Day 252 – Jesus’ Passover at Jerusalem

• Many people think they know Jesus. They may well not “know” the angry version of Jesus that John shows us in today’s first passage. Why do you think I say this?
• Why do you think people wanted to buy and sell ox, sheep and pigeons? It’s not specifically for farming. Think back to their use in the Old Testament. Why would someone who had travelled to the temple in Jerusalem from a long way away want to buy an animal? What trade had built up for the visitors?
• Buying and selling animals and changing money were all acceptable things. What was Jesus’ complaint about this specific situation? Non-Jewish people were allowed in the temple court to pray. Do you think they would have done that effectively with people selling and bartering around them?
• Jesus, when challenged, said that He would prove who He was by “rebuilding the temple in three days”. What was the (understandable!) way that the Jews misunderstood this sentence, and what did Jesus really mean? At what point do you think the disciples would have understand Jesus’ words most fully?
• In contract to the first passage, the second passage show Jesus in the way many people think of Him – the teacher and the proclaimer of God’s love. What famous verses do we read in this passage?
• Nicodemus was a teacher of the Jewish law. He came to Jesus at night, perhaps so he could spend more time with Jesus, or perhaps because he was nervous about being seen with Him. He didn’t understand Jesus’ concept of being “born again”. Do you? What does Jesus say about the need to be “born again”?
• Can you recall the details of the story referred to in John 3:14?
• Use the famous words of John 3:16-18 to answer the question “Why did God send His Son to die for us?”. Could you use these verses to share the gospel with someone?
• John 3:19-21 talks a lot about light, which of course refers to Jesus. Why do people who do evil love the darkness? Does it scare you that the darkness will one day be made light, and that sin done in secret will one day be made public? If it does (and it may well), who would you like to have by your side at that moment as your Advocate and Comforter?

The phrase “born again” gets mixed reactions nowadays. Some think it’s a little clichéd. Some think it’s a bit of an Americanism. Some think it’s overused.

Many probably don’t really know what it really means!

When Jesus talked about being born again, he meant being made spiritually alive, in an even more important moment than when you physically became alive. The idea of being “born” again links in with the idea that as sinners, we are spiritually “dead”. Ephesians 2:1 says this when Paul said “as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins”. Being born again gives us new spiritual life through faith in Christ. It is the start of a life that tries to get rid of all the evil baggage of before, and starts walking with Jesus as Number One.

Thinking of it this way helps to push away the confusion around the phrase. It helps us see that we have all been born again, when we accepted Christ, or that we need to be born again if we are still to do so. It’s a birth that doesn’t just lead to eighty-odd years of earthly life. It’s a birth that gives us a never-ending life in the presence of Christ.

Awesome news, when you think of it, ain’t it?