Jesus and Nick-Part 1

“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with Him.”  John 3:1-2

In John 3:1-21, we have the account of a man named Nicodemus, a man of Israel who was a member of one of the two ruling religious parties in Israel, the Pharisees.  As a Pharisee, Nicodemus likely believed in the resurrection of those who had died and who would enter the afterlife in heaven with God.  The other ruling group was the party of the Sadducees who did not believe in a bodily resurrection or the afterlife.  They had been taught correctly that a man should worship God for who He is, the Sovereign LORD over all the world and not for any rewards which they might receive from Him.  They interpreted this to mean that there were no rewards, thus no resurrection or afterlife.  I suppose, according to their belief, when a person died that his soul died along with him.  An atheist that I knew years ago said that when he died, he would be just like his dog when it died.  What a sad way to go through life with that belief.

Because of his upbringing as a Jewish Pharisee, Nicodemus apparently had a great interest in the afterlife.  He had likely seen some of the miracles that Jesus had been doing among the people, or at least heard about them, and realized that this One who was gaining a good amount of attention was no ordinary Man.  Nicodemus desired a one-on-one meeting with Jesus, but out of fear of his peers who were not as impressed with Jesus as he was, came to Jesus at night.  Some believe that his coming after dark to meet with Jesus had nothing to do with any fear that he had about being caught speaking with this One who was hated by many of the religious leaders, but a small detail like his coming at night was there for a reason.  There is nothing written in scripture that is insignificant.  However, the time of day was not what was important about this monumental meeting.

Nicodemus called Jesus, “Rabbi”. which indicated that Nicodemus believed Jesus to be a Teacher that God had sent, indicating to Jesus that no one could do the miracles that He did unless God was with Him.  We know that Nicodemus was a real person who met with Jesus, but it is not recorded in scripture that he actually asked Jesus a question about what qualifies a person to truly belong to God’s kingdom, about the afterlife or eternity.  But, because of what Jesus said to him, this was what he wanted to know.  As Jesus knew his thoughts, just like He knows my thoughts and your thoughts, He gave him a direct answer to his unasked question, “Truly, truly, I say unto you. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.

Jesus’ statement really threw Nicodemus a curve ball.  I don’t know what Nicodemus looked like, but I can picture a man with an extremely puzzled look on his face as he contemplated a physical rebirth.  “That would be impossible”, he must have thought.  He asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?”  How in the world could a grown man, who was very likely a good bit larger than his mother, re-enter his mother’s womb and travel back down the birth canal to re-breathe life again into his body?  What if his mother was no longer living?  We know that scripture is literal except for the parables and analogies presented to illustrate a truth, even though some people think the Bible is just a storybook.  Nicodemus was certainly thinking literally.

Jesus knew that Nicodemus did not understand the new birth.  This was the first time that Nicodemus had ever heard such a mysterious notion that such a seemingly impossible event was a necessary requirement for becoming a member of God’s family.  Nicodemus understood that he was physically born into his own family years ago, but this was unfathomable.  Of course, anyone who has very little knowledge of scripture, the gospel, Jesus, or salvation, and hears the phrase “being born again” doesn’t understand it.  It is like the politician who said, “We have to pass the bill to find out what is in it”.  Using a similar phase, one has to be born again before one can truly understand the new birth.  Jesus wouldn’t let Nicodemus depart until He explained the new birth more fully to help him understand the need of every person who has ever been born physically to be born spiritually.

Next time: Jesus and Nick-Part 2