Faces in the Crowd, Daily Reading, March 3rd

Tuesday Day 6, Signs of New Life, John 19:38-42

38Later, 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. 39He 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. 40Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41At 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. 42Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Once again we are informed about the burial of Jesus, this time from John’s Gospel. John shares a detail of the story with us that the other Gospels omit, namely that when Joseph asked for the body of Jesus he was accompanied by Nicodemus (39). Nicodemus appears three times, the first being in chapter three where Jesus shares with him the teaching about the new birth. The second is in John 7 where he is sitting in a meeting of the Sanhedrin and he voices a mild objection to their tactics in that they have condemned Jesus without really hearing him. “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing”, he asks (7:51). The third incident is here in chapter 19 where he has become much more courageous.
There is definitely a progression in these three scenes. In the first scene, he comes to Jesus and shows interest in the miracles he performs, but there is no indication that he is a true believer. When Jesus explains the new birth, he replies by saying, “How can a man be born when he is old?”. He interprets in physical terms what Jesus is explaining in spiritual terms. The interview ends without the reader knowing whether Nicodemus ever opened his heart and was born again.
In John 7 however, we see the stirrings of new life. Nicodemus objects to the unjust procedure being directed against Jesus (7:51). In the previous verses, the leaders ask, “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No!”. The leaders were wrong because Nicodemus already possessed the life from above. It is demonstrated more clearly in John 19 where he assists Joseph in preparing the body of Jesus for burial. Nicodemus’ faith gets stronger each time we encounter him.
The story of Nicodemus encourages us to look at our own commitments and decisions. Where is the stirring of new life in me? What about others in my family or in my church? Do I see evidence that a new birth has taken place? James reminds us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Paul tells us, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Cor 13:5). Some soul-searching is always in order.

Search my heart O Lord that I may be encouraged by signs of God’s life that I detect within. Help my faith to grow like that of Nicodemus so that each challenge that comes my way is a beachhead that leads to even more daring acts of obedience.

Old Testament Reading Psalm 139:17-24