Here’s a
monologue inspired by John 3 :1-21, where Nicodemus meets Jesus. It was written by Mark Diller Harder.
Nicodemus Monologue
(inspired by John
3:1-21)
I came in the dead of night. I hid in the shadows. I had
heard of Jesus, had watched him from
a distance. He was a dangerous man, a radical - I dare say,
a heretic. At least that’s what we
called him in the Sanhedrin - the Jewish court of religious
law and court of public opinion. We
opposed him at every front. He was getting too big for his
britches! And yet, there was
something about him that kept nagging in the recesses of my
mind. There were all these
signs. I wanted to get closer to find out more, but I was
scared, for myself, for my reputation,
for my integrity as a scholar, a Pharisee. It was like there
were hot burning coals, dangerous,
they could burn you, but I wanted to reach out and touch
them, to feel their heat, to sit by
their light, to see if this was all for real.
So I came in the shadows, hidden in the darkness, where no
one could see me or judge me.
I asked him my questions – putting on a bit of an edge,
keeping my rhetorical distance –
even though inside the questions were burning me up. His
answers were so full of riddles
and twists – well over my head - and yet so full of truth
and insight they drew me right in.
‘Rabbi’ I said, ‘we know that you are a teacher from God –
for no one can do these signs
apart from God’s presence.’ The answer: ‘no one can see the
kingdom of God without being
born again – born from above.’ Born again?!? How can anyone
be born after having grown
old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb? ‘No
one can enter the kingdom of
God without being born of water and Spirit.’ And on Jesus
went – talking about the Spirit and
the wind blowing where it will, and earthly and heavenly
things. I couldn’t keep up. God so
loved the world. The light has come into the world. My head
was spinning. I was face to face
with a light of truth so bright I couldn’t take it all in. I
retreated into the safety of the shadows,
but I knew I would be back – no matter what the cost. This
Jesus was the real thing.
~ written by Mark Diller Harder, St. Jacobs Mennonite
Church, January 2010. Posted in the From
Our Churches archive on the Mennonite Church Canada Resource Centre
website. http://resources.mennonitechurch.ca/FileDownload/12314/Nicodemus_monologue.pdf
