At the end of each post the Mystery Person's name will be disclosed. The Bible references in parentheses give scriptural back up from what the Mystery Person says. Try to guess the identity before the end of the article! Enjoy! :D
~Photobug
Greetings! I am a Pharisee, a spiritual teacher of God's chosen nation, Israel. Besides teaching the law I am also a member of the Jewish ruling council. While I was a Pharisee a new teacher came and taught the people, a man by the name of Jesus. We knew he was from God, or he could not do the miracles that he was doing. [John 3:1-2]
The Pharisees as a whole are totally against Jesus. If anyone openly proclaims that he believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Pharisees will throw him out of the synagogue! [John 9:22] I however, do not totally go along with the popular opinion. While yes, I am still a Pharisee, I did one time defend Jesus before my fellow Pharisees. You can guess what they thought of that! [John 7:45-52]
I wanted to have an interview with Jesus, but I dared not as a Pharisee come to him in broad daylight. Finally I decided to come to Jesus by night, and that way almost no one could see me. In my interview with him, Jesus uttered what perhaps has become the most famous verse in your modern Bible: John 3:16.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." [John 3:1-21]
I had started to believe in this Jesus, but I had to be a secret follower. The Pharisees would cast me out from among them! But as I watched Jesus' cruel death and how my fellow Pharisees made false charge after false charge against him, I started realizing what they did not.
I started realizing how all of the prophecies relating to the Messiah matched up absolutely perfect with what Jesus had done, and what happened to him. I had been a secret disciple of Jesus for a while, but now, I realized, was the time to make my discipleship public.
I knew that Jesus' disciples wanted a proper burial for their Master. In such a low position, they could not do anything to help how Jesus was buried. And the Romans were less than merciful.
One of the richest people in all of Jerusalem was a man named Joseph. He was a good and upright man, and a member of the Council. Naturally you may guess, and guess correctly, that Joseph had not at all consented to killing Jesus. A secret disciple like myself, Joseph was from the Judean town of Arimathea. Naturally, only the rich and people of much influence can gain a meeting with Pilate. The disciples certainly couldn't!
But in this case they gained an advocate--Joesph of Arimathea. He asked for Jesus' body, and along with me went to take Jesus' body off the cross before sundown, and this special Passover Sabbath. We wrapped his body in strips of linen, and I used the mixture of myrrh and aloes I had brought along. In all the mixture weighed about seventy-five pounds. [Luke 23:50-54, John 19:38-42]
Since these events Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, just like he said! Now I am not going to be a secret disciple. I'm going to take my discipleship public, and show the world my decision by joining those of the Way. [Acts 6:7]
Do you know who I am now? My name is...
Nicodemus
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