Nicodemus

Continuing Fouard's Life of Christ:

II: Nicodemus

John iii.1-21.

Nicodemus. J-J Tissot.

Among the Jews attracted at that time by the words of the Lord, there was a member of the Sanhedrin named Nicodemus, a rich man, influential in Jerusalem, who was possessed of a highly order of intelligence as well as the distinction of noble rank.  He, without doubt, had been one of the few Pharisees who had humbled themselves before John the Baptist and received his ablution; for we shall hear Jesus reminding him "of that Baptism of water and the Spirit" foretold by the Precursor.  However, it was not what he had seen on the banks of the Jordan, but the wondrous deeds done in Jerusalem, which had decided him to believe in Jesus.  Prompted by grace, he was made desirous of a closer intimacy; and as he dared not take any such step openly, he stole by night to the house where the Lord was to be found.

Nicodemus opened the conversation with a tribute to Jesus: "Rabbi," he said, "we know that you are a Master come from God, for no man can do the prodigies which you do if God be not with him."

However respectful he was in tendering this acknowledgement, the Scribe only rendered it to Jesus as to a man and a doctor like himself; but the Saviour knew Nicodemus’s heart.  He saw that the man was secretly stirred by strong feelings, eager to be enlightened as to that Kingdom of Heaven which John Baptist had announced; and so, without prolonging his suspense, He made known to him at once that the reign of the Messiah so far transcends all human understanding that nothing less than the putting on of a new life can enable man to have parted in it: "of a truth I say to you, if a man be not born anew he has no share in the Kingdom of God."

The idea of the new birth, in the spiritual sense, was no novel or unheard-of conception in the doctrine of the Scribes; for they had often compared the proselyte to a newborn child.  That a Pagan must first take upon himself a new life in order to be of the seed of Abraham, no idea could be more in conformity with their beliefs than this; but that this obligation extended even to the sons of Israel was indeed a strange and new thought to Nicodemus.

"How," he exclaimed, "can one be born again when he has already grown old?  Must he he enter the womb of his mother to emerge thence once more?"

Nicodemus visits Jesus by night. J-J Tissot.

The Saviour proceeded to explain His thought so badly comprehended: "Of a truth, aye, of a truth," he repeated, " if he be not born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."

To be immersed in water in token of purification was a rite known among the Jews; and John had already proclaimed that though he plunged them in water, which was without virtue in itself, yet after him there was to be an ablution of the Holy Ghost; that is to say, the Spirit of God would vivify this water of ours, that thus it might renew the heart of man.  Therefore it was not within the womb of his mother, but into the streams of sanctifying grace, that Nicodemus must enter in order to attain unto the Life which is from on High.

Jesus did not stop there; from this baptismal regeneration He stripped away whatever the carnal fancy might suggest: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," He proceeded; "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit; be not astonished, therefore, if you — " born according to the flesh and dead through sin — "if you must be born again." Then, in order to give Nicodemus some idea of the workings of the Holy Spirit, the Saviour added: "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you know not whence it comes nor whither it goes; so it is with him who is born of the Spirit."

This similitude was a wonderfully apt; for the wind is akin to the Spirit, of which it is the symbol.  It may be at that very hour, while Jesus and Nicodemus were conversing there, the murmuring of the night-wind made itself heard; or it may be that the Saviour had in mind those light airs which spring up even at mid day in fine weather.  No one knows ought of their origin; you can scarcely feel their soft breath on your cheek.  They only betray their presence by a gentle rustling amongst the leaves.  Most like to this is the action of the Holy Ghost in the supernatural life.  It bloweth where it listeth; without hindrance it works, nor is it subject to fixed times nor to constant laws.  At its first touches we do not know whence it comes nor whither it goes; only it makes us feel its nearness, makes us hear its voice, then suddenly it departs, and leaves behind it within our hearts nothing but languor and silence, and thus it goeth and returneth by secret ways.  All that the soul may know of it is that sometimes she feels its Presence near, and then she rejoices; sometimes she must weep its absence.

These workings of the Spirit of God could not have been unknown to Nicodemus.  He himself without doubt had had experience of them in his inner life, and he had found them written down in the Psalms and the sapiential writings, where so many pious souls have recounted the ways of God within them.  Therefore when Nicodemus answered once again: "How can this be done?" Jesus showed some surprise.

"Are you a master in Israel, and did you are ignorant of these things?  Of a truth, I say unto you: We speak that which We know, We give testimony of the things which We have seen, and Our testimony man is not willing to receive.  If you believe Me not when I speak of the things of earth, how will you believe Me of the things of Heaven?"

By the "the things of earth" Jesus referred to all that He had been saying regarding Baptism; since the sacred rite, so far as its external forms are concerned, has a terrestrial side which appeals to the senses.  By "the things of Have an" He alluded to the lessons that still remained to be given to the world, — His celestial Origin, His Cross, raised aloft like the Serpent in the wilderness in order to save men, the salvation promised to those who believe in Him, the judgment and condemnation of the unbelieving.

"And behold," the Saviour concluded, "the cause of this judgment!  It is because the Light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness better than the Light, because their works were evil.  For he who does evil hates the Light, and he comes not near it, for fear lest his works by discovered.  But he who does the truth comes to the Light that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God."

Uttered, as apparently they were, upon the threshold of the dwelling, just at the moment when Nicodemus was taking his leave, while already the dawn was lighting up the eastern sky, these words sound like the last exhortation, whereby Jesus would conjure this doctor of the Sanhedrin not to draw away from Him.  But the Rabbi, though qualified to discuss with the Christ upon such lofty themes, was yet of a cowardly soul: he would rather steal away from the insistent promptings of grace within; and though he believed deep down in his heart, he would still strive to let nothing be seen.  During the whole period of the Saviour’s Ministry we shall look in vain for Nicodemus in the number of the disciples; only once we shall hear him in the Sanhedrin essaying a timid speech in favour of Jesus, then, as if this feeble effort had exhausted his courage, he disappears, until amidst the shadows of Calvary we meet him again, at the very last, close by the lifeless Body of his God.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam