Good day dear friends. Let us begin our day in prayer for Robin Brown whose health has very quickly deteriorated and doctors are not hopeful for a long survival. She is at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where she has been for three days now. Please hold her husband Del in prayers as well, as this is not an easy time for him nor his children. Oldest son Kapp is due here today from Pennsylvania.
"Dear God of life, we thank you for this day. We remember as we know you do, those whose time here on earth is limited. Please share with them your loving comfort. Share strength and peace to their loved ones. We pray that Your will be done, both now and evermore. Amen."
Here is our study guide for today
Thursday: Read John 7:45-51 and see what role Nicodemus has in this interesting procedure. Is Nicodemus acting as a friend or foe of Jesus? Now read John 19:38-42 and see what role Nicodemus plays in this sad event. Is Nicodemus still searching or has he found what he was looking for?
That night Nick spent talking with Jesus forever changed his life. This first passage comes when the ruling council has tried to get the police to arrest Jesus. Here is that text:
45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Phar'isees, who asked them, "Why did you not arrest him?" 46 The police answered, "Never has anyone spoken like this!" 47 Then the Phar'isees replied, "Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? 48 Has any one of the authorities or of the Phar'isees believed in him? 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law--they are accursed." 50 Nicode'mus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 51 "Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?"
I'm going to give Nick the benefit of the doubt and say that he normally would have been completely quiet in a situation such as this, but here when he sees the anger and the possibilities of great harm coming to Jesus, speaks up on his behalf saying that Jesus was entitled to a fair hearing before moving ahead with any decision. That was enough to make everyone go home for that night.
Later, tragically much later, we find Nick again. Here is that text:
John 19:38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathe'a, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. 39 Nicode'mus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. 40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42 And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Though he was old, Nick was still strong, carrying with him about one hundred pounds of this burial mixture. This was no cheap offering. This was a costly sacrifice in more ways than one. Now it is out in the open. A member of the Jewish Ruling Council, who had ordered Jesus put to death, is helping in the burial. Spending his own money, buys or shares what he may have bought earlier, the ointment used to prepare bodies for burial. Did Nick actually help carry the body? He may have, though if he were carrying the 100 lbs of spices he probably did not, but he was there. Did he finally come to faith or was he simply a compassionate man who sorrowed at the death of a man who certainly Nick believed was innocent? Again, I want to give Nick the benefit of the doubt and say that he came to the fullness of faith. Nick was already a believer in God. He had a relationship with Him but wanted that fullness that Jesus was offering. How could he have sat at Jesus' feet and not received that which Jesus was offering? How can we not receive it too?
The lesson is profound. Jesus changes lives. Jesus brings fullness to lives. Jesus brings life everlasting. But it requires our willingness to surrender ourselves and all that we have to say, "Here I am Lord and all that I have. Show me how to best serve You and Yours and I will do it. I count not the cost nor the risk. I submit to You."
Are you willing? Make the move from being a religious person to a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
PRAYER: Dear God, we thank you for the faith that moves us from comfort and security to the place where You would have us be. Let us not count the cost nor the risk, take me as I am and mold me and make me to who I need to be. I pray in Christ Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
