Book of Ancient Saints: Volume 1

Saint Nicodemus

Nicodemus was born around 1st century BC during the Roman Empire. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin.

One night, he came to Jesus and said to him,"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother's womb and be born again, can he?" Jesus answered, "Amen, amen I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus answered and said to him, "How can this happen?" Jesus answered and said to him, "You are a teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so the everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (John 3:1-15)."

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God (John 3:16-21)."

As many days past, some in the crowd who heard these words said, "This is truly the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Messiah." But others said, "The Messiah will not come from Galilee, will he?" Does not scripture say that the Messiah will be of David's family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?" So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid his hands on him (John 7:40-44).

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why did you not bring him?" The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this one." So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed." Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier , said to them, "Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?" They answered and said to him, "You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee (John 7:45-52)."

After the crucifixion of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea (canonized by the Catholic Church as Saint Joseph of Arimathea), secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices , according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden  a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by (John 19:38-42).

Nicodemus was venerated in Roman Catholic Church, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Church, and Anglicanism Christian Church. The Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches commemorate Nicodemus on the Sunday of Myrrh bearers celebrated on the Third Sunday of Easter as well as August 2, the date when tradition holds that his relics were found, along with those of Stephen, Rabbi Gamaliel, and Abibas. The traditional Roman Catholic liturgical calendar lists the same feast of the finding of their relics on the following day, August 3 (Wikipedia, 2018).

In the current Roman Martyrology of the Catholic Church, Nicodemus is commemorated along with Saint Joseph of Arimathea on August 31. The Franciscan Order erected a church under the patronage of Saints Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea in Ramla (Wikipedia, 2018). 

 References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicodemus#Veneration_and_liturgical_commemoration