There’s A Nicodemus in All of Us

Read John 3:1-21

The résumé is impressive:

A Pharisee--one of the intellectual guardians of the Law. 

A Member of the Sanhedrin—the esteemed ruling council.

Israel’s teacher—the authority, the one whose opinion could sway the vote, the one whose words were most quoted.

Most impressive.  Nicodemus is at the top of the religious ladder, looking down.  But the view from the top is, at best, disappointing.  And now, he steps down from that ladder to walk the streets.  Searching...  He comes at night. 

Two words between the lines in his résumé that follow him through the Gospel like a stray.  When John later describes him, he doesn’t mention the credentials but rather this telling clue to his character: “Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.”

Thus, cloaked in darkness, Nicodemus wends his way through the side streets of Jerusalem…slowly…cautiously…every so often stepping into the shadows to avoid recognition. 

He comes as a seeker of truth.  But he comes at night.  He comes not in an official capacity but in a personal one.  It is a chancy meeting.  Gossip could hurt him.  He has much to lose…his prestige as Israel’s teacher, his position on the ruling council, his entire peer group.  But still he comes.  Not for curiosity’s sake but for conscience’ sake.

The buying and selling in the temple courtyard has always bothered him.  But he looked the other way.  “What’s good for business is good for the temple,” the money changers would say, flashing their toothy smiles as he passed them on his way to the temple.  But he always felt uneasy about it.  Unclean.

Then this Jesus came.  And he didn’t like what he saw either.  Something about the way he upended their tables and chased their animals from the courtyard seemed…seemed… like the cleansing wrath of God, burning away the dross that had accumulated around the temple.

But Jesus turned over more than the tables of the moneychangers that day.  He upended the wooden thinking of the most prominent teacher in all Israel.  How the words of this unorthodox Jesus haunted Nicodemus: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

Who could explain such words?  Israel asked its teacher.  But the teacher had no explanation.  And the report of Jesus changing the water into wine.  Who could explain that?  How could Jesus do such a thing unless… unless God’s hand was truly upon him.  But he has no credentials, no formal schooling, and he shows no desire to be part of the inner circle of religious leadership.  He’s an enigma, this Jesus.

Could he…?  No.  And yet…

Night after night, Nicodemus wrestles with the same question: “Could this be the Messiah?”  And night after sleepless night, it backs him into a corner, pressing him for an answer.

So he comes.   At night.   But yet he comes.

No doubt, Jesus is exhausted from the day of teaching, answering questions, performing miracles.  But he is accessible, always accessible, to the one who comes.  And he meets Nicodemus when Nicodemus dares to meet him.  At night.

It is a disarming meeting for this Pharisee, both theologically, and personally.  And as the conversation see-saws back and forth, the weight of it falling on Jesus, its plain to see, even at night, who is the teacher and who is the one taking notes. 

Nicodemus listens.  Quietly.  Respectfully.  Intently.  Peering deep into Jesus’ eyes.

Nicodemus has rubbed shoulders with the most respected minds in the religious hierarchy.  Some were his former teachers; some, his former students.  They were the elite.  He peered into all of their eyes.  And he always felt the same way, that something vital was missing, missing from all of their lives… including his.

Now as his soul is drawn into the eyes of Jesus, he senses he is touching the hem of a divine garment.  The look into Jesus’ eyes.  The authority in his voice.  Instead of jots and titles of the law, he speaks words of life.

A lifetime of studying and teaching the Word, and now Nicodemus is face to face with the Word incarnate.

He came in darkness.  Now he stands in the glowing presence of the Light of the World.  He is a

short step from the kingdom of God, at the very gate.  And as the fluid words cascade from Jesus’ lips, he realizes—this is he of whom the prophets spoke.

A spark touches the far edges of his soul, but it is a slow burn.  For Nicodemus is a careful man.  And he has much to lose.

Still, an ember has fallen into his heart.  An ember that tragedy will someday fan to a blaze of courage.  And it will be this tragedy that brings Nicodemus out of the shadows to the side of the Savior… in the full light of day.

André L. Burton, Former

Greater New York, USA East