Day 9 – John 3: 1-21

Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. As a leading Pharisee, he wouldn’t want anyone to know that he was associating with the controversial travelling preacher and so he brought his questions under cover of darkness.

When I first began to train as a Methodist minister over forty years ago, my father was not pleased. He was a decent, ordinary working man, but church had no part in his life, and he felt that I was wasting my life by taking up full time Christian service. When he saw that my life was not in ruins, he began to attend a Methodist church. But like Nicodemus, he wanted to be incognito, and so he went to a large church in the town centre, where no-one knew him, and he could slip away at the end of the service unnoticed. Unlike those of Nicodemus, his questions were not spoken out loud, but regular weekly worship clearly helped him, and after a year or so, he began to attend a smaller Methodist church just up the road from where he lived, where he was well known as someone who had lived in that community all his life. And there, in his 60s, he became a church member, and continued as part of that congregation until he died.

What became of Nicodemus? After his nocturnal visit to Jesus, where he learns of the love of God for all humanity, and of new of life in the Spirit, he disappears from the story.  But later in the gospel, he defends Jesus against his fellow Pharisees, and he helps Joseph of Arimathea to place the body of Jesus in the tomb after His crucifixion. He no longer wants to remain in the safety of darkness, but is prepared to be seen as a supporter of Jesus.

Lord, we have so many questions about life and faith. Help us to open up dialogue with each other and with You. Help us also to respect the questions of others and accept them as Your beloved children.

By Richard Bielby
Stockton-on-Tees Circuit
Supernumerary Presbyter