At the Tomb — A Song About Nicodemus, the Cost of Courage | Biblical Story

I came by night, afraid of what they’d say A man of learning, walking in the grey You spoke of wind — where does it come from, where does it go? I wrote it down in silence, but I didn’t really know I’ve memorized the law, every letter, every line But standing here before this tomb, the words have left my mind I’ve built my life on answers, on the things I thought were true But something in that conversation broke me open — and I knew They called for blood, the crowd — I heard them scream His name I stood among my people, but I couldn’t be the same Is this what I’ve become — a man who just belongs? Even when belonging means you’re carried by the wrong I bring my myrrh and aloe, a hundred pounds of care The only thing I had to give — my hands, my being there Not a sermon, not a doctrine, not a creed I had to prove Just a body wrapped in linen — this was all that I could do So I’ll walk into the desert with no title, with no name Just a man who couldn’t save Him — but came back just the same I watched them shout “Hosanna!” and I watched them shout “Crucify!” The same mouths, the same city — how does madness multiply? I saw their faces change — the self just disappeared When the crowd becomes the conscience, you become what you most feared I had too much to lose, a seat, a name, a place But something in that conversation showed me my own face You must be born again — the words kept breaking through What does that mean for someone who’s already sixty-two? They think this is the ending — let them think what they must think I’ve stood beside the dead before, but never at this brink There’s a difference between knowing and the moment that you kneel Between theology and myrrh — between the mind and what you feel I bring my myrrh and aloe, a hundred pounds of care The only thing I had to give — my hands, my being there Not a sermon, not a doctrine, not a creed I had to prove Just a body wrapped in linen — this was all that I could do So I’ll walk into the desert with no title, with no name Just a man who couldn’t save Him — but came back just the same They say that meaning lives even where the darkness gives no reason to survive They say that love is not a feeling — love is something that you choose And maybe courage is the act of having nothing left to lose Maybe I was always His — just too afraid to say it in the light But myrrh doesn’t need a witness and the tomb doesn’t need the night Joseph brought the linen I brought what I had saved We laid Him in the garden — a rabbi and a grave And somewhere in that wrapping somewhere in that weight I stopped being a questioner and learned to simply wait The desert has no pulpit The wilderness — no crowd Just the wind that blows where it will — and I finally said it out loud. The man who came by night stayed through the longest dark and walked out in the morning with nothing left — except a start #thebible #thetomb #nicodemus