A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint John. Jesus said to Nicodemus, I solemnly assure you, do not be surprised that I tell you, you must all be begotten from above. The wind blows where it will. You hear the sound that it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone begotten of the spirit.
Nicodemus then asked, how can such a thing happen? Jesus answered, you hold the office of teacher of Israel, and still you do not understand these matters? I solemnly assure you, we are talking about what we know. We are testifying to what we have seen. You are the ones who do not accept our testimony.
If you do not believe when I tell you about earthly things, how are you to believe when I tell you about those of heaven? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from it, The son of man who is in heaven. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the son of man be lifted up that all who believe in him may have eternal life. And this is the gospel, the good news of the lord. The name of the father and of the son and the holy spirit, amen.
It should not astonish anybody or startle them or surprise them, although it may bore them to have somebody harping on the empty tomb that the resurrection of the son of god was truly a physical fact, not just a spiritual thing as some good people would like it to be today in the church. And I am the one who has been harping on it and probably boring you. But the simple fact is, you know, that some of the most basic, the most fundamental things in our lives, we ignore them. How many of us have read their constitution of The United States lately, and yet the whole business abreast upon it? In some instances, they are omitting the creed from the mass.
Of course, it's against what the church wants, but there these good liturgists are doing it because it's tiresome to listen to that business, I believe in god the father Almighty. You know, you get it's so boring. There's nothing exciting about that, you know. We must be excited. Well, this is probably I said this before, but this is my last appearance here for a while, at least with this period.
Anyway, I just happened to come across a story, and I'm going to read it because I'm no good at telling stories. I can tell lies are alright, but telling stories I can't do that so well. And it's it is on the subject matter of my discourses for the last few days. The title of the story is what was in Jeremy's aid? What was in Jeremy's aid?
Jeremy was a little boy born with a twisted body, a slow mind, and, he was terminally ill. At the age of 12, he was still in the second grade. Seemingly, he couldn't learn anything. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated when the little boy squirmed in his seat. You know how they do that.
He drooled and he grunted. And that's hard to take, believe me. So one day, miss Miller phoned the parents named Forrester and asked them to come to Saint Teresa's school for a consultation. She said to the parents, Jeremy belongs in a special school. It isn't fair to him, or to the other children really, to have him with them who do not have a learning problem.
The parents listened, and mister Forrester replied, miss Miller, there is no such school nearby. And it would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take him out of Saint Teresa's. He really likes it. After they had left, this is the part that I like. After they left, Doris Doris Miller, the teacher, sat staring out of the window at the snow.
It was winter. As she pondered the situation, she felt guilty, very guilty. Oh god, she said, here I am complaining when my problems are nothing compared to that poor boy's family. Please help me to be more patient. Spring came, snow disappeared, and the children began to talk excitedly about Easter.
Doris told them all about the resurrection, and then to emphasize the idea of new life, she gave each child a large plastic egg and said to them, I want you to take this egg home and bring it back tomorrow with something inside of it that shows life. The next morning, all 19 children came to class laughing and talking as they put their eggs in the basket on miss Miller's desk. After the math lesson, she began to open the eggs. In the first day, Doris found a flower. She held it up.
Yes, she said, a flower is certainly a sign of life. The second day contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Doris held that up and said, we all know that a caterpillar changes and grows into this beautiful butterfly. This too is a sign of life. Next, she found a rock with moss on it.
She explained to the class that moss too was a living thing and showed life. The fourth egg that she picked up was empty, nothing. She knew that it must be Jeremy's. He couldn't learn anything. So that so then rather than embarrass the little boy, she put the egg aside and began to reach for another egg when suddenly Jeremy spoke up.
Miss Miller, she he said, aren't you going to talk about my egg? Well, miss Miller was flustered. But, Jeremy, she said, your egg is empty. Yes, Jeremy said. But Jesus' tomb was empty too.
Doris asked, do you know why the tomb was empty? Oh, yes, said Jeremy. Jesus was killed and put into it, and then god raised him up. The recess bell rang, and while the children were out in the schoolyard, miss Doris Miller had a good cry. Three months later, Jeremy died.
Those who came to the wake of the little boy were astonished to see 19 eggs on Jeremy's casket, all of them empty. In the name of the father and the son and holy spirit. Amen.