Lent@Landmark: Day 6

We don’t learn much about Nicodemus in his night time exchange with Jesus, and 16 chapters go by without another mention of him. In chapter 19, however, we see that Jesus made an impression on Nicodemus, because he takes another risk.

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.

Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (John 19:38-42)

Nicodemus took a risk meeting with Jesus, though we don’t have any details about what happened between them afterward. What we do have is a decision by Nicodemus to step into the daylight and ask Pontius Pilate for permission to take Jesus’ body down from the cross any bury him. If his connection with Jesus had remained a secret, it wasn’t anymore.

It seems he realized that Jesus was worth the risk.