Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 267

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

He came to Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God,

for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him."

In his books about Jesus Pope Benedict XVI urged scholars to take the stories of Saint John's Gospel more literally. They were inclined to believe these conversations were composed a half-century after Jesus death and resurrection. They accepted their inspiration and placement in our canonical scriptures but thought the teachings too sophisticated and precise to be the memories of a long-ago conversation.

Pope Benedict thought otherwise. The Jewish scholars of the city might have met often with Jesus during his stay there, in the manner of Nicodemus's conversation. Late at night, meeting in the steady light of oil lamps, they came singly and in small numbers to question, listen and discus the ancient mysteries with the Galilean. His disciples -- fishermen and tax collectors -- might have listened to their discussions and disputes but were hardly competent to say anything. They would have seen the serene confidence of Jesus, his humility and authority among the teachers of Israel. Pope Benedict argues that the elders of Jerusalem, now amid his Church, might have remembered very accurately the sayings, teachings and presence of Jesus a half-century later.

Among Jesus' contemporaries was Nicodemus. Well educated in the best Jewish traditions, open-minded, independent, articulate, and wise: he would listen to Jesus but was not willing to surrender his position in the Sanhedrin to align with him. Perhaps, during the time frame of this third chapter, it didn't seem necessary. The controversy was not yet a crisis. There were some still willing to discuss, argue and dispute in the Jewish fashion.

Nicodemus would reappear twice in John's Gospel. By the seventh chapter the mood of controversy had turned suspicious and bitter. But the reasonable man could still remind the Sanhedrin, "Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing." But they would only mock his law-abiding scrupulosity, "Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee." (You can search the scriptures for a verse that does not exist, but why?) 

It's easy to recognize his predicament today. Conservative voices are openly mocked in liberal schools; liberal voices are hissed to silence in churches. Those who might want to engage in honest discussion of ideas and listen to all sides of a dispute must meet quietly, under cover of darkness.

Nicodemus appears a third time after the crisis has passed. Like Jesus' disciples and family, he has survived the madness that came over the city. Only one man died. With Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus will collect the body and have it given a proper burial. In fact, with "a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds," it's a lavish funeral, although but few attend.

Nicodemus was not the same man who had visited Jesus in the night. He now acted in open defiance of the Sanhedrin. We can suppose that some of his former colleagues despised and shunned him. But they suffered shame for taking part in a midnight kangaroo court although they had the authority and legal procedures to accomplish the same thing in a proper and timely fashion. They could not explain what demonic spirit had taken possession of them. Nicodemus was no longer among them. He had performed a corporal work of mercy and vindicated himself. 

Easter 2019 is eight days passed now and the world seems unchanged to many. But we have been changed. We baptized a new group of catechumens; they rejoice to share our spirit. The church and the world are new again.