klux Klan, which is probably a good thing.
The KKK has historically advocated positions that we should find offensive, such as white supremacy, white nationalism, antisemitism, and intolerance towards immigrants. Historically, the KKK has used terrorism—both physical assault and murder—against groups or individuals whom they opposed. Rest assured, this exhortation is not a talk about politics or immigration policy or class supremacy. Instead, this is a talk about how a heart can be changed through words. This exhortation is about how one person can change the heart of another. It’s a talk about rebirth, about being born again. This is a talk about how two men had their lives changed when they encountered the words of a Jewish rabbi. I will, at this point, let you know that Jesus is one of the two rabbis in these two stories.
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Author: Philip P. Kapusta
Keywords: must be born again, new birth, second birth, born of spirit, born of water, water baptism, born again, born anew, rebirth, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, rabbi, racism, racist, grand dragon, Larry Trapp, Weisser, cantor
Bible reference(s): John 3:1-8
Source: lecture given in Richmond, Virginia on November 19, 2017.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.