Day 5 — New Birth Comes Into The Light
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, bring me out of fear and darkness into a courageous, joyful allegiance to you. Amen.
Headline
New birth is God’s hidden work, but its fruit becomes visible in a life devoted to Jesus.
John 19:38–42
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[a] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Comment
When Nicodemus first appeared in John’s Gospel, he came to Jesus at night. He was intrigued, but cautious. His standing among the Pharisees and on the ruling council gave him much to lose. He did not want to be seen. By the end of the Gospel, however, he steps into the open at the moment when association with Jesus appears most costly and least rewarding.
Nicodemus joins Joseph of Arimathea in taking down Jesus’ body. He brings about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes—an extraordinarily lavish quantity, suitable for the burial of royalty. As a Pharisee, touching a corpse would make him ceremonially unclean. Preparing a body was not work expected of a man of his status. Yet Nicodemus no longer seems governed by reputation, convention or fear. He has seen who Jesus is and honours him as king.
This does not mean we can pinpoint the moment of Nicodemus’s new birth. The Spirit blows where he pleases. But the man who once approached Jesus under cover of darkness now identifies himself publicly with the crucified Lord. New birth is God’s work within us, but it bears outward fruit: love for Jesus becomes more important than position, approval or safety.
Andrew finished his sermon on Sunday by returning to Moshe (see Day 1). Outreach workers found her and brought her to hospital. There she heard for the first time that Jesus loved her, and she experienced that love through the practical care of Christian staff. She trusted Christ, was baptised and threw her witch-doctor charms into the fire. The heaviness over her heart, she said, had been replaced by a joy and love that only Christ could bring.
Moshe also wanted to carry the good news back to her village. Like the disciples after the resurrection, new life turned fear and isolation into joy and witness. Medical treatment could restore her body and dignity; Christ gave her a still deeper restoration – a new birth, a new allegiance and a hope stronger than death. The same invitation comes to us: look to Jesus, believe in him and let his new life come into the light.
Nicodemus shows what new birth looks like when it reaches public life. Earlier he approached Jesus at night, guarded by status and fear. At the burial he steps into daylight, motivated by reverence and honour. He cannot know yet how Easter morning will unfold, but love has displaced self-protection. Moshe’s later story echoes that movement. Her restored life became testimony as she spoke about Christ back home. Surgery mattered profoundly, but the gospel addressed the deeper isolation of shame, fear and spiritual bondage. Rebirth becomes visible in embodied choices: coming into the light, identifying with Jesus, serving neighbours and risking reputation for love. God’s renewing work never makes practical mercy unnecessary. It creates people who practise it.
The questions for us are therefore wonderfully practical. Where is fear keeping faith private? Whose shame calls for dignifying care? What costly act of love might reveal that the Spirit has brought us from darkness into Christ’s new life?
Why does God want me to hear this today? Because the new life Jesus gives is meant to draw you out of fear and become visible in joyful, courageous allegiance to him. He wants your faith to come into the light through courageous allegiance to Jesus and practical love for others.
Reflect
- What changes do you notice between Nicodemus in John 3 and Nicodemus in John 19?
- What reputation, position or fear might keep you from identifying openly with Jesus?
- How could the new life Jesus gives become visible through your joy, love or witness?
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you that your love brings people from darkness into light, from heaviness into joy and from death into life. Make my allegiance to you visible, and give me courage to share your good news with others. Amen.
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