A Message from the Bishop - August 2022B

Dear Friends,

In today’s reading in the Daily Lectionary, we come to the burial of Jesus by two members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (John 19:38-42). Joseph alone had voted against condemning Jesus (Luke 23:51) and all four Gospels record that he alone had gone to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body so that it could be buried.

But Nicodemus had long wavered. He had gone to Jesus under cover of darkness to talk with Jesus (John 3), and he had rasied a question when the Pharisees’ rejected Jesus without first hearing from him (John 7). But whether through doubt or fear, he had failed to speak up at Jesus’ trial.

When Jesus died, all his disciples had run away. Only Joseph of Arimathea was willing to risk all, to be known as one who loved Jesus. It was a great act of courage, because there was the very real possibility that anyone known as Jesus’ follower could also be executed as another rebel against the Roman empire.

But Joseph had another problem: taking the body to the tomb and preparing it for burial was too much for one person. The body was too heavy to handle alone. And so Joseph turned to Nicodemus, who had vacillated in the meetings of the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus had seemed drawn to Jesus, but unwilling to side with him.

For Nicodemus, to help in the burial was a costly decision. For years he had played it both ways, privately drawn to Jesus, but publicly saying nothing. But now he would have to choose because he could not secretly help Joseph to bury Jesus.

Here’s why. The Passover was just a few hours away. And if Nicodemus touched a dead body, he would be ceremonially unclean. The Law made clear that anyone touching a dead body was not allowed to celebrate the Passover.

It had happened before, at the one of the first Passovers after the people of Israel escaped from Egypt. In Numbers 9, we read that some of the Israelites were ceremonially unclean because they had touched a dead body just before the Passover. And so they went to Moses. What should they do? The law required them to observe the festival, but the law also prohibited them from doing so because they would not have completed the required seven day period of purification. So Moses sought God’s direction and God commanded that those who were unclean because they had recently touched a dead body should not celebrate the Passover at the appointed time, but wait exactly one month and then keep the festival.

Nicodemus knew the Law. To touch the dead body of Jesus would mean he would have to keep the Passover a month later and then everyone would know that he had chosen to desecrate the Passover in order to express his devotion to Jesus.

We can only wonder what went through Nicodemus’ mind and heart as he struggled with the decision. He had hedged and equivocated for years. Now he had to decide: to reach out to Jesus who had died and yet who offered him life—or to cling to his position and his reputation.

At the Cross, Nicodemus decided. He reached out and touched the body of Jesus. And I believe that in that moment he was born again. He chose Jesus. He put his trust in Jesus. He committed his life to Jesus. And he received the new birth, the gift of eternal life.

To be a Christian is to reach out and take hold of Jesus, to make a complete surrender to him, to receive his mercy and forgiveness, and then, out of thankfulness, to be willing to do whatever he asks at whatever cost.

I thank God for those who take hold of Jesus and who live in costly faithfulness in their family—in their marriage, or as they care for a parent or child or spouse; those who serve him with integrity on the job, working for their boss as for the Lord himself; those who have reoriented their lifestyle to put tithing, giving at least 10% of their income to God, at the top of their spending priorities; those who reach out across racial and cultural barriers to build relationships and work for justice and reconciliation; those who stand firm for the truth of his Word in the face of the pressure that is growing on Christians to compromise our convictions.

I thank God for all those who take hold of Jesus and are willing to pay the price.

Let’s pray that God will give each of us the grace to take hold of Jesus afresh and the power to follow him in costly obedience.

Faithfully yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey