Saturday in the Fourth Week

Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 7:6-11; John 7:37-52

Back in the schoolyard . . . You have to feel for Nicodemus.

The priests and Pharisees are the ruling clique.  You can hear how threatened they are by this new kid in town.  He sounds way cooler than they are, talking about living water and healing people.  Some people are starting to turn from them to him.  Their position is threatened.

They try to silence him.  They point to his hillbilly background.  He’s just a rube, some carpenter’s son from the north.  They, on the other hand, have background, education, money, position: who does he think he is?  Who does the crowd think he is?  (Who do you think he is?)

Nicodemus is one of them, but his mind is still open.  Tentatively, he speaks.  He doesn’t say the guy is innocent - he just reminds them of what their supposed commitment is.  And he gets the news: they are not who he thought they were.  They are willing to ignore their own law in order to stop Jesus.  They are unable to answer him with integrity.  Instead they shame him and threaten him with expulsion from the group: “What are you, some kind of Galilean geek?  Don’t be an idiot.”

When I was in college I belonged to a political club.  The ideological boundaries were pretty narrow.  We were part of a larger body, and beyond our local club there were people who thought differently.  One time we had a statewide election.  “My” side basically stole it, and the other side called foul and demanded a new election.  I knew they were right, and I told my club that in the event of a new election I would have to vote for the opposition.  By the time I got home that weekend, I had been stripped of all my offices and expelled from the group.  Best thing that could have happened to me.  The truth set me free.

We’ve all been there.  Some of us were the cool kids regulating other people’s entry into our clique.  I bet most of us were either outside of those cliques, or we were on the edge.  We knew they had something, those kids, but sometimes we could also see the price they paid for membership - the conformity, the loss of compassion for those outside the clique, the fear masquerading as arrogance.  From outside it becomes pretty clear that the outsiders are more free than the insiders.  We may have felt like losers, but they lost their souls.

Nicodemus knows that Jesus speaks the truth that sets us free.  He’s trying to find his way in territory that is getting harder to negotiate.  One day soon he will have to choose where his allegiance lies.  And he will choose to love Jesus.

Where are you tempted to silence your faith to fit in?  What does it cost you?

Is there someone else who needs your support to stand up to the bullies, of whatever kind?  Reach out to them, and pray for all the children and adults who face bullying every day.