"Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight."
Devotion
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"who earlier had come to Jesus by night"
The Concealing Hour · nuktos · G3571 · GREEK
Night — the cover of darkness chosen when visibility feels too costly and secrecy feels safer than truth
Nicodemus's story begins under cover of night — and John never lets us forget it. When he first appears, he comes to Jesus at night to avoid being seen. When he cautiously defends Jesus in the council, he still hides behind legal reasoning. But here, at the cross, night is mentioned again — not to describe the time, but to mark the distance traveled. The man who once needed darkness to follow Jesus now needs it no longer. His act of bringing burial spices is done in daylight, in public, before Rome itself.
📖 John 3:1–2; 7:50–51; 19:38–40 · Three Scenes, One Man's JourneyThe first time Nicodemus appears, he is careful. He comes to Jesus at night — a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin, a man with everything to lose. He asks honest questions, but he doesn't stay. He slips back into the darkness when the conversation ends.
The second time he appears, he is still cautious. When the council moves to arrest Jesus, Nicodemus objects — but just barely. He hides behind legal process: "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing?" His colleagues mock him. He falls silent.
Then Jesus is dead. And Nicodemus appears a third time — not in secret, not at night, not hiding behind questions. He carries seventy-five pounds of burial spices to the tomb and helps Joseph of Arimathea wrap the body of the Lord. It is the most extravagant, public, dangerous act of devotion in all of John's Gospel.
The man who once feared the light had finally walked into it.
"came"
The Arriving Step · erchomai · G2064 · GREEK
To come, to go, to arrive — a single step that marks the full movement from inner conviction to outward action
One word separates who Nicodemus used to be from who he becomes. The Greek word erchomai appears throughout John's Gospel at every decisive arrival: disciples following Jesus, blind men restored, the dead raised. In each case, "coming" is not the end — it is the beginning of transformation. Nicodemus finally comes, not by night but by day, not with questions but with seventy-five pounds of conviction.
📖 Luke 15:11–20 · The Father Who Saw Him ComingIn the parable of the prodigal son, the father doesn't wait inside the house. He sees his son "when he was still a great way off" and runs to meet him. The reunion happens before the son finishes his prepared speech.
What makes this moment so striking is that the father wasn't watching for a perfect return — he was watching for a returning son. The direction of travel was enough.
Nicodemus's final act has the same quality. He didn't wait until his theology was sorted or his public image secured. He just came. He showed up at the tomb with everything he had, and his coming said everything his silence had withheld for years.
The most important step in any faith journey is often the one taken when you're most afraid — the step that says "I'm done hiding" and moves toward Jesus instead of away.
"seventy-five pounds in weight"
The Weight of Love · litra · G3046 · GREEK
A Roman pound measure — used here to quantify what could not be measured: the depth of one man's transformed devotion
Seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes was enough to bury a king. Kings were anointed with a fraction of this amount. The spices Nicodemus brought were worth a small fortune, and they were meant for one purpose: honoring the body of Jesus. When religion becomes relationship, extravagance replaces calculation. Nicodemus had spent his whole career measuring the exact amount required by the law. At the tomb, he threw the scale away.
📖 Mark 14:3–9 · She Broke the Whole JarA few days before the crucifixion, a woman came to Jesus while he was reclining at table. She carried an alabaster flask of expensive ointment — pure nard — and she broke it. Not poured it. Broke it. Every last drop went on him.
The disciples were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. The ointment was worth a year's wages. There was no partial offering here, no careful calculation of what was enough.
Jesus stopped them: "She has done a beautiful thing to me." And then he said something extraordinary — this act would be remembered wherever the gospel is told. Her name wasn't recorded. The act was enough.
Nicodemus, arriving at the tomb with seventy-five pounds of spices, was doing the same thing. Not calculating. Not holding back. Pouring everything out for the one who had changed everything in him.
Declarations
- ✦ I am not defined by my past hesitations — God sees where I am going, not only where I have been. (John 19:39)
- ✦ I come to Jesus fully — not hiding behind questions, not waiting until I feel ready. (John 6:37)
- ✦ I give extravagantly, because I know the value of the One I am giving to. (Philippians 3:7–8)
- ✦ My faith is not just private belief — it is public action, visible love, and costly devotion. (Matthew 5:16)
Prayer
Father, I confess there are places where I have followed you by night — where my faith has been private when it should have been visible. Thank you for Nicodemus, who showed me that it is never too late to come forward, never too late to be extravagant. Give me the courage to bring everything I have to you — not the minimum, not what is expected, but the whole weight of my love. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Think about it
Is there an area of your life where you are still following Jesus by night? What would it look like to step into the light in that specific area this week?
I will stop waiting until I am ready, and I will bring everything I have — in full daylight — to Jesus.
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