What He has Done!

May 26, 2024

There are heroes who look like heroes! I think of the superhero, Thor, with his big muscles and a big hammer. He looks like a hero! Then there are other heroes that surprise you: spiderman seems a little scrawny. Antman seems like an unlikely hero: he can shrink down to ant size. What kind of a hero is that? When you think of heroes of the Christian faith, you may think a Christian hero is a perfect saint: very good, a very kind person, who never curses, is ALWAYS faithful, and ALWAYS does the right thing. The Apostle Paul says we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so maybe there are no perfect saints. Mostly Christians are unlikely, surprising heroes.

Today we are going to talk about Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea. They are part of the story of Jesus’ life and death. These two are surprising heroes of our faith. But their faith in Jesus was kind of weak. They didn’t have any more faith than anybody else did. Really, none of Jesus followers believed the resurrection would happen! Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they all ran away when Jesus went to the cross. They thought it was over and that they would never see him again. Nicodemus and Josphe of Arimathea buried Jesus body, but they, too, thought that was the end, that they would never see Jesus again.

Nicodemus was a religious leader, a Pharisee. The Pharisees were very good people in the first century. As religious leaders, their full-time job was being good. If you asked a Pharisee his job, he would say, I’m here to be good. I’m so good that if God ever decides to say anything, I’m going to hear it, because I’m so close to God!

The Pharisees, most of them, could not stand Jesus, because he didn’t keep all their rules. Ordinary people got tired of trying to live up to all the rules the Pharisees kept giving them to live up to. But the people loved Jesus!

Josphe of Arimathea was a member of the council, the Sanhedrin. It was a legislative and judicial body. We don’t know if he was a Pharisee, but he was a religious leader.

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were different from most other religious leaders. They were more open to Jesus and curious about him.

Nicodemus and Joseph, and maybe a few others, had been watching Jesus. Finally, Nicodemus decides to go talk to him. His burning question is, something that you and I have also wanted answered at some point in life: what do I have to do to be right with God? How do I know I’ll go to heaven? How do I know if God loves me?

Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night (probably because he doesn’t want the other Jewish religious leaders to see him with Jesus.) In John 3:2 he says, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.” Nic doesn’t say, I know you come from God. He says WE know. So, Nicodemus represents at least a few people with questions. They aren’t sure about Jesus, but they have decided, he is somehow connected to God, because otherwise he couldn’t do miracles.

Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.”

Which doesn’t make sense to Nicodemus, who asks, how can anyone be born when they are old? Surely you can’t go back into your mother’s womb and be born a second time?

Which is kind of gross! Jesus says, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh…” That means, dogs have dogs, and cats have cats, people give birth to people. Jesus says, “but the spirit gives birth to spirit.” There has to be a spiritual birth.

This is all new to Nicodemus. His whole view of God had been that God has a scorecard, he’s keeping track of what you do and don’t do. God sees us behaving or misbehaving, and He’s deciding whether we get to be part of his kingdom based on our behavior.

Jesus is saying that’s not how it works. Everyone is born physically from their parents. And there’s no take backs on that! You’ll always be their kids, and they’ll at least always be your birth parents. Just so, you need a spiritual birth into the family of God. And you will always be God’s, always be part of God’s family.  Nicodemus asks, “How can this be?” Nicodemus wants to know, like my whole life I tried to be perfect and obedient. But you say there’s something beyond being good. That I can have a spiritual birth into God’s family?

Nicodemus is confused about all this. Jesus says that God so loved the world that he gave his Son, so that everyone who BELIEVES… Nicodemus is thinking, don’t you mean that everyone who BEHAVES will have eternal life? No, Jesus says everyone who BELIEVES! Nicodemus was taught that we BEHAVE our way into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says, no, it’s a spiritual birth. You BELIEVE your way into heaven. God’s not seeking your perfect behavior. He’s looking for faith that perseveres.

Nicodemus doesn’t have total faith. But he has some faith in Jesus, that grows over time. We see Nicodemus not just in chapter three, but also in chapter 7:45 of John. The chief priests and most of the Pharisees are angry at the temple guard. They told the guard to go bring Jesus in. But the temple guard listened to Jesus preach, first, before grabbing him. After hearing him speak, they decided not to bring him in. And they told the Pharisees, “No one ever spoke the way this man does!” The Pharisees are angry and ask, “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believe in him? No!” But they don’t know Nicodemus, right with them, believes.

In John 7:51, Nicodemus, who is a Pharisee, is brave enough to ask, “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?” OH! The Pharisees are mad at him and ask, are you from Galilee, too? They think anyone from Galilee is foolish! They believe Jesus is just a Galilean, forgetting he was born in Bethlehem. They tell Nicodemus a prophet does not come from Galilee!

They are mad as heck at Nicodemus! He has sort of gone public with his support of Jesus, asking the Pharisees to be fair to him.

That’s not the last we hear of Nicodemus. After Jesus’ death, Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate, the governor, and asks for the body of Jesus.

Joseph is described as a secret follower of Jesus. But here he asks Pilate for the body of Jesus. Which takes some guts because Pilate is the one who had Jesus crucified. Joseph is basically saying, I care so much for this one criminal that I would like for you, Pilate, to give me permission to take his body.

Joseph and Nicodemus are out in the open! They are public with their faith. They prepare and bury Jesus body.

At first, Nicodemus and Joseph can seem insignificant in the story of Jesus. They don’t seem like heroes. But they play a part in teaching us how we are right with God. They were religious leaders, who always thought like the people they were surrounded with, that you behave your way into heaven. But they listened to Jesus, they began to believe secretly, and grew in faith in him. They came to believe it’s not what you do that gets you to heaven, it’s what Jesus has done. You don’t get to heaven for your behavior. You get there through faith in Jesus and what he has done for you! God’s not looking for perfect behavior from you. He’s seeking faith that perseveres! We look at Nicodemus and Joseph and can see surprising heroes who grew in faith.

Now, I want to lead you in a prayer. Maybe you’re coming to a place where you’re ready to make a decision. Or perhaps you want to reaffirm Jesus is your savior. You want to transfer your trust. I don’t trust in my good behavior. I trust in what Jesus did on my behalf.

So, let’s pray, Heavenly Father, we believe in you, we believe in Jesus. He came for us. We’re not trusting what we do, how good we are. We’re placing all our faith in Jesus, what he did for us and our sin. Receive us into your family, into your kingdom. In Jesus name, Amen.