Psalm 19:1-14 · Exodus 20:1-17 · 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 · John 2:13-22

The theme for this week is God’s priority is people, which contrasts with our typical human tendency to misunderstand what’s important. Our call to worship Psalm shows how God is communicating what’s important through nature. Exodus 20 features the Ten Commandments, offering wisdom about putting relationships with God and people first. 1 Corinthians contrasts how the truth of God, being seen in the cross of Christ, is the opposite of the way we move through the world. John, which is our sermon text, shows how Jesus displayed in the temple and in his own body that God is accessible to all.

The Location Is You

John 2:13-22

You may have heard the real-estate mantra “Location, location, location.” It means that where a home is located affects its value. Even if you have a really nice home, if it is located on a busy street you might have difficulty selling it because of the high traffic flow.

How does location affect us in other ways? We try to choose a nice place to live, the nicest we can afford, because the environment around us matters. Research from the University of Minnesota shows that our home and work environment can influence our moods and even impact our ability to take action.

For the Jews in Jesus’s day, the location of their worship was important. The temple was where they would worship God through specific rituals and offerings. Jesus also worshipped at the temple, taking part in the rituals and offerings. Until the one time that he didn’t. Let’s read about that:

Read John 2:13-22, NRSV

What can we observe about the text?

• By cleansing the temple of the money changers and the people selling the cattle, sheep, and doves, Jesus stopped the corrupt practices associated with taking advantage of people bringing in animal sacrifices as part of their worship. The money changers were making worship more difficult by inserting themselves between the people and worshipping God. They were imposing their own rules and requirements and taking advantage of people. They had turned the temple into a trade market.
• Jesus said in verse 19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” While they assumed he was referring to the physical temple, he was referring to his body (v. 21). We could take this as a prophecy of his resurrection, as the disciples did (v. 22), and it is, but we must also realize that Jesus isn’t just talking about his body being a future temple, but a temple already.
• We see in John 1:14 that the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. The Son of God entered a new temple—a human body. Through this human body, Jesus is showing a new intersection where God and humanity meet, one that wasn’t dependent on location.
• This human body (Jesus’s body)—where humanity and God met—shows us how much God values human bodies. Our embodied experience is our way of being in the world, and as we seek to integrate the truth of our being (who God says we are in Christ—loved, treasured, held) with our way of being (how we move in the world), we also become temples—places of intersection where the divine and human meet. Paul makes this point in his letters to the churches in Corinth and Ephesus.

Application:

• Recognize that Jesus wants to clear out anything that keeps the way we move in the world from reflecting the truth of who we are in Christ. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), and just as Jesus cleared the temple of anything that was preventing full, unobstructed worship for all people, so he also wants to cleanse us of anything that keeps the way we live our lives from matching the truth of who we are: beloved, valued, worthy. What limiting beliefs keep you from believing you are treasured by God?
• Value yourself and others as temples of God. No longer are we tied to worshipping at a set location, as if God could be confined to one spot. Instead, as we move in the world, we are never separate from the Holy Spirit. We are so valued by God that the temple has become us. Consider the beauty and the care that was taken in the construction of the tabernacle (Exodus 36) and Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6). While these were symbolic of God’s presence, Jesus embodied flesh to show that God wants to dwell in and with us, not in a building. People are valuable, made in God’s image, and filled with God’s Spirit.

Location is everything in real estate. It also is important in our spiritual lives when we realize that no matter where we find ourselves, God is there. Where we worship together, God is with us. When we have to be separate because of a pandemic or other issue, God is still with us. Whether we can be together in person or on Zoom or other social media, we are evidencing the presence of God with humanity. As we love and care for one another, we show love and care for the temples of God.

For reference:

https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-your-wellbeing/environment/your-personal-environment/how-does-your-personal-environment-impa#:~:text=Your%20home%20and%20work%20environment,behavior%20and%20motivation%20to%20act.

Small Group Discussion Questions

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 • Numbers 21:4-9 • Ephesians 2:1-10 • John 3:14-21

The theme for this week is born from above. The call to worship Psalm is the anthem of God’s redeemed people, saved only by his mercy because of who he is. Numbers 21 talks about the bronze serpent that Moses made in the desert. When the people looked at it, they were mysteriously healed from snakebites. They had to look for help from outside themselves and receive a healing they could never earn. Ephesians 2 describes the mechanics of how we are saved by God’s grace, not our own merit or worth, but because of his grace to call us into true life with himself. John 3 tells us about being “born from above” (or “born again”, the phrase means both things) by God’s Spirit, not working or evolving our way into God’s grace, but looking up for help.

Jesus in Conversation

John 3:14-21 ESV

Read John 3:14-21 ESV

Before we begin unpacking today’s text, let’s get a context. The average modern person speaks over 860 million words in a lifetime. That includes everything from baring your heart to your best friend to ordering fast food. We talk our way through life—there’s nothing more human than conversation, and it’s the daily traffic of our existence.

