John3chapter 3

Nicodemus is introduced with two titles: a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, which means a member of the Sanhedrin, the council of seventy-one that governed Jewish religious and civil affairs under Roman oversight. He is also called a teacher of Israel. This is not a curious bystander; he is the establishment.

Coming at night is often read as cowardice, and it may have been. But night was also the preferred time for serious study of the Law, when the day's business was over, and a teacher visiting another teacher after dark was ordinary. John, who cares about light and darkness throughout the book, lets both readings stand.

Being born of water and the Spirit landed on ears trained by ritual immersion. Jews immersed in stepped stone baths for purity, and a Gentile converting to Judaism was immersed as part of entering the people — so being told that a Jewish teacher needed a new birth reversed the whole social order Nicodemus lived in.

The Baptist's picture of himself is a real wedding role. The friend of the bridegroom was the man who arranged the marriage, carried messages between the families, and stood outside the bridal chamber waiting to hear the groom's voice — at which point his job was complete and his joy was full. He then stepped back permanently.