Group Loyalty

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.” - John 3:2

Nicodemus seems to have a bit of complicated relationship with his peers. Sure, he’s part of the religious ruling council, so he’s a man of some standing. And he feels some real affinity to that crowd - after all, he says “we” when he talks about how they see Jesus. And yet he also seems to be hiding from someone - why else would the text include that he was sneaking around in the night? It’s got to be the very same religious council that he’s hiding from.

Nicodemus shows up with some baggage. There are other people renting space in his head. He feels torn between speaking as part of that group and yet also knowing instinctively that he can’t show people in the light of day that he’s really curious about this scandalous Rabbi named Jesus. He’s part of a community, but also seems to be exploring shifting away from that community.

Isn’t that how most of us come to God? We’re not coming to God with a blank slate. We’re part of some group (a family, a nation, a religious sub-group, a racial group, etc.) and we speak with the ‘we’ of Nicodemus. We have learned about God from our group/s. And yet, we also realizing that as we encounter the radical, scandalous person of Jesus that he might test our group loyalty. He might call us to change in a way that costs us some friends or some comfort. And we’re tempted to practice our spiritual seeking under the cover of darkness.

And maybe that hiddenness is ok for a time. Maybe we need that layer of protection. And maybe, at some point, we’ll need to come more boldly into the light. By the end of Jesus’s life, Nicodemus himself was ready to be identified as one of his followers. After the death of Christ, scripture says, “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” (John 19:39-40).

What is striking you most today as you think of these things?