Nicodemus

John 3:1-17 (I recommend the RSV)

This passage from the Gospel of John is one of the most familiar scriptures in the Christian world, especially the last two verses. In my devotional offerings this week, I would like to explore, not just this passage, but the circle of mostly unsung and unknown followers of Jesus, like Nicodemus, who made up what I call Jesus’ Jerusalem Cadre. (1) Nicodemus; (2) Joseph of Arimathea; (3) Clopas (or Alpheus); (4) Mary Magdalene; and (5) the “Other Marys” {Mary the Mother of Jesus; Mary the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James & John; Mary the wife of Clopas (or Alpheus) the Mother of James the Younger, Matthew (or Levi), Thaddeus the Zealot and Salome; and Mary of Bethany, i.e. of “Mary and Martha” fame.} All of these saints were not considered part of The Twelve, but were essential to Jesus’ ministry, especially whenever his mission took him to Jerusalem. All of these saints went through a similar spiritual journey in which their faith was reborn and their lives found new reasons to live…and that is what being “born anew” is all about.

I am a movie buff. I love a good movie. Many of my favorite movies were made before I was born. One thing I have learned is that there is no shot, no scene, no dialog in a movie that is of no consequence. Each minute of film is just too expensive to waste. Directors and Screenwriters drop what are referred to as “Easter Eggs” or little clues as to what the real story is that is being told. My wife hates to watch movies with me because, knowing this, I often blurt out what is about to happen without thinking, ruining the surprise the filmmakers intended the audience to have.

So too in scripture, no story, no detail in any story, no name of place or person is insignificant. Each and every verse is part of the story of our own faith journey as well as of all those who have come before us in faith. The problem is that the original readers knew these places and persons while we often do not. I love to throw out the name, Mephibosheth, as an example. (Google him). 

The name Nicodemus (which means “Victory of the People”) only occurs five times in the Gospels, all in the Gospel of John (chapters 3,7 and 19). The first three mentions are in our subject scripture and is the story most Christians know of him. The second tells of his chastising his fellow members of the Sanhedrin for having sent Temple Guards (the High Priest’s “Goon Squad”) to arrest Jesus as he taught in the Temple. The crowds that had gathered to hear Jesus would not allow the arrest to take place. The entire story occurs in the 7th chapter of John. I encourage you to read it. 

The last time Nicodemus is mentioned is when he buys the traditional burial spices and oils needed to prepare Jesus’ body while Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. Joseph succeeds and then the two of them bury Jesus in Joseph’s family tomb. Again, the entire story is found in chapter 19 and I encourage you to read it.

Nicodemus (whose Feast Day is August 31st) is an excellent example of a person on a “rebirth” journey for he is a Jew who becomes a Christian. His journey tells its own story too. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and held an important seat in the Sanhedrin, the governing body of the Jewish religion. Pharisees considered themselves to be “Super Jews” and, in general looked down on other Jews for not being as observant of the Law of Moses (at least in the way that Pharisees interpreted them). They even had what could be called a uniform so everyone would know that they were a Pharisee. The uniform had tiny bells attached to the bottom hems of their garments so that folks would hear them coming and make way for them as they walked through the city. Kind of like (and I am really dating myself here) the Good Humor ice cream trucks that used to drive through my neighborhood when I was a child. We would hear the bells a far ways off. The trucks drove very slowly and that gave us time to run home to get a quarter from our Moms and get back to the truck’s route in time to get a frozen treat. That is the kind of excitement a Pharisee hoped to inspire, but, in most cases, Pharisees were despised for their haughtiness.  

Think of how difficult it would have been for a man who led such people to even allow the idea that man like Jesus might be the Messiah into his head. But he could not shake it. He had seen or heard, perhaps with his own eyes and his own ears, of the things that Jesus did and taught. Things that could not be denied as coming from God. To his credit, Nicodemus takes the first deliberate and dangerous step out of the womb of the safe world of The Law of Moses that Pharisees had constructed into the Light of the Good News. To avoid detection, he sneaks out in the middle of the night to speak with Jesus. Through the conversation, and we can be certain that it lasted longer than the few minutes recounted in John, he is “born anew of the Spirit.” 

We do not know if he made his new identity known to his fellow Pharisees, but he takes a second bold step later by condemning the Temple authority’s attempt to arrest Jesus. And then finally, he takes undeniable public action in undertaking the burial of Jesus’ body with his friend, Joseph of Arimathea. 

We hear no more of Nicodemus after the first century CE. There are not even legends preserved about him. We can reasonably assume that he was already elderly because of the time it would have taken to rise to his high position both as a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. It was highly likely that he would have lost both those positions after having so publicly supported Jesus and the first Christians. And having suffered that, he would have been shunned by the powerful men he had once ruled and the “polite society” that held sway over Jerusalem. So we can also reasonably think that he did not live much longer after the birth of the Church.

But this we can know, Nicodemus died in the full Light of the Kingdom of God. Personally, I cannot imagine that the humiliation he suffered at the hands of the Temple authorities was not supremely outweighed by joy and peace he attained as a new born babe in Christ. Born again of the Spirit. The Spirit that gave Nicodemus new life can sustain our lives each and every day. Through many “dangers, toils and snares” as the hymnist wrote. 

My prayers for you, my brothers and sisters…and not so new babes in Christ, is that you too seek out that same Spirit to find life renewed and reborn. In doing so, we grow in faith and take new steps toward wholeness in Christ.

Blessings and Joy,

Jim McGrath