St John 3: 1- 21 Nicodemus, was a pharisee and also a member of the Sanhedrin

St John 3: 1- 21

Nicodemus, was a pharisee and also a member of the Sanhedrin. There was the Great Sanhedrin and the Lesser Sanhedrin. The lesser Sanhedrin totalled 23 judges appointed to each city and one Great Sanhedrin comprising of 71 judges, which acted as the Supreme Court in Jerusalem.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness, most probably because he was afraid of what the co-members of the Sanhedrin who were opposed to Jesus may think. St John also uses the image of darkness to symbolise that at this point in Nicodemus’s life he is walking in spiritual darkness and lacks the awareness of true faith.

In their late night conversation Jesus speaks about the necessity to be born again, not physically as Nicodemus misunderstands but as a spiritual rebirth through water and the Holy Spirit, which conveys the very life and Spirit of God himself.

Jesus then reminds Nicodemus of what happened with Moses and the people of Israel in Number 21: 4-9. Jesus sees this as an image of his own crucifixion, that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so would Jesus be lifted up on the cross and this would also bring a healing, a healing from sin and death, just as the image of the serpent brought healing to those who looked upon it. The paradox of the cross, a punishment for Jesus but as St Peter tells us, through which our wounds are healed.

Finally, Jesus speaks to Nicodemus that his time on earth was the desire and plan of his Father, who in loving the world so much was prepared to allow the sacrifice of Jesus. This displays without doubt the unfathomable depths of God’s love and mercy and the supreme sign of Jesus’s obedient love of the Father and also his love for us.

“It’s not simple for most of us to love in this way – without calculation, without complaint, without conditions.  We prefer to have reciprocity in our relationships, so that we give a little, and they give a little.  But if we love purely, truly, then we will give our all without expectation of any response, gratitude, or comparable gesture of goodness.  It’s not that we permit people to take advantage of us, but rather that we respond to the Holy Spirit’s movements when He asks us to give a bit more, sometimes enough to hurt.”

St John Paul II