Apart from the original meaning that the term "syndrome" has in the field of medicine, it is also often used to refer to phenomena that characterize a certain situation. For example, the expression "Stockholm Syndrome" was coined to refer to a psychological reaction in which the victim of a kidnapping against her will develops a complicit relationship and a strong emotional bond with her kidnapper. It is in this sense that we use the expression "Nicodemus Syndrome" to explain the psychological tendency to assume, unconsciously and uncritically, cultural values in general and religious values in particular of the environment in which one lives and is educated.
The Gospel, (John, 3:1-12), narrates the encounter with Jesus of a pious Pharisee who found it difficult to overcome the mental schemes of the cultural and religious environment in which had been formed. Surely it was not the only case of this type that Jesus encountered in spreading his message, and the evangelist wanted to summarize and symbolize in it all similar cases. The conclusion Jesus reached, in the “Nicodemus case”, is that it was necessary to be “born again”, that is, that in order to assume the liberating message that Jesus brought it was necessary to overcome the mental schemes that They are the result of the training process.
Consider, for example, the natural way in which we learn the native language, the language spoken in the environment in which we were raised, and how difficult it is to learn a second language. Well, the same thing happens with all the rest of the cultural legacy of the social environment in which we are formed: values or principles, economic system, ways of life, rules of conduct, moral criteria, social customs, religious beliefs and practices...
The case of the Nicodemus of the Gospel was that of the average type of the Jews of the time. He had been educated in a social, political and religious environment based on the Law of Moses. Jesus assumed that religious framework but wanted to free it from the Talmudist casuistry, what he called "the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." A saying of his that expresses the spirit of the teaching he wanted to convey was that " the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath ". In reality, it is a revolutionary message; it turns the entire organized social system upside down. He comes to say that religion, laws, political authority... make sense only if they serve the good of people.
The way society is organized, and not only that of the time of Jesus, all this cultural legacy (values, moral criteria, religious system, etc.) is organized according to the interests of the dominant powers in society, that is, , people are educated, already from their tender age, so that they assume that cultural framework and consider it as the most natural thing in the world. If the system is threatened by revolutionary ideas that seek to change the world from the bottom up, the dominant powers resort to domesticated personnel in favor of their interests. The crowd that cried out to Pilate for the release of Barabbas and the condemnation of Jesus of Nazareth was made up, in large part, of unhappy people like Nicodemus who were sincerely convinced that he could can't be right against the Sanhedrin and the priesthood of the Temple of Jerusalem a simple layman like that Jesus who came from an insignificant village like Nazareth, from which it was said then that nothing good could come from there, see John, 1:45-50
Religion, which in principle responds to a human need to relate to the transcendent, to what we call God, is used by all the dominators of all times to mentalize, in favor of their own interests, those subjected and expropriated. The same happens with political systems that, in principle, have the necessary and dignified function of organizing the coexistence of human groups. Hence, any system of domination strives to control both political leaders and religious priesthoods. Those who offer themselves to serve as lackeys to the holders of economic power, the true owners of society, are unworthy political and religious leaders.
Those political and religious leaderships, what Jesus called “the kingdoms of this world”, fell into Satan's temptation of power and dominion that Jesus rejected. Jesus urges us to be “born again”, free ourselves from the leaven of the “doctors” who work for the system of domination, the ideological apparatus of the system that mentalizes us to accept it as it is. The Nicodemus syndrome, the tendency not to question what has been imbued in our minds, makes us incapable of undertaking the task that Jesus assigns to his followers, the construction of the Kingdom of God and his justice.
This occurred from the time of Jesus until now. It is assumed that the people who felt challenged by the call of Jesus and assumed the mission of following and imitating him would be devoted to his liberating project, the construction of that Kingdom different from those of this world. So we have to ask ourselves what resulted, after two millennia, from that transforming vocation. The history of those 20 centuries shows us that the Christian churches were abandoning the liberating program of the Messiah Jesus to gradually fall into a religiosity centered on worship, prayer...
Of the early Christian community in Jerusalem, the book of the Acts of the Apostles tells us that: …all those who believed came together and had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to everyone, to each one according to his need... …The multitude of those who had believed was of one heart and one soul. None of them claimed to be their own anything that he possessed, but that all things were common to them. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon all of them. There was, then, no needy among them, because all those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the price of what was sold and put it at the feet of the apostles. And it was distributed to each one as he had need.
