We hear of Nicodemus only through John... he isn't mentioned in the other three gospels. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, which means that if there was a Jewish religious rule, he was committed to following it. Nicodemus was also a member of the powerful council called the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a sort of Supreme Court over the Jewish people, with the power to punish those who violated Jewish law -- by lashing or stoning if necessary. It's no wonder he came to Jesus only after the sun went down. He had seen the miracles that Jesus had performed. He thought that Jesus had "come from God as teacher." I get the sense that Nicodemus, learned though he was in the holy ways of The Rules, had no clue how to come near to God. He'd followed all those rules like any good Type-A perfectionist, but he came up empty inside. He wanted more. He wanted to speak to the one who he knew was near to God. I'm not sure if he knew at that time that Jesus WAS God -- that he was speaking with the Son. He asked Jesus, "How could one who is old be born again?" Jesus told him, "You must be born of Spirit and of water." Usually, our knowledge of Nicodemus stops here. But there is so much more to this man's story.
The next time we hear from our friend Nicodemus is in John 7:50, where some officers who were sent out to arrest Jesus come back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, empty-handed. Nicodemus jumps into the middle of that and suggests that they might not have any reason to arrest him in the first place. He points out that according to The Rules, everyone must be allowed to have a chance to defend themselves. I'm guessing that the Pharisees began to keep a suspicious eye on Nicodemus after that.
Now to the good part. Fast forward to the afternoon of Jesus' crucifixion. Joseph of Arimathea (also a Pharisee) went to Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler of Judea, and asked for the body of Jesus. Many victims of crucifixion were left hanging for the animals to devour, but he took him down and laid him in a new tomb, and sealed the door with a large stone. All four gospels agree in this. What's interesting is that John tells us a bit more:
39 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.How had I missed that? Can you picture this scene? Imagine a man wearing beautifully ornate, heavily embroidered robes that a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin would wear, reaching up to a bloodied Jesus, to take him down from the cross. I wonder if he thought to change his clothes first. How would you do that? How would you remove those nails? At least one victim of crucifixion, a man named Yehohanan was buried with the nail still pierced through his heel bone -- his body had to be cut from the wood. You can see it here. I wonder how they did it. I wonder if they were nauseated from the horror of it.
I also wonder where Nicodemus managed to get 100 lbs of myrrh and aloe -- very costly, and enough for a king -- on the day before a Jewish High Holy Day. Can you imagine him helping Joseph to carry Jesus' body to the tomb, and then carrying 100 lbs of spices to the garden tomb where Jesus lay? I wonder if his tears mixed with the spices as he tenderly wrapped Jesus' wounds -- the gaping holes in his hands, his feet, his side. I wonder which one of them carefully removed the crown of thorns from his head. Can you imagine their sorrow and grief?
Now imagine a man who had, until now, mostly watched Jesus from afar suddenly stepping forward and throwing away everything. To begin with, by touching a dead body, Nicodemus had rendered himself ceremonially unclean for seven days. This man who'd spent his life doing everything he could to keep himself clean had made himself dirty -- unworthy to enter The Temple at the most important time of the Jewish year, unable to participate in the Passover ceremonies. Not only that, but he knew that from the chief priest right on down, these Jewish leaders had wanted to kill Jesus and his followers as well. Like the disciples, his life was now in danger. We have no record of their words that afternoon, but the actions of these two men shouted. They shouted faith, when all hope was lost. They shouted trust when there was nothing left but Jesus' words of promise. They shouted love, when everyone else had shouted "Crucify him!" They shouted praise for a king, when the dead man had been executed as a worthless outcast. They shouted eternal life from a bloody tomb. I don't think it gets any better than that.
