Monday, May 31, 2010

4. He Met Nicodemus at Night


The Apostle John was a bit of a poet. He didn’t just write a biography of Jesus’ life, but managed to piece together the facts so that they told the story like a beautiful work of art. As a poet, words were important to John and he never wasted them.  Words like ‘water,’ ‘blood,’ ‘light,’ and ‘darkness’ were used to tell the story and at the same time to emphasize the meaning of the events. John points out that the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. That’s important. Later on in chapter 19, Nicodemus is again mentioned and John reminds us that this man came to talk to Jesus when it was dark and when everyone else was asleep. John is telling us something about this man... The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus and they denounced anyone who had anything to do with Him, but Nicodemus was curious. He wanted to know more about Jesus, but He must have been afraid of his peers. I love Jesus because He didn’t force Nicodemus to stand up in broad daylight in front of His friends and come to Him. No, Jesus met Nicodemus where he was. He wants us as we are, not as we could be or will be. He loves the real us.