Among those hundreds of millions of words, there are pivotal conversations. There are some moments you’ll never forget—your first conversation with your spouse, your last talk with a parent who died, the first time your kids asked about a particular topic. Conversations tell us a lot about others and tell others a lot about us. In many ways, our exchanges make us who we are. Jesus’ conversations tell us a lot about him.

He has three important conversations in this first part of John—each telling us something different about him, but all giving clearer indications about what his kingdom was going to be. There are some interesting observations in these three conversations:

• Three different people from different walks of life
  • Nicodemus – a Jewish leader
  • An unnamed Samaritan woman at a well
  • A Roman official
• Three different conversational styles
  • First is almost confrontational, but also prophetic.
  • Second is the longest recorded one-on-one conversation of Jesus.
  • Third is short, almost dismissive.
• Different times/locations
  • Nicodemus meets Jesus at night (night is one of John’s symbols for sin and confusion). This meeting seems to have taken place in Jerusalem.
  • Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at noon in a town of Samaria.
  • The official comes to Cana in Galilee to meet Jesus.
• Three different parts of society
  • Nicodemus represents the current religious power
  • The woman represents the poor and broken
  • The official represents the military power

These conversations tell us a bit about who Jesus is and what his kingdom means. They tell us Jesus is not exclusive to one people group. (Later we see he was teaching us that all are included.) Here is where the last shall be first, the humble get the seats of honor, and the broken are healed and not forgotten.

John and the Gospel writers often used individual conversations as a device to speak to an entire people group and show how Jesus related to that group. There’s an old cliché about storytelling: “If you want people to read what you’ve written, don’t write about Man, write about a man.” That principle is at work in here.

Our focus today is on part of that first conversation. The first part of chapter 3 tells us that Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews. In other words, he was a prime example of an “important” person in the Jewish community. He was connected to the religious-political elite and would have been a great networking link for Jesus. If Jesus wanted to win friends and influence people, Nicodemus would be on the short list.

Nicodemus comes because he is intrigued with what Jesus is teaching. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God…” Jesus seems to interrupt him by telling him he must be born again. He then expounds the point by speaking of the mystery of the spiritual life.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8 ESV)

Jesus is telling Nicodemus that you need the invasive work of God to know God, and no amount of good works or good traditions or faith in yourself will get you there.

Nicodemus responds by saying, “How can these things be?”

Jesus responds with today’s text, which begins with a reference to a story Nicodemus was familiar with.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15 ESV)

As Nicodemus is pondering these words, Jesus shares what has become (perhaps) the most famous scripture of all time.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ESV)

The message is that God himself entered the story; the Author walked into the narrative because we needed outside help. At least in the U.S., this is the favorite Bible verse written on signs at football games or tattooed on someone’s bicep. John 3:16-17 speaks to our universal need that this can’t be all there is. We are made for another world, some deeper reality than what we just see and touch, and yearn for in our hearts. John 3:16-19 gives us that elevator pitch of the gospel—a short, compact version of the problem, the solution, and the action to be taken.

And note that Jesus doesn’t just refer to the incarnation here—he also refers to his death. God gave his Son to humanity, and in being “lifted up,” the Son of Man gave the ultimate gift.

The encounter with Nicodemus ends with two verses that some feel are difficult to understand at first, but they fit well within the context and the overall story of John:

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:20-21 ESV)

Light is a major theme for John, whether it’s physical or spiritual. Here Jesus talks about the fact that we in ourselves can’t take the terrible exposure of God’s light on our actions and our hearts. His light exposes the fungus of egotism and the cobwebs of self-focus around everything we do, even the good things.

And the upshot of it is that when we really encounter God, we realize that even our best isn’t good enough, and that we need him to work his light through us to the world. Every non-self-interested thing we do, every loving word we speak, every act of true kindness we do comes from him, not from us. It is, as the King James renders verse 21, “wrought in God.” Done by God for God’s glory, which is the only way we are truly fulfilled and live in true freedom.

“So that it may clearly be seen…” We need to be born again, and when we are, we can rejoice that the good in us is a gift from God. Nicodemus comes out of a tired, power-hungry religious structure that was flea-bitten by egos and in-fighting. Jesus tells him to walk away, that we all need a savior, and our only chance is rebirth. We don’t need more traditions, more good works— we need stronger medicine.

This reality frees us. We can walk away from our need for recognition and rejoice that God has brought us into the sacred work of bringing his kingdom into the world. Think of the great quote from an 18^th-century missionary, Nikolaus Zinzendorf, “Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.” Do you see the freedom in that? Our voracious egos wait around to be noticed, our addiction is to center stage, and here is Jesus telling us, “All that’s good in you came from God, don’t look for credit. Instead rejoice. Your father is pleased with you.”

The end of this dialogue sticks out like a question mark. It’s unresolved and jagged. It’s Jesus essentially taking control of the conversation, deflecting every angle Nicodemus might come up with. Jesus breaks through it all, saying, “You need to start over, everything needs to be replaced. So what will it be?”

