Nicodemus sermon critique

Our rector preached today about Nicodemus, who was the subject of today's Gospel reading.  The rector is a good friend; I sent him this email, adapted from material linked below (I've made minor edits here and there):

A good sermon today, but with two serious weaknesses: 

First, you need more support for your claim that Nicodemus was born again.  The gospel record simply doesn’t do it. Certainly Nicodemus argued (rather mildly) to his peers that Jesus was entitled to due process.  And after the crucifixion he helped retrieve Jesus’ body from the cross. But these things suggest only that Nicodemus likely was a mensch. They don’t come close to establishing what you claimed about him – especially since after the crucifixion he vanishes from the story of the early church, which you wouldn’t expect of someone in his position who had been born again.

Which leads to the second weakness, which is that you didn’t address an obvious follow-up question:  Why was Nicodemus not a prominent leader in the early church? And while we’re on that subject, why does Joseph of Arimathea, not to mention Lazarus (who owed his life to Jesus), also disappear from the record? 

• Even if these three men had never personally experienced the risen Jesus — whatever that experience actually was — surely they would have credited the tales of his resurrection if in fact he had appeared to more than 500 others, as Paul claimed years later. 
• There would have been no reason for them to remain closeted as secret disciples if in fact "the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith" (Acts 6.7). 

It just doesn’t add up. 

My own conjecture is this:  Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, etc., never signed on with what became the Christian movement because they simply didn't buy the fantastic tales about a risen Jesus, his imminent return, and a special preaching commission to the surviving Eleven — who were part of Jesus' entourage, but were not nearly so important to his ministry as was later claimed.

Even so, a good sermon.

Regards,

--D. C.

Comments

[NewTrollObserver]

Matthew 9:40,

"for whoever is not against us is for us."