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Illustration: Jesus and Nicodemus by Wlliam Hole (1846-1917)
Catechesis prepared by Pope Francis for 19th March 2025
Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Cycle of Catechesis – Jubilee 2025. Jesus Christ our hope II.
The life of Jesus. The encounter 1. Nicodemus.
“You must be born from above” (Jn 3:7b)
Dear brothers and sisters,
With this catechesis we will begin to reflect on some of the encounters narrated in the Gospel in order to understand the way Jesus gives hope.
In fact, these are encounters that illuminate life and bring hope.
It can happen, for example, that someone helps us to see a difficulty or a problem we are experiencing from a different perspective; or it can happen that the someone simply gives us a word that makes us feel that we are not alone in the pain we are going through.
Sometimes there are silent encounters, nothing is said, and yet those moments help us to get back on track.
The first encounter I want to to look at is Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus, narrated in chapter 3 of the Gospel of John.
I will begin with this episode because Nicodemus is a man whose story shows that it is possible to come out of darkness and find the courage to follow Christ.
Nicodemus went to Jesus at night: an unusual time for an encounter.
In John’s language, temporal references often have symbolic value: here the night probably refers to what is Nicodemus’ heart.
He was a man in the darkness of doubt, the darkness we experience when we do not understand what is happening in our lives and do not see clearly the way forward.
When you are in the dark, you naturally seek the light.
And John, at the beginning of his Gospel, writes: “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9).
Nicodemus sought Jesus because he felt that he can illuminate the darkness of his heart.
But the Gospel tells us that Nicodemus did not immediately understand what Jesus was saying to him.
And we see that there is a lot of misunderstanding in this dialogue, and also a lot of irony, which is a characteristic of the evangelist John.
Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was telling him because he continued to think with his own logic and categories.
He was a man with a well-defined personality; he had a public role.
He was one of the leaders of the Jews.
But probably something was not adding up for him.
Nicodemus sensed that something no longer was not working in his life.
He felt the need to change, but he did not know where to begin.
This happens to all of us at some point in our lives.
If we do not accept to change, if we close ourselves in inflexibility, in habits or in our way of thinking, we risk dying.
Life lies in the ability to change, to find a new way of loving.
In fact, Jesus spoke to Nicodemus of a new birth, which is not only possible but even necessary at certain moments of our journey.
To tell the truth, the expression used in the text is already ambivalent in itself, since anōthen (ἄνωθεν) can be translated either as “from above” or “again”.
Slowly, Nicodemus understood that these two meanings go together: when we allow the Holy Spirit to create new life in us, we will be born again.
We will rediscover the life that may have been dying within us.
I chose to begin with Nicodemus also because he was a man who showed with his very life that this change is possible.
Nicodemus was able to do it: in the end he will be among those who go to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus (cf. Jn 19:39)!
Nicodemus has finally come to the light, he is reborn, and he no longer needs to stay in the night.
Change sometimes frighten us.
On the one hand we are attracted to them, sometimes we desire them, but on the other hand we would prefer to remain in comfort.
That is why the Spirit encourages us to face these fears.
Jesus reminds Nicodemus – who is a teacher in Israel – that even the Israelites were afraid when they walked in the desert.
And they focused so much on their worries that at one point those fears took the form of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).
In order to be delivered, they had to look at the copper snake that Moses had placed on a pole, that is, they had to look up and stand before the object that represented their fears.
Only by looking into the face of what frightens us can we begin to be set free
Nicodemus, like all of us, can look at the Crucified One: the One who defeated death, the root of all our fears.
Let us also lift our gaze to the One they pierced, let us also be met by Jesus.
In Him we find the hope to face the changes in our lives and be born again.
FOOTNOTES ON NICODEMUS –
The Gospel of John has the following references to Nicodemus
John 3:1-8
There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew, who came to Jesus by night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.’ Jesus answered: ‘I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said, ‘How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?’ Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the Spirit,he cannot enter the kingdom of God: what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.’
John 3:7-15
Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blow wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.’ ‘How can that be possible?’ asked Nicodemus. ‘You, a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things!’ replied Jesus. ‘I tell you most solemnly, we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence. If you do not believe me when I speak about things in this world, how are you going to believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’
John 3:16-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son. On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.’
John 19:38-42 The Burial of Jesus
After this Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who had at first come to him by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds’ weight. They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
