Month: January 2021

5After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Bethzatha, which has five porticoes. ³ In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. ⁵ One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. ¹⁴ Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
²⁰ The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. ²¹ Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.
²² The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

²⁵ “Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; ²⁷ and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. ³² There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. ³³ You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. ³⁴ Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
³⁵ He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶ But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form,
³⁸ and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.

³⁹ “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. ⁴⁰ Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹ I do not accept glory from human beings. ⁴² But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”  NRSV

Get into the Word

1. What is the situation at the beginning of this chapter? What prompts Jesus to question the man? Why did Jesus begin with the question he asked?

2. How does the man first respond to Jesus? What is similar in his answer to the response of the woman at the well [4:11]? 

3. What does Jesus do next? How does the man respond? What problem do the Jews have with this situation? Why did they persecute Jesus? How do you feel about the Jews’ reaction? 

4. How does Jesus respond to the Jews’ accusations about the Sabbath? Do you think this helped the situation or made the Jews more upset? Why?

5. How does Jesus describe the relationship between himself and God the Father? What are the key aspects of this relationship?

6. How does Jesus describe the relationship between himself and those who believe? What makes this so significant to his audience?

7. What claims does Jesus 

make about God? About himself? How did the Jews react? How do you think you would have reacted?

8. How does Jesus verify what he is saying to the Jews? Who does he call as a witness to his truth? Do you think this helped his audience understand and believe?

9. What does Jesus say about the value of studying God’s word? What was wrong with the way the Jews went about studying the Scriptures?

10. Why do you suppose Jesus calls Moses the “accuser” of the Jews? What did Moses say about Jesus?

Get Personal

What is your attitude toward Sunday and worship? How are you looking at “work?” at “worship?” How does your attitude affect your practice of worship or your involvement in other church activities?

5:1. Jewish holy days — John doesn’t specify, but Jewish men were required to celebrate three feasts in Jerusalem: Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles.
5:2. Sheep Gate . . . Bethesda — in northeastern Jerusalem. Bethesda means “house of grace,” which is what the man who had been there 38 years experienced, although not as he expected. (Because of the healing associated with the pool many hospitals use the name, Bethesda.)
5:3-4. some translations include: waiting for a certain movement of the water, for an angel of the Lord came from time to time and stirred up the water. And the first person to step down into it afterward was healed – but this is probably a scribe’s later addition to explain the man’s statement in v. 7.
5:7. Someone else . . . — after 38 years of always being in second place, the man is resigned to his situation – he doesn’t even say “yes, but.”
5:14. See, you have been made well — Jesus confirms the man’s physical healing and warns him of his need for spiritual healing. Jesus’ miracles always have a spiritual purpose in John’s writing.
5:17. My Father — unlike the other three Gospels, John puts Jesus’ claim to equality with God much earlier in his ministry, (such a claim was blasphemy, a sin that called for the death penalty according to the Mosaic Law, [Lev 24:15-16]).
5:19-22. Explained — having just claimed to be equal to God, Jesus now describes the relationship between himself and God, the Father – one of love and shared responsibility and authority.
5:22. Has given all judgment to the Son — the Jews understood the idea of delegated authority or “agency,” in which the agent should be treated as if the principal person were present. Jesus

exercises power that God, the Father has given him, and he should be treated – “honored” – as God is [again
in v. 30].
5:24. Has eternal life — literally “the life of the world to come” – Jesus’ promise is for the present time, not some time in the future (as the Jews believed), because believers “has already passed” into life. Paul put it this way: the old life is gone; a new life has begun! [2 Cor 5:17].
5:27. Son of Man — the title is from the prophet, Daniel: I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him, [7:13-14].
5:28. All the dead — Jesus is consistent with Jewish teachings that both the righteous and unrighteous will be raised at the last days.
5:31. Testimony — Jewish law required at least two witnesses to establish guilt, [Deut 17:6-7, 19:15]. Jesus sites John the Baptizer, as well as his teaching and his miracles (“signs”) as witnesses to his identity.
5:39. Scriptures — Jews read the Law as a list of the behaviors that led to eternal life; Jesus says the Scriptures depict his life and death as the means to receive “this life,” (a great example of focusing on the “trees” and totally missing the “forest”).
5:45. Moses — Jesus reminds the Jews that their own leader testified about him, yet they are still not believing: I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account, [Deut 18:18-19].

4²⁷ Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” ²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹ “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” ³⁰ They left the city and were on their way to him.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.
³⁶ The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

⁴³ When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee ⁴⁴ (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). ⁴⁵ When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival.

⁴⁶ Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
⁴⁹ The official said to him, Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. ⁵¹ As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. ⁵² So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” ⁵³ The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. ⁵⁴ Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee. NRSV

Get into the Word

1. What happens when the disciples return? What is foremost on their minds? Why do you think no one asked about the woman? 

