Directions: Underline the words in the story as you find them, unscramble them and write them in the boxes below. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews of the group called the Pharisees He told Jesus that surely God was with him, or he would not have been able to do all the wonderful things that Jesus had been doing. Then Jesus began to teach him. He told Nicodemus that if a person wanted to see the kingdom of God, he must be born again. Born again! Nicodemus could just visualize himself becoming a baby again. How could this be? It seemed like an impossible thing for a grown man to be born again! But Jesus was not talking about a physical birth. He was speaking of a spiritual birth. He said that one must be born of water and the Spirit. Just as you can't see the wind that blows, you cannot see the new birth. The person may look the same, but he or she is a changed person inside. He had seen the miracles that Jesus had performed and had heard him teach. He believed that Jesus was truly a teacher sent from God. He wanted to go and talk to him, but he waited until it was nighttime to go. Then Jesus told Nicodemus the beautiful words , "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Jesus came to save the people of the world, not to condemn them. We read more about Nicodemus after the death of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man and a member of the Jewish council. He was a good and just man and a disciple of Christ. He had been waiting for the kingdom of God and he believed that Jesus was the One who had been promised. He took courage, but came secretly and asked Pilate for the body of Jesus so that he could bury him. The man who came with him was Nicodemus.