John 19:38-42 – Were You There? #2 – Religious Rebels (Joe and Nick)
As we continue through our pre-Resurrection series, or our Passion series, we come to 2 unlikely heroes in the mix. Last week, we examined the lives of the religious leaders, and how their adherence to the rules combined with their lack of love led them to be scoffers at the cross of Jesus. Today we will examine 2 people who broke free from the bondage of religion to serve Jesus. Their names were Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Let’s read John 19:38-42.
Well, what do we know about these 2 guys? Frankly, very little. Joseph was a rich man, and a member of the Sanhedrin. Now, the Sanhedrin was a group of men who made up the supreme political, religious, and judicial body for the Jewish people. They were the ruling council, headed by the high priest, and made up of priests, scribes, and city representatives. Simply, they were the guys in charge. And Joseph was one of them.
Luke 23 says he was a good and just man, but who secretly feared the Jews. That’s an interesting phrase that you’ll find in the Bible occasionally. It’s odd because Joseph was a Jew. But what it means is that he feared his peers. He cared a lot about the opinions of people around him.
We’ll come back to Joseph in a minute, but what do we know about Nicodemus? Even less. He was a Pharisee, which meant he was a teacher of Jewish learning to the mass population. He had authority to expound and elaborate on the Old Testament. As a Pharisee, it was his job to stimulate spiritual life in the people. Now, a common misconception is that all Pharisees opposed Jesus. That’s not accurate. Some, like Nicodemus, wanted to learn from Jesus.
And that’s what he did. Way back in John 3, Nic came to Jesus at night to learn, and Jesus told him things like being born again and being led by the Spirit and God loving the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in the Son would not perish but have everlasting life.
That was then. This is now. Both Joseph and Nicodemus are at the cross. Both had hidden their faith in Jesus for some time, but now it was about to be revealed. And there would be consequences. As religious leaders who showed an open allegiance to a known religious criminal, they would lose their positions as members of the Sanhedrin. Rather than letting Jesus’ body be thrown in a common criminal’s grave, they stood up, received permission to take the body, and buried their Lord in Joseph’s own private burial ground. And for it, as historians will tell us, their names were erased from the official records of the time.
Their faith in Jesus cost them their jobs, their reputations, their positions in society, their social circles… everything that they had been. Now, gone. Ironically, Jesus’ burial was not accomplished by His closest followers but by 2 members of the religious body that sentenced Jesus to die.
Why? Because in the end, they realized that it was not their service to their religion that would fill the gaps in their lives, but their service to the Lord. When push came to shove, they cared more about doing the right thing than doing the accepted thing. In a choice of saving their skins or saving their souls, they chose wisely.
Jesus opposed those who loved their religion more than their Lord. Those who used religion as power over others… Jesus challenged them. Those who cared more about traditions or rules than about people… Jesus spent so much time in contest with them. In fact, Jesus rarely, if ever, spoke about hell in connection with sinners; it was mostly or even always in connection with religious people who should have known better.
Max Lucado writes: “Joseph and Nicodemus were tired of it, too. They had seen it for themselves. They had seen the list of rules and regulations. They had watched the people tremble with unbearable burdens. They had heard the hours of senseless wrangling over legalistic details. They had worn their robes and sat at the places of honour and seen the word of God made void. They had seen religion become the crutch that cripples. And they wanted out.”
Well, why would a person want out? What’s wrong with religion? People need guidelines to keep them in track and on task. After all, it was God Himself who gave rules about how people should live. That’s what the OT is for. Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers contain all kinds of rules: how to maintain a relationship with God, how to get along with each, how to take care of yourself, and so on. What more could a person need than rules?
Well, the thing is, rules – even rules directly from God – have limitations. For example, when we were moving to Cape Island, when we were still in the house-shopping phase, we considered a house in South Side. Right behind the house is a fenced area with a pool of water in it. Suppose I climbed over the fence and jumped in the water. Then I noticed the sign on the fence: CAUTION. VERY DEEP WATER. STAY AWAY.
