4: Nicodemus & John the Baptist — John 3:1-36

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.