“At first,” said Nicodemus, “I did not understand the meaning of his words. I asked him how a man could be born again, once he was old. Did Jesus expect us to enter the womb of our mother for a second time? Patiently, he explained that to be born again meant to be born from above, with the spirit of God entering into our very being, no matter what our age or position. Joseph and I had great difficulty with his words, and Jesus grew angry at our blindness and wondered how we had managed to become masters of Israel when we understood so little about the greater Kingdom of God.”

“Did you two go to him often?”

“Many, many times and usually together. Always under the cover of darkness. As the months passed, we developed great love and respect for him, and it was not long before we were both contributing heavily to the purse of his small group in order that Jesus and his disciples would not have to seek alms in the streets when their time could be better spent bringing solace and hope to the people.”

“You two financed them?”

“Their party was growing in followers, day by day, yet they received little in the way of contributions from the poor who always flocked around. It was the least we could do. Although we dared not support him in public, we could help with our gold—and we did.”

“Did any of the other authorities suspect that you two had become secret followers?”

“In my case,” said Nicodemus, “I do not believe that any suspicion was aroused until I attended a meeting of the chief priests and Pharisees after some of our Temple guards had been dispatched, on one occasion, to arrest Jesus for stirring up the people. The guards returned empty-handed, saying that they dared not lay hands on him. I argued against any such future action, saying that it was unlawful to judge any man before he was tried, but Caiaphas became enraged at me and asked, ‘Are you from Galilee also? Search and look, for out of Galilee there comes no prophet!’ ”

Joseph nodded. “As for me, I don’t believe that anyone suspected my friendship with Jesus before I went to Pilate and claimed his body for burial. Even the procurator expressed surprise at my request. Of course, after the tomb was found empty, all the authorities, especially the high priest, blamed both Nicodemus and me for not allowing the body to be tossed into a common grave.”

Nicodemus smiled. “We were treated like lepers at first until it came time for our next yearly contributions to the Temple funds.”

“After the burial, where did you both go?”

Joseph spoke first. “As you know, Matthias, I have no family. I prevailed on Nicodemus to come to my house, where we spent the following day, our Sabbath, in prayer and meditation while consoling each other over our great loss. After sundown, when the Sabbath had ended, Shem took Nicodemus back to his place, here, and I retired very early.”