Bible Study – Second Sunday in Lent “The Choice to Risk Believing”
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
Lent invites us to step off our mental treadmills, take a breath, and look around. Lent invites us to ask: Where are we demanding solutions? Where can we risk staying in tension? Where are we blind just not noticing? What do we thirst for? Where are we bound or stuck? What will we risk doing during these 40 days of Lent to clear a space in which Easter can break through?
What color is the wind? What shape is the love of a parent for a child? Some things are easily quantified. In some matters, we simply fall, trustingly, into the arms of faith
What do you think of this statement: “Believing is Seeing.” How is it different from what we usually hear? (“Seeing is Believing?”) Can you think of things you believe but cannot see? (Example: I believe that the Taj Mahal is in India, but I have never seen it. I know my heart is beating, but I cannot see it, etc.)
Opening Prayer: Thank you, God, for the wonders you have created, both those we can see and those we cannot see. Amen.
Please open your Bibles to John 3:1-17 and read or read the scriptures below.
John 3:1-17
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Reflection Questions: (Answers at the bottom of the page)
- What stood out for you in today’s story.
- What do you know about Nicodemus from this passage?
- What do you learn about Jesus from this passage?
- Jesus talks about the wind blowing where it may, and we can hear it but not see it. What are some things we know are happening, but we cannot see?
- What are some of the things involved in being in the Spirit that we cannot see, but know are there?
Bible Memory Verse: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Click here for the young learner’s lesson.
Videos (Click on url)
Teaching With The Chosen: Jesus and Nicodemus at Night, John 3: 1-16 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDglwQvwQ6c
Nicodemus Reborn John 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEgxNlqqqY0
Book of John Summary: A Complete Animated Overview (Part 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-2e9mMf7E8
Song: That the World Might be Saved John 3:16-17 - https://unite.cefonline.com/programs/john-3-16-17-song
Activities:
Commercial: select one of the gifts we cannot see and create a commercial message selling it to your family or friends. Some options: air, gravity, the Spirit, etc. Selling points are that it does not cost anything, but it is very desirable. After you have developed your commercial, present it to the your family or friends.
John 3:16 Bookmarks: Click on the following website and copy the bookmarks or copy the picture below. Use colored markers or paint to make the bookmarks beautiful. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/29062360091031510/
John 3:16 Puzzle: Click on the following website and copy the picture on card stock or print the picture below. Use colored markers or paint the picture. Then cut into puzzle pieces. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/81768549491273172/
God So Loved the World - Crossword: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/god-so-loved-the-world
God So Loved the World - Word Search: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/god-so-loved-the-world-2
God So Loved the World – Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/god-so-loved-the-world-4
Getting Closure: What are some other things we cannot see that we know exist? (The love of our parents for us and our love for them; the love between siblings, the affection between friends, the love God has for us and we for God.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for sending Jesus to show us your ways. Help us to be in your presence and know you are there, even when we cannot see you. Amen.
Answers to the Reflection Questions:
- What stood out for you in today’s story.
- What do you know about Nicodemus from this passage? (He was probably a very devout Jew, a member of the Pharisees, and very respected in his community. He also had a sneaking hunch that Jesus might be more than a teacher sent from God. He probably really wanted to believe what Jesus was saying, but was having trouble with it. He was used to very literal thinking: being born meant something that happened only once and only to tiny babies.)
- What do you learn about Jesus from this passage? (He was trying to help people look at things in a different way. It was not just about getting the right answer.)
- Jesus talks about the wind blowing where it may, and we can hear it but not see it. What are some things we know are happening, but we cannot see? (Our hearts are beating; our skin is renewing itself, so we will have different skin when we come back next week; our hair is growing and so are our fingernails. The stars are shining even though it is daytime, and we cannot see them. The earth is rotating and revolving around the sun. Gravity keeps us from falling off the face of the earth, etc.)
- What are some of the things involved in being in the Spirit that we cannot see, but know are there? (God loves us and hears our prayers. We have the capacity to live together in peace. There is a way other than violence for living in the world.)
