Nicodemus

There are many people that I read of in the Bible, who I think I would like very much; I wonder what they must look like, what their homes must have been like, who their families were.  So many details are left unknown for us as we read of those who lived in the various days of the text we are given.  Isn’t it interesting how well we know them, though very few details of their lives are made known to us?

Nicodemus is one of those people I think I would like.  Because he is smart – but not too smart to see God.  Because he was important and well respected - but not too good to know that was not enough.  Because he was aware of what his fellow leaders thought - but courageous enough to seek truth despite that.  Because he was unsure of who Jesus really was - but honored Him with reverence because the logical and reasonable response as one who sincerely understood the scriptures was to know the Messiah had come.  

We read of him only in the gospel of John, and I am so grateful that John has allowed us to know of him.  In John 3:1-2, we are told “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’”  

Nicodemus is one of the first people to have a recorded, meaningful exchange with our Lord as His ministry begins.  The exchange reads more than any other as if notes had been taken, perhaps indicating that John witnessed the conversation.  The night on which Nicodemus finds the Christ is at the very beginning of Jesus's ministry, shortly after His baptism.  Jesus has come into the capital and scattered the business people in the temple, announcing His authority to the leaders of the nation, the rulers of the temple, and the Supreme Court of the nation.  

The impact of the ministry of Jesus on the scholars and political leaders in Jerusalem was already apparent by the third and fourth chapters of the Gospel according to John.  There is no way to know how many other Pharisees, Sanhedrin members, or rulers might have displayed the same character as Nicodemus; it seems his friend, Joseph did,” on the night of Jesus's death.

Nicodemus is mentioned three times by John: when he comes in search of finding out more about Jesus in John 3, when he attempts to argue the cause of Jesus in an official assembly of the Sanhedrin in John 7, and when he boldly assists Joseph of Arimathea (also a member of the Sanhedrin) in the preparation of Jesus's body for burial in John 19.  And, with these three accounts we understand much about this man – and I think I would like him.  

In the order of the ministry, the conversation in John 3 takes place in between the calling of the Galilean fishermen and a Samaritan woman’s encounter with our Lord.  We all come from somewhere, and we all have our cultures to overcome.  Nicodemus carefully weighs all he has seen and heard in the capital in recent days.  As we have already noted, our Lord has come to Jerusalem shortly after His commitment of service and baptism only to cleanse the temple, the center of Nicodemus’s daily life.  Nicodemus does not appear to have the immediate response that the fishermen and the Samaritan woman have.  We cannot be sure exactly how long Jesus was in Jerusalem or how many days this early Judean stay was prior to this nighttime visit.  But Jesus had been in this area long enough for Nicodemus to experience the signs, wonders, and teachings of this Christ.  And he had been given time to think about all he knew in the scriptures, to meditate on all that had happened in the capital and the temple in recent days, and to yearn to know more.

I think I would like Nicodemus for being one of the few scholars, one of the few well-respected leaders, one of the few elites of the nation who would pull themselves away from the daily “news agenda” of the capital city.  I would like him for allowing himself to seek truth when he had the chance to be away from the fray of the temple message, away from the modern thought, away from the popular academic sway.  I would like him for taking his “personal” time to find the reasonable and logical answers to what he had seen and heard and pondered on.  I would like him for his humility and the honor he displays, not only for the undeniable power he witnessed, but also for the prophets of old who he loved.

And there is no question that Jesus liked him too.  Jesus is so good, to take us where we need to go.  Jesus was talking to a scholar, and this scholar would be asked to stretch his understanding and his most comfortable cultural certainties to accommodate spiritual thoughts.  Jesus takes him straight to the kingdom in verse 3: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Now, the Jews understood a new relationship with God and man – and they even understood the forgiveness of sins.  But Israel had not experienced what Jesus brought, and on this night, Nicodemus was forced to consider something entirely new and threatening to his way of life.  He did not understand this form of spiritual renovation, a spiritual birth as the initial condition for reformation.  This was the message of “birth from above” that until Jesus came had never been possible and certainly had not been a reality.  

Nicodemus would be forced after this providential night to reassess his very citizenship in a kingdom that defined all the details of his life.  It was not that he didn’t understand how a man might “become” other and so, ultimately, “be” other - as in the case of a proselyte who was never “born again” but was able to live as one in the kingdom.  But, how could a man first “be” other in order to “become” other?  To be re-born was never a concept of Jewish faith.  You could work with what you were, but you could never be born again, becoming a proselyte in Jewish faith could never truly make you a part of the family of Abraham. 

Nicodemus had been quite fortunate in “birth”, and he was now asked to re-evaluate the very things that provided goodness, comfort, and respect in his life.  We talk a lot about the poor and less fortunate in the scriptures, we often mention those who had little, were given much, and then in turn - gave much.  But, perhaps in our culture and time, it would be beneficial for us to think of those who had much, were given much, and then in turn - gave much.  

I think I like people like that, and I know a lot of them - doctors, professors, lawyers, engineers, scholars, teachers – so many of my brothers and sisters in Christ.  And Jesus meets us where we are, just as he did Nicodemus.  And if we are in this kingdom, born again to be a new creature of a new family and a new citizenship, then we will give much.  Sometimes that giving is humbling ourselves when the world lifts us up, when education, success and advantages drive our lives.  We must, as Nicodemus, stop the noise, examine the words, weigh the truth, and leave our comfort zones.  It seems there was some apprehension and perhaps even fear indicated in the way Nicodemus seeks Jesus at night.  But I like to think he also sought Him in the quiet solace of the evening when he could think and reason.  I believe he sought Him with the TV off, the phone put away, when the brilliant co-workers had gone home…and he had time to evaluate and learn.  Nicodemus was good and honest enough to leave his bountiful world at home and seek the One who appeared to have words and signs from heaven, and he will be one of two people who are last to prepare our Lord for His resurrection from the dead.  I think I would like him.