Nicodemus

Overview

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, described by Jesus as 'a master of Israel,' who came to Jesus by night, likely out of caution given his prominent religious standing, to ask about his teaching and miraculous signs. In that conversation Jesus gave one of Scripture's clearest explanations of the new birth, telling Nicodemus, 'Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,' and famously declaring that 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.' Nicodemus reappears twice more in John's Gospel: once defending Jesus's right to a fair hearing before his fellow Pharisees, and finally at the crucifixion, where he boldly joined Joseph of Arimathea in preparing Jesus's body for burial, bringing a costly mixture of myrrh and aloes. His journey from a secretive nighttime inquirer to a public participant in Jesus's burial traces a quiet but unmistakable growth from curiosity to costly devotion.