2. What does she do? How can you tell she is excited? What effect does her message have on the people in the village?

3. What is your reaction to the conversation Jesus has with the disciples? What is similar about the dialogue with the woman? Why do you think people don’t understand what Jesus is talking about?

4. How do the Samaritans respond to Jesus? What does Jesus do in return? What is the key to their belief in Jesus?

5. Where does Jesus go next? How do the people there respond to Jesus? Why do you think they acted this way?

6. Who comes to Jesus in Cana? Why does he seek Jesus? How does Jesus respond to the man? How does the man react to this? What does Jesus do? What does the man do? What does he do when he gets home?

Get Personal

How are you like the woman? How are you like the disciples? How are you like the Samaritans? How does God help you become one who has “heard for ourselves?”

4:27. Astonished — Jewish men did not talk with women in public [see Note at 4:7].
4:28. Water jar — usually an important household possession, but the woman leaves it to share her news about Jesus.
4:29. Come and see a man — a woman’s testimony was considered inferior and often ignored, but this woman, like Philip [check 1:46] invites the people to see for themselves.
4:32. This conversation is practically an echo of the one Jesus just had with the woman. The disciples do not understand and try to “translate” his references to spiritual food into their world.
4:35. Harvest — the Old Testament uses harvest as a metaphor for God’s judgment [as in Jer 51:33; Joel 3:13], but Jesus uses it to talk about bringing people into God’s kingdom through the Gospel. The spiritual harvest is at hand and the disciples will “reap” the results of Jesus’ and the woman’s planting [v. 38].
4:41. He stayed — pious Jews did not even walk through Samaria, let alone eat and sleep there for two days; but, unlike many Jews, the Samaritans believed Jesus.
4:42. We believe — the Samaritans believe because they responded to the woman’s invitation and then they heard Jesus directly. It works the same way in our time: we invite people to meet Jesus and the Holy Spirit does the real work. (You can compare their reaction to that of Nathaniel in chapter 1.)
Savior of the world — the Samaritans “get it” – Jesus is more than a prophet

or the anointed one, he has a purpose in being here.
4:44. Own country — Jesus was born in Judea but grew up in Galilee, which allows scholars to argue about this verse [check Mark 6:4]. The Galileans welcomed him as a miracle worker (the events during Passover in Jerusalem [v. 2:23]), but they never accepted him as a prophet or Messiah.
4:46. Royal official — probably in the court of Herod Antipas, the ruler who killed John the Baptizer. 
4:49. Sir, come down — even though Jesus brusquely rejects the initial request, the man presses for a response, just as Mary did at the wedding in Cana [v. 2:5].
4:50. Go; your son will live — almost all miracles in Jewish history were accomplished in the presence of the prophet, not from a distance. Jesus does not need to be physically present, he only needs the seeker’s belief that he can accomplish the miracle [as in the Roman officer’s faith in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:2-10].
4:53. The hour — John underscores the point that belief is the critical factor, not where Jesus or the seeker are.
Whole household — Middle Eastern customs gave great authority to the male head of the household [check the reports of Cornelius and Lydia at Acts 10:1-3 and 16:14-15].
4:54. Second sign — for John miracles are important because they show Jesus as Messiah and savior, not just because water becomes wine or a child is healed.

4Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” ² —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— ³ he left Judea and started back to Galilee. ⁴ But he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
⁸ (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹² Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”  NRSV

Get into the Word

1. What prompts Jesus to return to Galilee? Do you think he was concerned about the “competition” with John the Baptist?

2. What is unusual about Jesus’ ending up in Samaria [see notes]? How do you suppose the disciples felt about the trip at this point? How would you have felt?

3. What is the woman’s first reaction to Jesus? Why did she react this way? How do you think you would have reacted?

4. What is Jesus’ message to the woman? Why does she have such difficulty understanding what Jesus is talking about? Why do you think he talked about “living water” with a foreigner before a Jew?

5. What is Jesus’ response when the woman asks for “some of this water?” Why would he bring up her personal life at this point? How does the she respond?

6. What does Jesus say about the correct place to worship? How does the woman react?

Get Personal

How does your relationship with God affect how you worship?

