Shy but Blessed
Nicodemously.
It’s an African synonym for clandestine.
I actually thought it was universal slang up until I spoke to some American friends who have never heard it.
On further research, it is unique in these parts – every culture does add on to the queen’s language (go figure!).
If you live in English-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa, you know exactly what is meant when someone uses this first century Pharisee as an adverb.
There’s only one problem.
We’ve made his actions synonymous with shameful.
Whenever someone does something Nicodemously, they usually don’t want their actions found out for negative reasons.
Doing something Nicodemously automatically puts your character in question.
Someone somewhere rewrote the scriptures and turned Nicodemus into a bad guy.
Yes Nicodemus went at night.
Yes he went in secret, but there is more to the legacy of this man who fits the “too embarrassed to be seen with Jesus” stereotype.
Putting Nicodemus in a box makes us lose sight of the fact that he did go to Jesus.
Maybe the way he went wasn’t pretty. Maybe the manner in which he went wasn’t glamorous.
Bottom line…he went.
Remember, for a man that learned, this was not an easy step.
He was supposed to be the guy who set the religious standard.
When people looked for guidance they looked to him.
Such was the resume of the man who turned to a no-name carpenter’s son for answers.
To some of us, Nicodemus had it made.
He was a highly respected member of society with all its associated benefits.
There was only one problem.
Nicodemus was too honest to believe the hype…even if it was about him.
Contrary to popular opinion, he harboured his fair share of questions. Questions he knew Jesus had answers to.
Think about it. Nicodemus seeking out Jesus was akin to the dean of students asking administration advice from a college freshman.
In today’s world we equate Pharisee to hypocrite but back in Jesus’ day, they were today’s equivalent of the pontiff appointing board.
They were the doctors in theology. They spent decades being educated in the things of God.
Their pedigree made their words final when it came to religious matters.
Such a man was Nicodemus; The Pharisee who began to question what his professors had taught him.
In the face of a Jesus who taught with authority that was clearly not of man, Nicodemus shelved his pride and imbibed things he couldn’t fully understand yet knew were true.
Here’s the kicker. Regardless of how he went, Nicodemus didn’t have to go.
He could have written off the untitled young upstart with outrageous claims.
He could have kept to himself but he chose different.
Coming to God is never easy.
Not for the hardened sinner and certainly not for the hardened believer.
That didn’t faze Nicodemus.
He knew he had real questions so he came looking for answers.
Answers that led to the rest of us being blessed by the jewel that’s John 3v16.
Out of the answers Jesus gave Nicodemus, we all get to glean on that beacon of hope. A beacon that shines for saints and sinners of every generation.
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Nichodemus’s story doesn’t end with his midnight tryst. He stayed in his position as Pharisee and that was probably the only thing that remained the same about him. Three chapters later when Jesus’ execution was being planned, his was the lone voice trying to pull the Sanhedrin from the edge of what is going to be the worst cliff drop in the history of human decisions.
He was overruled, but not stopped.
After Jesus was crucified, when all but a few of his followers had fled, Nicodemus was there. In a season where no logical person would ascribe kingly status to the freshly executed body of a condemned man, it would be Nicodemous who would bring myrrh and aloes. And he didn’t just bring it in bits. He brought it in quantities reserved for royal burials. This time, he did it in full glare of the Romans and the Pharisees. The man who started out hiding, turned out to be the man who provided a pleasant fragrance amidst a nauseating circumstance.
Nicodemus is not your typical hero but he’s one to be admired.
Not too proud to seek help.
Not too elevated to ask questions.
Bold enough to be counted when it really matters.
He doesn’t say much in the scriptures.
His story only appears in the book of John but his life is one worth emulating.
The simmer that sent him to inquire of Christ later boils over into admirable passion for our Lord.
I figure he should be the patron saint of slow starters.
He started off shaky but once he got steady, his loyalty- unlike that of the disciples- was not put into question.
In the end it’s how you finish that counts… and this was a man who finished well.