Nicodemus: Doubt turns into Belief! March 1, 2006


Introduction: We all live out our faith in the company of other people. Some of them seem friendly and even open to our Christianity. Others are curious. Some are skeptical, and a few are even downright hostile. Jesus had the same experience. During Lent we will focus on the lives of a handful of these people, to whom the cross and the empty tomb spoke more vividly than it does even to us today. Here is the evidence of their lives, taken from their stories in Holy Scripture. (Much of this source material is credited to Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 16, Part 2, Series B.)


Nicodemus: John 3: 1-21, 19: 39

In St. John??s account of Jesus?? life and passion, we encounter the man known as Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. In many ways, the Pharisees were some of the most ?¨moral?Æ people living at Jesus?? time. They spent every moment (and certainly every PUBLIC moment) observing every tradition of the laws of Judaism, laws that went FAR beyond that we can read in the Old Testament today. They had VOLUMES of laws, thousands of them, laws for every occasion. I am lined up to teach an adult class this summer on Leviticus, and I like to kid Jean that I am glad I encountered so much mildew and mold in New Orleans before I read Leviticus again! 

The Pharisees had run-in after run-in with Jesus, mostly because they were concerned about keeping the ?¨letter of the Law?Æ while Jesus was concerned with the INTENTIONS of the Law. Jesus healed the blind and the lame, even on the Sabbath?ñ.while the Pharisees criticized him for working ON the Sabbath. If you were a blind person who could see after Jesus went by on a Saturday, who would You back??? So it??s no wonder Jesus was popular and it??s no wonder that they wanted him DEAD. It??s also amazing, then, that Nicodemus, a Pharisee, would even want to TALK to Jesus.

Nicodemus wasn??t just a Pharisee, he was one of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin?ñ.the 70 member ?¨Supreme Court?Æ of the Jews. It had religious jurisdiction over every Jew in the world, and they took it seriously.

So?ñNicodemus came to see Jesus at night, certainly the sign of a cautious man who probably didn??t want to commit himself to visiting Jesus openly. We can??t condemn him for being careful?ñ..especially when his occupation and maybe even his life depended on it. He was a man who was curious, maybe puzzled about Jesus. He had power, influence, plenty of money and certainly respectability?ñ.but something wasn??t right in his life. Maybe there??s a little Nicodemus in all of us?


So Nicodemus, in the first part of our lesson, comes to visit Jesus, and it??s in Jesus?? discussion with Nicodemus that we hear the wonderful words of John 3: 16, words we know so well, and words that must have touched Nicodemus deeply. In ending his words to Nicodemus, Jesus talks about those who live in the truth can live in the light?ñ.maybe a jab at Nicodemus, who only came to him at night! 

Then we don??t hear about him until the suffering and death of Jesus. Nicodemus was a member of the group that tried Jesus on Maundy Thursday?ñ.and we don??t know if he was there or not. Perhaps he hadn??t been told about the meeting. Perhaps he knew and couldn??t bring himself to go. Perhaps he showed up and even said something in defense of Jesus?ñand was ignored. Not that anything he could have said or done would have changed the outcome, mind you. We won??t know until we get to heaven?ñ.but let??s leave it at this: Nicodemus?? faith wasn??t on Thursday what it was on Friday. On Thursday he was still uncertain?ñ.and that uncertainty kept him quiet.

Have you ever kept quiet when you knew you should have or could have said something? Even when you felt strongly about it? And when you weren??t really sure?ñ?ñ..it??s easy to explain silence. Nicodemus was uncertain in his beliefs because he was uncertain about Jesus. 

It??s not that he wasn??t curious. He was. He was even inclined to believe. We see this tension in his first meeting with Jesus, where he said, ?¨Rabbi, we know you are a teacher come from God, for no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him!?Æ Jesus answered with, ?¨I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.?Æ Nicodemus questioned the ?¨born again?Æ concept, since he wasn??t a baby anymore, and Jesus delivered the payoff pitch, ?¨I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh and the spirit gives birth to spirit.?Æ

What IS believing?? Believing is more than just seeing some miracles and being drawn to the one who performs them. If that were true, Harry Houdini would have had a huge church. Being a sympathetic spectator isn??t having faith. Nicodemus left the first meeting with Jesus WITHOUT the certainty of faith. Later, when the temple guards (chapter 7) failed to arrest Jesus, the Pharisees shout out, ?¨Has any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed him??Æ Nicodemus didn??t answer. He only says (7:52), ?¨Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing??Æ He is curious. He is fair. He is a spectator, not a believer. He doesn??t say, ?¨SURELY THIS IS THE SON OF GOD!?Æ

Believing is more than curious interest. Let me explain the difference between knowing Jesus is a good man sent from God and saving faith. 

It??s the old story of the man watching the daredevil walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. He sees the man do it and knows that the man can. He hears the man say he can push a wheelbarrow across the gorge. That??s believing that the man can do some really great things. FAITH is getting in the wheelbarrow and letting the man wheel you across. 

That??s the difference. One says ?¨God is able to do great things?Æ and the other says, ?¨God can do great things for ME!?Æ

Faith will never be solid if it sits back and asks (with Nicodemus) ?¨How can this be??Æ That??s a question of the flesh, an earthly question. The dimension of faith is the dimension into which God??s Holy Spirit leads us, something we cannot find or manufacture on our own, but something God is more than willing to give to anyone who hears the words of Jesus! The Spirit worked through Jesus?? miracles on Nicodemus. It works through Jesus?? words in Scripture on us. It works through the waters of Holy Baptism and through the bread and wine, connected with the Words of Institution in Holy Communion.

Yet we can even deny the Spirit. Nicodemus did. He walked away from his first encounter with Jesus an unbeliever. He remained a spectator on the sidelines. It was only in the death of Jesus that Nicodemus saw what we see?ñthe Suffering Servant of God giving Himself for the salvation of all humanity. No sooner had Jesus died on the cross than Nicodemus became a different person. Maybe it was a fulfillment of Jesus?? prophetic words in John 12: 32, ?¨When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.?Æ The cross was the magnet for Nicodemus.

You and I have the privilege of a personal encounter with Jesus this Lenten season?ñ.every time we read His words, every time we taste of His body and blood. Through the miracle of faith, we BELIEVE not only what Jesus did, but that Jesus did it for us! And with the witnesses at the cross, we too can say, ?¨Truly this is the Son of God!?Æ

Amen.