A Study on Nicodemus

Tuesday, February 21st, 2006

A Study on Nicodemus

John 3:1-21
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

John 7:45-52
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"

46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared.

47 "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48 "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them."

50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"

52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."

John 19:38-42
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

(From intouch.org)
There likely was a rustle in the trees that night. The wind was blowing where it wished, and Nicodemus was piqued and puzzled. He had heard the words and seen the miracles of Jesus of Nazareth, and now he had come to meet the Man. The fact that the ornate robe of this Pharisee fluttered in the wind held more than a little symbolism; Nicodemus was about to discover his beliefs as fragile as the clothing that touted them.

The conversion of Nicodemus is one of the Bible's most touching accounts. It is evidence of the transforming power of Jesus Christ and what He can do to the heart that seeks truth and longs for more than this world can deliver. The English translation of the name Nicodemus in its original language means “innocent blood.” The nineteenth chapter of John reveals why it is a perfect fit.

Nicodemus makes three appearances in the Bible, each in the Gospel of John. He is known as the man who came to Jesus by night in chapter 3. The “Most Precious Verse” in God's Word, John 3:16, comes when Jesus preaches truth to a lost soul comfortable and successful in worldly trappings. Nicodemus surfaces again in John 7:50-52, when, during a meeting with fellow Sanhedrin council members, he raises a procedural point in Jesus' favor. Nevertheless, he was still a Pharisee and likely yet unconverted.

Nicodemus' final appearance (John 19:39-42) reveals that the seed Jesus planted by night blossoms in the light of a gloomy day: Nicodemus forsakes his religion by wrapping and burying the crucified body of his Lord.

It all started at night, when Nicodemus came to the Light. He knew of Jesus' cleansing of the temple and the "signs" Jesus had performed. Jesus called Nicodemus “the teacher of Israel.” Nicodemus was among his nation's most highly regarded men.

“Rabbi,” Nicodemus said to Jesus, “We know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Nicodemus suffered spiritual blindness, yes, but at least he had his eyes open.

“Nicodemus was a prominent man. Anyone in Nicodemus' position would be an unlikely candidate for the position of Jesus' follower,” writes Leon Morris in the New International Commentary of the New Testament. “As 'the teacher of Israel' (John 3:10), it would never do for him to commit himself to the unofficial Teacher from Galilee, not at any rate until he was absolutely sure of his ground. If this is the explanation, it is not without its interest that Jesus says nothing in condemnation. He was content to receive Nicodemus just as he was.”

Jesus dispenses with formalities and cuts to the heart of the matter—Nicodemus' heart: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus knows why Nicodemus is visiting, and he quickly answers before being asked. Yet Nicodemus' transformation appears to have been slow. Perhaps he listened to Jesus' insistence on a new birth and then searched the Scriptures about the Messiah. His only conclusion could have been that those Scriptures were being lived out before him.

However, Nicodemus does not manifest his devotion to Jesus until after Christ's crucifixion. Along with fellow Pharisee Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus retrieves Jesus' body from the cross and prepares it for burial. The wealthy Nicodemus donates the fabulous amount of one-hundred Roman pounds of expensive myrrh and aloes to coat Jesus' body; properly, it was an amount usually reserved for kings. With Passover only hours away, Nicodemus had forsaken his religion of law because he knew the beaten and pierced figure in his arms was the Son of God. The blood streaked on Nicodemus' robe had covered the sin of the world. In his old way of life, Nicodemus was now unclean. In his new eternal life, he was now unblemished.

“He was willing openly to share with Jesus the shame of his cross,”' writes Henry H. Halley in Halley's Bible Handbook. “His coming out of the shadows in the hour of Jesus' humiliation, when even the Twelve had fled to cover, risking his own life in that tender final ministry, is one of the noblest incidents of Scripture.”

Today, Nicodemus is still the teacher. We learn from him that Jesus is always there for us, night or day. We learn that in God's perfect timing He will answer our most confounding questions. We learn that regardless of our status in this world, there is nothing more important than the regenerative life of Christ within us. We learn that no matter how great our own sacrifice, it can never compare to Jesus Christ's. And we learn that to live for Christ requires great sacrifice indeed.

It is at the cross and grave of Jesus where Nicodemus finally and boldly manifests his salvation and shows he is mighty in spirit. It is there that, as a gray sky released rain drops that may as well have been tears from heaven, Nicodemus wraps and wraps the lifeless body of Jesus. It is there that across a once-pious robe is smeared the only truly innocent blood.

The way I see it, Nick wanted to check things out for himself. He searched… he saw things and knew something was up. And to plant a seed, it doesn’t turn into a full grown tree spurting out fruit over night. It takes work. It takes nurturing. Jesus planted the seed and through his actions, he nurtured it. And the very seed he planted placed him in his tomb… and I say this as not that Nick killed him… I say it as Nick helped bury him. He brought all the things, “mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds,” and buried him like the King he is. Nick went out of his way to check Jesus out. And he found that Jesus is the real deal. I am still not sure what I am going to talk about Thursday night, I’ve checked out a number of chieftains in the bible, Pilate, Solomon, Samson, and a number of others and still haven’t made up a decision. Nick was an interesting study… not too sure if he’s the guy, but I am glad to have checked him out. Anyway, I’ve got much work to do, and very little time to do it in… Johnny Out.