4:4. Samaria — in Jesus’s time Israel was divided into three provinces: Judea, Samaria and Galilee. Samaria was between the other two, so it would be natural for any traveler to go through Samaria to get from Judea to Galilee. But Samaritans were Jews who had intermarried with pagans after the captivity and they were considered outcasts [the Jewish version of this history is in 2 Kings 17:24-31]. Devout Jews took the long way around to avoid even traveling in Samaria.
4:5. Sychar — [also Shechem] figures prominently in Israel’s history. God appeared to Abraham at Shechem on his journey to Canaan, and Abraham built his first altar to God here. Joshua also directed that an altar be built here after the Hebrew people conquered Canaan. Shechem is where Joshua told his fellow Israelites to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” [Josh. 24:15].
4:6. Jacob’s Well — although the field is mentioned in Genesis [33:17-19], this is the only Biblical reference to Jacob’s Well. Today it is the site of a Greek Christian church.
4:7. Samaritan woman — usually women would get their water later in the day when it was cooler, but this woman came at noon to avoid the other women of the village [check v. 18].
Give me a drink — Jesus breaks at least four Jewish taboos here: Jews did not talk with Samaritans, men did not talk to women they did not know in public, men did not talk with women known to be immoral, and Jews did not eat or drink with Gentiles (or even use their water bucket).
4:10. Living water — Isaiah uses water as a symbol of life: With joy you will draw

water from the wells of salvation, [12:3], he even links water to thirst spiritually as Jesus does: Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy, and eat! [55:1].
4:11-12. You have no bucket — like Nicodemus in the previous chapter, the woman misses Jesus’ metaphor and responds literally, even thinking she would not have to make any more trips to the well [v. 15].
4:19. Prophet — the woman reflects the common belief that prophets could know about others’ lives. She then uses this belief to challenge Jesus about the “correct” place to worship [v. 20]. 
4:22. You worship what you do not know — Jesus confirms the superiority of Jewish teaching. Because the Samaritans used only the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) their knowledge of God and salvation was very limited.
4:24. Worship in spirit and in truth — Jesus says neither location is actually correct. The important thing is how we worship, not where. This should not be a new idea for Jews: Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. [Psalm 32:2].
4:25. Messiah — Samaritans looked for the prophet God promised to Moses:  “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command, [Deut 18:17-18]. 
4:26. I am he — John is the only Gospel author who records Jesus’ declaration that he is the Messiah before his trial. Matthew even records Jesus efforts to prevent such an early disclosure: Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ, [16:20].

3Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

¹¹ “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

¹⁸ Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.
²¹ But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

²² After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. ²³ John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized ²⁴ —John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵ Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” ²⁷ John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.”

³¹ The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.
³² He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony.
³³ Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. ³⁴ He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.  NRSV

Get into the Word

1. What is going on as this scene opens? What type of person was Nicodemus? What do you think he wanted from Jesus?

2. How does Jesus respond to Nicodemus’s opening statement? How do you think Nicodemus felt, since he had not asked a question yet? How would you have felt?

3. What point is Jesus trying to make with his references to “born again”? How is Nicode-mus following this? What is his major stumbling block to “getting” what Jesus is saying?

4. Why do you suppose Jesus includes the references to the wind [v. 8] and the snake [v. 14]. Did this help Nicodemus?

5. What is the primary image John uses for Jesus? Why do you think he chose this metaphor? Does it help your understanding?

6. What is the concern the disciples bring to John the Baptist? What started the debate? Why would they get into an argument over this type of thing?

7. What is John’s response to the disciples’ concern? How 

does he describe himself in relation to Jesus? Where is John’s focus in his answer? How do you think the disciples felt about John’s statements?

Get Personal

1. How is the “grey scale” in your life right now? Are you living in the light or are there some shadows in the corners? How can God help you illuminate all parts of your life?

2. How do you feel about John’s description of himself and Jesus? Does this fit how you see your current relationship with Jesus? How does God help you focus on him and not yourself?

3:1. Pharisee — the more conservative of the two prominent Jewish religious groups.The Sadducees, the other group, were the political as well as religious leaders of Israel. 
3:3.  Born again — the Greek adverb can mean “anew,” or “from the beginning,” but also “from above,” which a learned Jew would recognize as “from God,” which conveys more than just repeating the physical birth process. Nicodemus takes it literally even though Jesus is trying to help him understand the need for spiritual renewal.
3:5. Water and the Spirit — Nicodemus should know this phrase from Ezekiel, describing how God will change peoples’ hearts: I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give  

you, and anew spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, [36:25-26].
3:10. Do not understand — Jesus makes the irony explicit –Nicodemus does not see the connection between passages he should know (for example, Psalm 103:19, Isaiah 9:6-7, Daniel 2:44-45, Jeremiah 31:33-34, or Joel 2:28-29) and God’s Kingdom. NOTE: this is a clear example of the difference between knowledge and understanding, agreement and belief. Nicodemus must have known all of these passages by heart; but he did not see how they related to the Messiah. In the same way, agreeing that something is true is not the same as living your life based on that truth.
3:13.  Son of Man — a term from Daniel [7:13] that Jesus applied to himself.