One Sunday, The Pastor of our little church in rural Maine asked the congregation to name our favorite Bible characters, and without a thought I blurted out, "Nicodemus!" Honestly, I'm not sure he's my absolute favorite Bible character. I'm not entirely sure how to pick a favorite, or even if we should, But he is a fascinating character, although we know very little about him.  We first meet him in that famous third chapter of John.  "3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 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.”. Old Nick was a Pharisee, a member of the politically influential religious elite. This was the same faction of Judaism that sought out Jesus to be crucified. But something in him needed to know more. He even acknowledged that Jesus must be "from God".  But, likely in fear of his powerful peers who were blinded by their pious pride, he had to pursue Jesus at night, when no one would know the meeting ever happened. He asked Jesus about eternal life, definitely a legitimate concern, when Jesus responds with the famous answer, "You must be born again." Nicodemus is clearly confused: " How do I crawl back into my mothers womb?" (Oh, but wouldn't Freud have a field day with this conversation.) The scene ends, presumably, with the inquisitive Pharisee leaving at least as confused as when the conversation began.

We don't hear of him again until chapter 7 of John's Gospel. At least a year has passed, perhaps more. Jesus is before the Sanhedrin, the religious court of the day. All are in agreement that Jesus is a blasphemer. They finally have him, dead to rights. But Nicodemus is also there. His very presence speaks to his high status among the religious elite. Yet he speaks up, pointing out that the law would require a legitimate trial to declare guilt, and they hadn't practiced proper protocol. Jesus is released because Nicodemus spoke up for him, albeit carefully, cleverly, and with the dry objectivity of the law itself. He defended Jesus, careful not to tip his hand that he was beginning to wonder if Jesus was legit while also having concerns about his own arrogant religious community of movers and shakers.

The only other time we see Nicodemus is at the crucifixion of Jesus in John chapter 19. In a crowd of spectators ranging from the curious to the cruel, Nicodemus stands out. We are told he brought approximately 75 pounds of perfumed oils for treating Christs body after death. 75 pounds of perfumed embalming oils would draw the attention of even the weakest olfactory systems in the crowd. In fact, he and Joseph of Arimathea are the ones who prepared the body for burial. Everyone saw Nicodemus's involvement and commitment to Jesus, and he didn't care. Let the Sanhedrin try him, let the Pharisees excommunicate him. Nick, it seems, no longer needed to hide under the darkness of night nor Under the technicalities of the law. He was there with a desire to love and care  for Jesus, and pompous religious windbags be damned. 

When I blurted out Nicodemus as my Biblical hero, it was because his is a story of progressive coming to faith over time- close to  three years, actually. Mothers and midwives will tell you some births take a long time. When Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again, he knew even then that it needed to take this time, but once it happened, ol' Nick would never be the same.