Bible Study “The Choice to Risk Believing” (Second Sunday in Lent)
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 is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection. Lent begins on February 22, 2023 and ends on April 8, 2023 , which is the day before Easter.
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 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.[a]”
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[c] 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.”[d]
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.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
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.
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 did 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 you cannot see, but know are there?
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click on url)
Visual Bible – John 3:1-17 - Jesus and Nicodemus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj-CDY0t9Ys
Gospel of John Summary: Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-2e9mMf7E8
Activities:
Journal: A Commercial - select one of the gifts you cannot see and create a commercial message selling it to your friends. Some options: air, gravity, the Spirit, etc. The selling points are that it does not cost anything, but it is very desirable. When you have developed you commercial you can present it to your parent.
Born Again Creation: Color a large cross on a piece of paper and use different colors to write YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN (each word in a different color) or put each word in a small outline or a butterfly and trace the butterfly with different colored markers. Draw butterflies around the picture or use butterfly sticker.
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can a man be born again? Jesus went on to explain to Nicodemus that a person is “born again” when the Spirit of God enters into his heart. Humans can reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. And that’s what is means to be born again.
In The Dark Challenges – Nicodemus came to Jesus at night so no one could see him. Find a dark space or use a blindfold to do the activities (put on shoes and tie laces, draw a picture of something or build something from blocks). Time these tasks in the light and again in the dark. How much longer does it take?
Lent Calendar: Make this Season of Lent more meaningful by doing random Acts of good and loving deeds. Click on the Lent Calendar, print it out and hang it up in your room. Then each day during Lent you can do an Act of good and loving deeds.
Jesus And Nicodemus - Worksheet
God So Loved the World - Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/john_3_16_decoder.htm
Born Again Crossword Puzzle - https://sermons4kids.com/born_again_crossword.htm?fromSermonId=253
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 you for God.)
Prayer: Thank you, God, for sending Jesus to show us your ways. Help us to know your presence and know you are there, even when we cannot see you. Amen.
Answers to the 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 did 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 you 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.)
