Today's Sanhedrin meeting ended as usual, with the Sadducees leading the way. They often harbor animosity toward each other, but when it comes to shared interests, they suddenly unite. When the Sadducees visit the provinces, they act like Pharisees because the people favor the Pharisees. It's impossible to know how many different faces they show. Since they believe everything depends on human will, not God, they can change their attitudes without hesitation. If they want to live apart from God, they should simply do so; I don't understand why they cling to the temple.
Every year around Passover, Roman soldiers increase their guard at the northwest corner of the temple's colonnade as well as near the Antonia Fortress, due to concerns about Jewish rebellion. The main agenda of this council meeting was related to that: monitoring for anyone causing disturbances and using temple guards to drive them out if necessary. There were also many economic topics, such as how many sacrificial animals to prepare, procurement issues, and whether there were enough temple shekels for pilgrims. They claim these are for temple construction funds, but in reality, a significant amount of money flows into the house of Annas. Their continued power is backed by that money. Outwardly, they appear to work for God and the Jews, but in truth, they fill their own pockets.
After Archelaus was expelled and Rome conducted a census, High Priest Joazar was removed for failing to suppress the Jewish rebellion, and Annas took his place. Annas served as High Priest for about nine years, and from then on, his family became the de facto rulers of the temple. Although other High Priests briefly held the position, for nearly 25 years—except for a two-year gap—three High Priests have come from their family. They have dominated the office for 22 or 23 years, so one can only imagine how much bribery they must have paid to the Roman governors.
The current High Priest, Caiaphas, is Annas's son-in-law and has held the position for almost ten years. He became High Priest even though Annas's sons were alive, and he has served longer than Annas did. Indeed, he is a cunning politician—exceptionally skilled at maneuvering. He must please the Roman governors and outmaneuver his competitors, and he is doing both well. How impressive—at least in terms of political survival!
Even for Caiaphas, the current governor Pilate is not an easy adversary. Pilate caused trouble from the beginning of his tenure and has consistently disregarded Jewish law. Many Jews suffer because of him, and temple construction has stalled since his appointment. Some people mistakenly believe the temple was completed with the last phase three or four years ago, but those who know the situation understand it is far from finished. They haven't even planned to rebuild the 20 cubits that collapsed during the initial construction. Caiaphas must be deeply troubled by Pilate. While it is tempting to feel a bit of satisfaction at his difficulties, if Caiaphas fails, it will also harm the Jews. Politics is truly difficult.
As Nicodemus left the council, he once again felt powerless. As a leader of the people and a member of the Sanhedrin, he was in the minority and lacked the power to act. Moreover, he could not even discern what was right. The Pharisees believed that if all Jews kept the law perfectly, the kingdom of God would come. To achieve this, they taught the people to observe the law fully. But in reality, it was doubtful that such a day would ever arrive. Was the path they were on truly leading to the kingdom of God? Their mission was to teach that all things happen according to God's plan and that each person should live righteously by their own will. But if this method did not bring about that day, could they really say it was the right way?
Nicodemus felt suffocated. As someone who had lived his entire life as a Pharisee, it was difficult for him to admit this path might not be correct. Yet the conclusion that there was no more hope with this method was spreading deep within him.
Just then, murmuring arose from the Court of the Gentiles. Nicodemus turned to look. A man was using a whip to drive out those selling oxen and sheep. The merchants, mostly affiliated with the house of Annas, were retreating with their animals, driven out by the man's authority. Nicodemus thought these people would not remain silent, but he found himself moving toward the scene without realizing it.
After driving out the animals, the man approached those exchanging foreign currency for temple shekels, scattered their money, and overturned their tables. Then he went to the dove sellers and shouted loudly,
"Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!"
"My Father’s house." As Nicodemus heard these words, his heart began to race. He too had once been passionate about living righteously, back when he first became a Pharisee and dedicated himself to God and the Jews. Remembering that time, Nicodemus did not find the man before him unfamiliar.
Nicodemus examined him closely. The man appeared robust and agile, with well-developed muscles. Several sturdy men followed him, likely his companions. For them to cause such a commotion in the temple—Annas’s domain—it was clear they were Galileans. The people of Galilee were accustomed to war from a young age, producing many brave warriors, and none were idle. Their diligence sometimes manifested in the wrong way, as with the Zealots, but if that passion was channeled positively, perhaps it would result in actions like those of this man.
At that moment, several people approached the man.
"What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?"
It seemed they also thought this man was no ordinary person, which is why they asked.
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
"It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?"
His answer astonished them as much as it did Nicodemus. Even if someone mistakenly believed the construction, which had stopped since Pilate’s appointment, was already finished, the man’s words were beyond imagination. To say he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days was blasphemous.
Nicodemus wanted to hear his reason, but the man offered no further explanation. Instead, he turned and left the temple with his followers. Shortly after, the temple guards arrived, but he was already gone. How could he say such things?
Although nothing was certain, Nicodemus began to feel that perhaps this man could show him the new path he had been seeking.
