First Hear Him
I knew their plot because the LORD informed me; at that time, you, O LORD, showed me their doings. Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: "Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will be spoken no more." But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause! Jeremiah 11:18-20
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why did you not bring him?" The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man." So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed." Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, "Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?" They answered and said to him, "You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee." John 7:45-52
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The plot thickens…both the actual plot against Jesus in the New Testament along with the prophetic scheme foretold in the Hebrew Bible. Despite the plot, we encounter a miracle in the making with the second appearance of Nicodemus.
When we last left the Pharisee, his curiosity got the best of him. After hearing about Jesus, he had to experience and encounter Jesus first-hand. Under cover of darkness, he slipped into Jesus house and attempted to quiz Jesus in John 3. While there, the Pharisee heard Jesus out.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born [again] from above.” The teacher became the student in this exchange when a literal interpretation of the Word of God seemed impossible to answer.
The puzzled Pharisee presses another question of the younger Rabbi: “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely, he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” Although Jesus takes some barbs at the Pharisee – challenging him to know better – the Lord answers patiently.
The final words recorded about that first encounter must be resonating in the mind of Nicodemus as today’s events unfold in Chapter 7: “But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”
Nicodemus may have been confused in chapter 3, but we know he didn’t give up. The encounter with Jesus changed Nicodemus. He then holds his brethren to the same standard that he fulfilled. Hear him out first before condemning him. Doing this, we encounter a changed Nicodemus – no longer afraid of being associated with Jesus.
As Jesus' ministry progresses, the people begin to be divided. Some say he's the Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:18) and others that He's the Christ. But then there are some who argue that the Scriptures never predict that the Christ would come from Galilee (John 7:40-41). Some officials decide to go see the experts on the matter: the revered and learned Pharisees. And they sternly refute the officials, because no one of the rulers or Pharisees believe in Him, do they? Not in that cursed bunch that doesn't know the first thing about the Law? The Pharisees know the Law inside and out, and they aren't swayed by this fellow Jesus, are they? (John 7:45-49).
And out of the blue Nicodemus responds: How do you know that Jesus doesn't know the Law if you haven't heard Him speak? Does the Law forbid you to actually get off your cushion and investigate the matter? "Ah!" the Pharisees say, "Check for yourself and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee!"[1]
Nicodemus is starting to live the truth in the light of day. No longer will he slink away where no one will see him. Now, he begins to publicly testify and defend the faith even though he gets backlash from his colleagues in the temple. The progression that Nicodemus goes through in John’s Gospel is what makes his story so compelling.
The next and final time that we encounter Nicodemus, and he confronts the reality of Christ experienced, is at the foot of the cross (after the disciples have scattered). Joseph of Arimathea obtained the body to bury Jesus formally according to Jewish law. Nicodemus also shows up, again. The Pharisee who had first come to Jesus at night, came this time in the hot afternoon sun, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. One hundred pounds of myrrh and aloe?!
The oil that Mary used to anoint Jesus’ feet was so costly that spending a liter of it had irritated Judas Iscariot. Mary's liter represented 300 dinari, which was a common man's annual wage. Nicodemus brings one hundred times as much to the foot of the cross…Moving that quantity of oil must have involved every merchant in town. There's no way that Nicodemus could have amassed that much oil covertly, or even keep its purpose secret. Surely the whole town knew about it. But why the oil?[2]
With his hundred liters of myrrh-oil, Nicodemus unmistakably and publicly declared that the marriage of God and humanity is consummated. Maybe the lesson for us is that Nicodemus never went to Calvary to bury Christ; but instead, he went there to see Him be "born again," just as Jesus had explained to him when the whole Nicodemus cycle started (John 3:3).
Think of the progression Nicodemus makes through John’s Gospel. He moves from the cover of darkness to public open-mindedness, and finally to a public expression of love for Jesus.
Nicodemus was one persistent fellow in his quest for the truth. His story shows us that beginning in the dark and in uncertainty is actually the best place to start. From there you can be open to wherever the Spirit might lead you. I’m sure that on that first dark night Nicodemus couldn’t have imagined his encounter with Jesus would end with spices at a tomb. Neither can we know where our questions will lead us. But we can be confident that opening ourselves up to new ideas and new possibilities is not a slippery slope; it’s an adventure and one that the Spirit leads us on.[3]
Interesting to note that sources explain the only other time that word myrrh occurs in the gospels is in the Joyful Mystery of the Nativity when the Magi from the east gave it to Mary and Jesus when He was born the first time (Matthew 2:11). Through Nicodemus, we see that the narrative about being “born from above” comes full circle.
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Could Nicodemus be convicted along with the disciples of following Jesus? Maybe not yet. But he is on his way to his conviction.
In our world, with social media, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more, facts and truth can easily get squeezed out. There is so much information from so many different sources. Some of it is reliable. Some of it is propaganda. Some of it is “alternative facts.” Some of it is “fake news.” Our problem how do we tell the difference if we can not go to Jesus directly for answers.
In this context, we appreciate Nicodemus’s persistence in seeking answers to his questions and not resting until he arrived at the truth. Though, of course, even the spices at the tomb were not Nicodemus’s final destination in his search for truth. We don’t know where his spiritual journey took him after that. But we can surmise that it didn’t end there. During our lifetime, none of us arrive at so great an understanding of truth that our search for answers can stop. The important thing is to keep searching, just like Nicodemus did.[4]
Could you and I be convicted of following Jesus? Maybe not yet. We still need to be reborn from above.
If Nicodemus could talk to us today, his challenge might be the same as he delivers in John 7: First, hear Jesus out before dismissing his message. Try it. You might find you will like it.
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