The sign is there. The rule is there. But, if I can’t swim – which I can – the sign wouldn’t do any good. The rule to keep out of the water… it’s fine. Nothing wrong with it. It does its job. But because of its limitations, it can’t do anything to save a drowning person.
God’s OT laws are like that. Paul says in Romans 7:12 – the law is perfect. It does what God intended it to do. Galatians 3 says that it accomplished its purpose: to show us that we sin, to show us that we are flawed and helpless, and to show us that we need help from God. We need a Saviour. That’s what the OT Law was supposed to do.
But the Law doesn’t save. Keeping the Law doesn’t save. No matter how good you are, no matter how closely you follow the rules, you are still sunk… without a Saviour. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that He did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. In that passage, the NIV uses the word “abolish”, but a better word in this verse is “destroy”. Jesus said He didn’t come to demolish or to overthrow the Law, but to fulfill it, to satisfy it, to complete it.
Paul in Ephesians 2, though, says that Christ DID abolish the Law. The original Greek word means to make ineffective, to make powerless, or to put out of action. The Law was not destroyed, but completed in Christ. And following Him… satisfies the law. Following Jesus is obeying the rules and regulations. Trusting Him, letting Him lead, sticking with Him, getting directions from Him… this is the intention of the OT Law.
It’s not that we ignore what the Law says, but we need to know that faith in Him is enough. Romans 8 talks about walking in the Spirit is how we should live. It means reading His Word for ourselves, and not just having someone tell us what to do or how to believe. It means spending time with Him, and letting Him show us what He wants us to do.
Ah, but here’s the thing. A checklist is easier. Living life by keeping tabs of what you do and what you don’t do… that’s easier. Then you know if you are doing what you should. Keeping tabs on your spiritual life is easier than trusting in the Spirit to lead you. But it also leads to comparisons: “I’m more spiritual than so-and-so because I do this, and they don’t. I believe this, and they don’t. I avoid this, and they don’t.” That’s comparing ourselves to others, and not to Jesus, who is the standard of what holy living is. We can control checklists, and they keep us in charge, which is where we want to be, but where God deserves to be. That’s what the Pharisees did… compare, and control.
Remember how I said the Law and its rules were perfect? The NT describes those things, also, as weak (Galatians 4:9), empty (1 Peter 1:18), powerless (Rom.8:3), and useless (Hebrews 7:18). The Law is where sin gets its power – 1 Cor.15:56. Folks, the Law shows that you need Jesus, but if you’re counting on it to get right with Jesus, you’re missing out.
But you hear this question: do I need to follow God’s laws to be saved? Checklist. Score keeping. What do I have to do to be right with God? It’s an often-asked question, but it’s the wrong question.
It’s like my asking, “Do I have to love Michelle?” Now, I love my wife. She’s wonderful. She’s my partner, my lover, my friend. The paper we signed when we got married said that I was making a commitment to her, but it didn’t say I had to love her. The legal system doesn’t care if I love her. You see, there’s a marriage contract, if you will, but that doesn’t keep us together. For me to ask, “Do I have to love my wife?” is silly, because neither a yes nor a no works. It’s the wrong question. I simply do, and that’s why we’re together. It’s not about laws and rules and regulations; it’s about love. The “have-to’s” are turned into “want-to’s” in the light of a love relationship.
So if you are passionately in love with Jesus, it’s about what you have to do; it’s about what you want to do. If He leads you here, you will do it, because you love Him. If He commands you to do this, you will do it, because you desire to please Him. It’s not about keeping score or completing a checklist. As Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
You need to ask yourself if your relationship with God is about following the rules, or about faith expressing itself in love. There is a difference between someone whose relationship with God is more about, “If I do this, I’ll make God angry” and “I love Him, so I want to please Him”. One is about rules, and the other is about relationship. The first is about the disciples counting the cost of the perfume, and the other is about the sinful woman who poured out the perfume at Jesus’ feet.
Nicodemus and Joseph broke past the rules that never led to fulfillment in their souls, and served their Lord from the depths of their faith and love. We could stand to learn from them.