* * *
After that day, Nicodemus heard news about him from various places. He taught many lessons and performed signs among the people, which led to an increase in those who believed in him. However, there was no rumor that he had entrusted himself to anyone. If he had a patron, it could have greatly supported his actions, but he seemed to be paving his own way without needing anyone’s testimony.
Nicodemus became convinced by the man’s actions and the rumors that followed after their first encounter. The scripture says, "Zeal for your house will consume me," and that man perfectly embodied those words. Nicodemus wanted to meet him and have a conversation. He hoped that by talking to him, he could hear his views on the current situation and perhaps learn about a new path to the kingdom of God.
After several days of inquiry, Nicodemus discovered where the man was staying. When he visited in the evening, he saw several people with him. Their expressions were all similar to his: confident and righteous. And there he was, standing proudly among them.
"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him."
"Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom."
He seemed to know Nicodemus’s concerns and immediately began to speak about the kingdom of God. It was exactly the conversation Nicodemus had wanted. But what did he mean by being born anew? How could a person be born again?
"How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?"
"Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
He spoke in a way that was even more difficult to understand. He said one must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God, and he used analogies of flesh, spirit, and wind.
"How can these things be?"
"Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God."
* * *
As I walked back home after our brief conversation, I pondered the meaning of his words. He said, "Unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom." This was an answer to my question. It was not about entering heaven by fully keeping the law, but a completely new path. For Jews, being washed with water naturally meant purification, so being born again of water might mean something similar. If he was referring to John the Baptist's teachings, perhaps he was talking about purification through repentance.
Then, what did he mean by being born of the Spirit? He said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It could mean that just as water cleanses the flesh and makes it new, the Spirit cleanses the spirit. However, his words still didn't fully make sense to me. Perhaps the answer lies in his analogies.
"The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Reflecting on his words again, it seems that just as the wind blows wherever it wishes, the Spirit also moves wherever it desires. Just as you can hear the sound of the wind and feel its presence without knowing its origin or destination, a person born of the Spirit can feel the presence of the Spirit without knowing its source. Then, the Spirit must be moving according to God's will.
If his words meant that God sends the Spirit to those He wants, then to whom does God send that Spirit?
He said, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him."
According to his words, it seems that God sends the Spirit to those who believe in His only Son. But what does it mean to be God's only Son? Could it possibly mean that the one and only God has an only Son?
He continued, "He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God."
He said that those who do the truth come to the light and believe in God’s Son, and thus are not condemned. And those who do not believe in His Son's name are already condemned. This part is difficult to understand, but let's consider what he meant by God's only Son. He explained one thing about Him:
"No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven."
He said that God's only Son came down from heaven and became the Son of Man. The Son of God becoming the Son of Man? I didn't realize it during our conversation, but he was speaking of something beyond my imagination. He wasn't talking about the Messiah all Jews await, nor the other Messiah the Essenes expect, who would come as a high priest. He spoke of something greater. He spoke of the Son of God who came down from heaven, and said that judgment is determined by whether one believes in His name or not, not by keeping the law.
Although I don't know who the Son of God is that he speaks of, if what he says is true, then God must be opening a new path of salvation in this age, one that is different from before. This path is possible not through keeping the law, but through faith in the Spirit and God's Son.
Nicodemus felt his heart pounding as he slowly fell asleep.
In Nicodemus's dream, the image of a young boy appeared, whom he had met at the Temple in Jerusalem during Passover about twenty years ago. At that time, Nicodemus was not as old, and his passion for God had not yet waned. The boy sat among several teachers in the Temple, listening to their words and asking questions. Everyone who heard the boy's words was amazed by his wisdom and responses, and Nicodemus himself gained great insight from the conversation. The boy disappeared a few days later with his parents, who had come to find him. The conversation between the boy and his parents went like this:
"Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you."
"Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?"
The boy's response left his parents bewildered. Perhaps that boy was the Son of God sent by God, the one who came down from heaven and became the Son of Man. Nicodemus had already encountered the Son of God. Yes, that child must be the Son of God. If so, it is not impossible to meet him again now that he has grown up.
Although the memory would fade upon waking, Nicodemus felt, at least in this moment, that he was among the most blessed people in the world, and his heart swelled with emotion. A bright smile spread across Nicodemus’s face as he slept...
* * *
From the next day on, Nicodemus returned to his usual routine. A new seed had been planted in his heart, but it would take much time for that seed to grow and flourish. The day he would find the courage to act amidst the events unfolding around him, he would truly meet the Son of God he had encountered in his dream.
After Passover, Jesus left Jerusalem with his disciples and stayed near the Jordan River in the region of Judea. Many people flocked to that place, and the disciples gave them the baptism of repentance that John had preached. In this way, people were being born again of water to enter the kingdom of God.
The passages from Luke 2:48-49, John 2:16-20, 3:2-21 quoted in this narrative are taken directly from the World English Bible (WEB) translation.
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