Risky Business

From Scott:

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.  He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him."  John 3:1-2 (NIV)

The third chapter of the Gospel of John may seem a strange choice around which to build an Advent series.  There are no angels, no Magi, not even a shepherd in the entire 21 verses.  Jesus himself is a grown man, not a baby, and the next times we read of Nicodemus by name are when he speaks up to his own people about arresting Jesus, and then after Jesus’ death when he arranges for a tomb for the crucified Christ.  Advent, indeed?

No, there is no “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in this story, but the important encounter between Jesus and the Pharisee, Nicodemus, did occur on a “Silent Night.”  This short passage, culminating in what most Christians believe to be the quintessential message of the Gospel later in verse 16, gives us much to consider about “light coming into the world,” as we typically do at Advent.

But what about the risks of going toward that light?

Consider the man, Nicodemus.  We learn about him in John 3:1.  First, he was a Pharisee, described by one source as being at once "a political party, a social movement, and  school of thought in the Holy Land during the Second Temple period."  They were one of four sects by which the Jews of the day were identified by the historian Josephus.  The others were the apolitical Essenes, who rejected the establishment priests as illegitimate; the Sadducees, more aristocratic, yet no less "hardline," and also the chief protagonists of the Pharisees; and the fourth school of anti-Roman revolutionaries, such as the Sicarrii and the Zealots.

So, Nicodemus was a member of a political / social / religious movement often found at odds with other groups who claimed the same political, social and religious roots.  In today's world, each would have their own cable news network!

We also learn that he was a member of the Jewish ruling council.  Not only was he a member of a very conservative sect, he was a "big dog" among his people, well-known and undoubtedly respected.  There were expectations for how he was to behave, what he would and could do or say publicly as a man of such prestige and reputation.

Nicodemus had appearances to keep.

So is there any surprise that he would approach Jesus under the cloak of darkness?  Jesus, the very man his own sect was seeking to "hush up," no matter what it took?  What must have been Nicodemus' struggle in those days and hours before finally seeking Jesus out, albeit in the shadows?  How great were the risks?

Nicodemus evidently saw something in Jesus that touched him at the core of who he truly was.  Apparently, others saw this, too, since Nicodemus says to Jesus in verse 2, "We know that you are a teacher who has come from God."  Yet he alone took the risk of going and finding out the truth about Jesus...and himself.

As I read the opening words of this story, I see two great risks for Nicodemus.  The first was that he would be found out and ostracized by his group.  There potentially would be great political and social consequences, a possible "fall from greatness," if you will.

But there was a second risk, too--a risk that all of us face, regardless of our place on the social / political / religious hierarchy.  Nicodemus faced the possibility of coming into his true, authentic personhood.  That may have been for him, as it is for many, the greatest risk of all.

Living in the dark can become very comfortable.  We learn the safe routes to take, the really good hiding places, the sounds and movements identifying the others who live in darkness with us.  We become so accustomed to living in the dark that the light, albeit liberating, can be a very scary thing, for sure.  Living in this darkness is a rejection of a fundamental message of the Gospel--that God is Love, and that God loves us unconditionally.

The enduring story of Christmas is that the light has come into the world.  Perhaps the message of Nicodemus' experience is the enduring story of Advent:  that we must take the risk of moving out of darkness and toward the light to find out not only who Christ is, but who we truly are.