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Throughout his three-year ministry on earth, Jesus seemed to attract the curious as well as doubters and skeptics. Take for example, Nicodemus. He was a contemporary of Jesus and well-known as a religious leader and scholar. In the Gospel of John, Jesus and Nicodemus have a late-night conversation. Nicodemus asks Jesus a second question as a follow-up to an earlier question he had asked. How can this be? It’s the same question some of us still ask today.
Jesus responded, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted.”
In this part of the Gospel, we don’t know how or if Nicodemus responded but what we do know is that Nicodemus was a central figure at Jesus’ burial likely a few years later. It’s said that “Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. They took Jesus’ body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen and spices.”
Much like Nicodemus, an Apostle of Jesus named Thomas had his own doubts. Eight days after Nicodemus buried Jesus, Thomas had an encounter with Jesus. Jesus said to Thomas, “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.” Thomas said, My Master! My God!” Carvaggio’s early 17th century The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, captures the scene.
Years later, another skeptic named Paul became a Jesus-follower and wrote these words: “if Christ wasn’t raised [from the dead], then all you’re doing is wandering around in the dark, as lost as ever. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up.”
That’s what this coming weekend is all about. Friday is Good Friday because Jesus did need to die (for us) and come back to life so that we might have a whole and lasting life.
Happy Easter!
Steve O'Neil
Head of School
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