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for Novelty ShopGreetings my friends! Most of you probably already know my name. I'm a life-long resident of Jerusalem, and my name is Nicodemus.
Allow me, my friends to begin with a question. Tell me, do you realize just how fortunate you are? I'm talking about the one you all love and follow, Jesus of Nazareth. Isn't it true that you have known him all your life? Well, I've only known this Jesus for just a little over two years, and what I wouldn't have given to have known him longer. You see, that's why I'm here tonight. I want to tell you with all my heart just how much this carpenter from Galilee really means to me.
It's just a little strange the way I met him. What I mean is that so many of my earliest contacts with the Nazarene all seemed to happen at night. You might as well know I had achieved a place of influence in Israelite society, and in order to maintain my reputation much of what I did with Jesus, well it just seemed best to do it under the cover of darkness.
All my life I have been something of a studious character. Books, Hebrew language studies, and hour upon hour pouring over the myriad of Israelite laws, well that had pretty much been my whole life. That's why I belonged to the group known as the Pharisees. You see, that was the whole purpose of their group. They were like God's watchmen, always and always interpreting the laws of our beloved Palestine. From this group of Pharisees, 70 of us had been chosen to serve on Israel's highest court of the land, the Sanhedrin. I am proud to tell you, my friends, that I was a member of that remarkable group.
And that's how I first heard about Jesus.. You see, it was a colleague of mine from the Sanhedrin, my good friend Joseph. He came from a small Village of Arimathea, and he and I had been good friends for years. Well, one day while we were having lunch he told me secretly that he had become a follower of this man, Jesus.
Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather! Imagine it, Joseph a great judge in all Israel, a ruler of the Jews, won over by some vagabond, itinerant kind of preacher.
Now you should know that Joseph was a big man in all of Israel. Rich, moral, strongly spiritual, he carried a great deal of influence. If someone like this Jesus could turn the head of my friend Joseph, then I wanted to meet him myself. I knew I had to meet him.
Maybe now you better understand why we had to go at night. Neither of us could run the risk of being seen by folks who are in the know, associating with this sort of man.
Tell me friend, have you ever been with some person who could sort of look right through you? You know, kind of read you like a book? Well, believe me when I tell you that this Jesus was like that. He had charisma, a kind of magnetism which simply draws a person to him. Somehow you just know that with him all my hungers, my deepest needs will be satisfied. It was an awesome moment. His voice, his mannerisms, his personality, that look in his eyes---well, I knew almost from the first moment that here was someone unlike any person I could ever remember meeting. I could surely see why my friend Joseph had been so impressed. At any rate, I knew that I wanted to meet with this man again, and find out much more about him.
In the next few weeks I managed to eavesdrop on the Galilean several different times. You see in my Jerusalem it was Passover time, and there were tons of people milling about. It was easy for me to stay back in the crowd and listen in to what Jesus was saying and doing. His teaching and preaching were powerful enough, but one day I saw this carpenter from Galilee actually raise a crippled man back to full health.
Well, when you see that kind of thing happen right before your eyes it does something to you. Do you know what I mean? I found myself having a strong desire to meet with Jesus again. I wanted some time alone with this incredible man, talk with him privately. I had so many questions burning to be asked of this remarkable man.
Once again Joseph helped me to arrange the meeting, and one night I journeyed to the place we decided on. I began by telling him how really impressed I was with his skills and godly abilities. I told him that I was sure that he had to be a teacher who had come from Jahweh God above. His response puzzled me. "You are kind Nicodemus, but don't you realize that not you or a single person can become part of God's kingdom unless there is an entirely new beginning. In other words, they must be born again." Born again! How could such an event happen? So foolishly I asked, "You don't mean that in some way all of us must return to infancy and start all over again?" He smiled good naturedly at my dullness, and putting his hand on my shoulder he said, "Nicodemus, Nicodemus you mean to say that you are one of the spiritual leaders of Israel, and you still don't understand these simplest fundamentals?? I'm only sharing with you Nicodemus, truths which my disciples and I see happening every day. Allow me to illustrate my friend. The wind is something which all of us take for granted in our life journey. Now whether we see it playfully caressing the branches of an olive tree or perhaps churning the waters of my beloved ocean, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear these windy moments can be full of pure delight. Now no one knows where the wind comes from or where it goes. But we watch the trees, or the whitecaps on the sea and the evidence for the wind is very clear. Well don't you see Nicodemus, that's the way it is with God's mighty Spirit. When he begins to work in the heart of any human being, that is what I mean by being born again. After all, Nicodemus, it is a fact that our God has so loved this world of ours, that he has given his only begotten son, that whenever any one will believe in him, they need never again be fearful of perishing. For they have eternal life, and they have entered God's kingdom." Mind--boggling, that's what it was, but also beautiful, heaven-sent good news, it just seemed to be so much that I could scarcely hope to take it all in!
It was early morning before I left! My head was reeling; I had gotten much more than I had bargained for! I went right to Joseph's house, and told him piece by piece how I had just spent a most incredible kind of night. Then Joseph did it again. He said, "Come on Nick , become his follower! Join me and all the others who have decided to follow this incredible Jesus, the carpenter from Galilee. You know that you want to, am I right?" For a moment, my friends, let me turn that question back to you? Are you (pointing to various parts of room/church) or you or you, etc. his follower? Have you met, have you come to know this Christ of the cross and the empty tomb, and now want to give your life in an endless faith journey for him? It would be my hope that none of you would embrace him under the cover of darkness, but instead like a light placed on a hill for all to see, you would offer him allegiance and fearlessly let all know that you have decided to follow your Lord. But back to my story.
In the meantime, our Sanhedrin meetings continued, and each week Joseph and I would take our customary spots in the court chambers. Jesus was often the main subject on the day's agenda. With the common people he was becoming ever more popular. But our leaders were becoming more and more agitated with him. His every activity was becoming more and more a threat. Naturally, during all such debate Joseph and I were very quiet. Well, as sometimes will happen, the agitation heated up, and one day dear Joseph came to me with news that stopped me in my tracks. Jesus of Nazareth was dead, crucified by the Romans. What we wondered was how this could have happened without our knowing about it.
Later when we pieced it all together, this is what took place. During the early hours of Friday morning Caiaphas the high priest had hastily called a special session of the Sanhedrin. Joseph and I had not been contacted, because by now there were a few on the Court who had begun to suspect that our true allegiance was more with Jesus than the railroad job being talked about at the Sanhedrin. Early Thursday evening a large contingent of troops had been sent to a garden, Gethsemane was the name I believe, on the west edge of town. He was arrested, tried, convicted by false witnesses, and the full council had approved a sentence of death. Then near the dump on some hill called Golgotha he had been strung up on a cross.
I felt numb, just like someone had punched the life out of me. I simply couldn't believe it. I kept saying to myself, "Jesus is dead! Jesus is dead." I just kept repeating it over and over.
My ruminating was suddenly cut short when Joseph said, "Nick, I am no longer going to follow the Nazarene in secret. It's time for me to go public. I'm going to Pontius Pilate right now, and ask for the body of Jesus, in order to prepare his body for a decent burial." And then he said, "Nick, why don't you join me, and both of us can go public for Jesus at the same time?" Well, my friends I'm proud to say I took my friend's advice, and that very moment I pledged my allegiance to Jesus of Nazareth. I know what some of you are probably thinking. It is a little late to make a pledge of loyalty to Jesus, after he is dead and gone. Well, you're right. My cowardice really prevented me from taking the kind of stand I know would have been better. Tell me friend, has it possibly happened that you have lacked the gumption to stand up and be counted for Jesus? If your answer is yes, then you likely know something of how I was feeling about that time.
Together we went to see Pilate, and he readily agreed for us to take down Jesus' body from the cross. Then we went to a burial shop and purchased linen in which to wrap the body, and spices, aloe and myrrh. Then we went to the garbage dump outside of town. When I saw him I was revolted! I was sure for a moment I was going to vomit, my insides retched at the sight of Jesus my Master hanging there, with no sign of life left in him. We took him down, and we placed him in a new tomb recently purchased by Joseph.
I might as well tell you my friends, that something happened to me at the cross that day. I can't explain it too well, but it's like a new light came on within me, and I, the puzzled old teacher of Israel, had a kind of onrush of insight. Suddenly something became crystal clear. It was the words he had said to me when we first met at night. Yes, I recall: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, and that must be on the cross, right? So that when you or I believe in him, never again need we be fearful of perishing, but we would know that we have eternal life. And tell me friend, isn't that what being born again is all about?
Gene Sikkink
Oakes, N.D.
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