👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽Who Is #Nicodemus? A Reflection for the #Seventh #Week of #Great #Lent
Grace and peace to all who love the Truth, who seek the Face of the Lord, and who sit at the feet of the Gospel with trembling reverence.
In this sacred season of the Great Fast, we are not merely called to abstain from food but to feed on the mysteries of Christ, to discern His wisdom, and to offer the incense of our contrite hearts. Today, we return to the holy figure of Nicodemus, not merely as a historical character, but as a mirror in which we behold our own walk of faith, our own struggles, and our call to the perfection of virtue.
1. Knowing the Shortcomings: The Humility of the Wise
What is the benefit of being a scholar if it does not lead us to Christ? Can knowledge alone make one whole? Here is the marvel: Nicodemus, though a teacher of Israel, came not with the pride of the scribes but with the humility of a beggar at the gate of Divine Wisdom. Though steeped in the Scriptures, he came seeking that which was lacking. He understood that mastery has its limits. He was not a mere custodian of tradition, but a soul awakened to its poverty.
“What do I lack?” this question, echoing in the chambers of a true seeker’s heart, was his confession and offering.
Christianity, dear brethren, is not the art of placing the master above the servant. It is the mystery of the Master becoming the Servant, and by this descent, lifting all men. Nicodemus came acknowledging that he was not whole. He understood, as Galatians 3:26 teaches, that in Christ we are made sons not by status, but by faith.
O, how much grace flows to the soul that knows its own emptiness! The sickness of our time, as it was then, is the assumption of fullness. The man who thinks he has no need for healing walks away from the Physician. The soul that boasts of its completeness has no room for grace.
Let us learn from Nicodemus, and come in holy honesty to Christ—not as those who possess, but as those who lack.
2. The Elevation of the Mind: From Flesh to Spirit
Nicodemus brought his body to the Lord, but it was not enough. The Lord, who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, drew his mind upward to the mystery of baptism, a reality not grasped by carnal senses. It is no surprise that Nicodemus at first stumbled. The flesh cannot receive what is born of the Spirit.
Yet, the Savior, in His mercy, did not condemn the slowness of understanding. Rather, He lifted the mind of Nicodemus, until the eyes of the heart could behold the invisible.
Faith begins where the senses end. If the foundation of your faith is what can be seen, heard, and touched then it is like a house built upon sand, like a cow’s hoof that crumbles in the wind. Christ invites us to ascend, to raise our minds above the visible into the eternal.
The Church cries out each Divine Liturgy: “Lift up your hearts!” Why? Because unless our hearts are lifted, we cannot receive the mystery of the Eucharist. We will see only bread and wine, and never the Body and Blood. Like Gehazi, whose eyes were blind to the angelic hosts (2 Kings 6:17), so too will we be blind—unless our minds are raised with Christ.
3. Bearing Witness to the Truth
Nicodemus, once timid and concealed, became bold. He bore witness to the Truth before the very priests who trembled at the presence of Roman swords but not at the Word of God. He quoted Scripture without shame, revealing their hypocrisy and defending righteousness.
What courage is this! To stand before the mighty and speak truth is not a small virtue. It is the fire of heaven in the bones of a man.
Continues 👇🏽