This isn’t the end of Nicodemus. We have one hopeful image at the end of Jesus’ life. Two men in hushed voices carry the body of their friend and the air is soon sweet with perfume:

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. (John 19:38-40 ESV)

This is our parting image of Nicodemus, years later. He and another aristocrat, Joseph of Arimathea, are preparing the body of Jesus for burial. They are doing slaves’ work. Members of these ruling classes would never prepare a body! That was slaves’ work, far beneath them.

But what we’re seeing is two men who have been freed from the sickened power structures of their society. They are able to walk away from privilege and do this humble work. They are beginning to understand that true life doesn’t come from power and status, it comes from outside. They are being born from above.

Three points to put in your pocket today:

• Conversations with Jesus—Which one of these conversations sounds more like you? The aristocrat interested in keeping the peace and his career intact? The Roman official trying to get things done, secure in his power? Or the woman at the well, aware of her own need and brokenness?
• Born from above—Are we trying to live in our own strength? Are we trying to save ourselves? We need that outside help, we need that birth from above, to fully release us from our self-addiction. Otherwise we live under the cruelest ruler in the universe, ourselves. Only Christ can free us.
• Nicodemus prepares the body—Do we see the freedom of Nicodemus, in public, doing the work of the slaves? Put it this way: If you appeared in the beginning of the Gospel and then reappeared years later, what would be that final picture of you? Would it show you living in the freedom the Nicodemus found?

Jesus will take you. Whether you come to him under cover of night for fear of what people think, you meet him hot and tired about your daily business, or you come to him on behalf of someone else, like the Roman official with his ill son. So many conversations with Jesus seem to start almost accidentally, and then that conversation becomes pivotal, and changes everything.

Contrast these for a moment to your own conversations. Do we give that time and attention, like Jesus did, to those who “don’t matter” and remind them that God has made them matter because he came? Do we take notice of those the world forgot, and make sure they get the good news of the gospel? Are we working in the light so that the works of Jesus can be clearly seen?

For God so loved the world, he gave us his Son. This is the message we share. Let’s be about sharing it.

Small Group Discussion Questions

Psalm 51:1-12 • Jeremiah 31:31-34 • Hebrews 5:5-10 • John 12:20-33

This week’s theme is the glory of salvation. The call to worship Psalm links confession and repentance to God’s saving renewal. The Old Testament text in Jeremiah is a direct announcement of salvation with an explicit reference to the new covenant where hearts are transformed. The reading from Hebrews highlights Jesus choosing not to glorify himself but being appointed to suffer for the sake of salvation for all who believe in him. The Gospel text looks forward to Jesus’ death, where the Father is glorified in saving his creation through his Son.

We Would Like to See Jesus

John 12:20-33 (NRSV)

Our text today comes on the last week before we enter Holy Week—the final week of Easter Preparation when we recount Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and where his passion and death come to a head. This presents us today with a turning point where we can look back on all we have learned through our preparation season for Easter while also looking ahead to the climax of Good Friday and the Easter Resurrection.

The passage chosen for today is also a turning point in John’s Gospel. John has structured his narrative with two main sections divided between Jesus’ ministry of teaching and healing and Jesus’ final days of ministry involving his death and resurrection. Chapters 11 and 12 serve as a hinge section of these two movements. This section includes the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and the Sanhedrin setting out to kill Jesus, the giver of life. The turning point of John’s Gospel is a matter of life and death.

In the passage for today, we are met with the response of some Greeks after Jesus enters Jerusalem.

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. (John 12:20-22 NRSV)

By including “some Greeks among those who went up to worship,” John has expanded the implications of Jesus’ life and death to the whole world. These Greeks may have been what were referred to as proselytes, or non-Jewish people who were interested in the Jewish faith. Or they may have simply been Greeks passing through or visiting Jerusalem. These particular Greeks were searching for meaning. They were not Jews and therefore would only have been allowed in the Court of the Gentiles at the Temple. This designates them as the “rest of the world” in John’s telling of the account. Jews and “the rest of the world” are involved in the turning point of Jesus’ life and death ministry that leads to the resurrection. After “a large crowd” come to see Jesus enter the city with the expectation that he would save the Jews from Roman rule as their new King, we are told that the Greeks, or “the rest of the world,” also “would like to see Jesus.”

At this point, maybe we should stop and ask, “Why?” Why do the Greeks want to see Jesus? Along with that question we should ask ourselves the same question. Why do we want to see Jesus? We are not told in the text why the Greeks wanted to see Jesus and we may not always know exactly what personally draws us to him. But it is probably safe to say that in most cases the Greeks wanted to see Jesus for much the same reason the Jews did. The Jews wanted to see Jesus set them free, save them and usher in the life they have always wanted. The Jews were searching for a Messiah who would deliver them from their current bondage and suffering. When the Greeks saw the excitement and expectations of the Jews, perhaps they were reminded that they too have their own shackles and sorrows they would love to be delivered from. As we come to the story, we also bring our own bag of bondage and suffering.

The Greeks may not have been able to identify with the Jews’ particular situation under Roman rule anymore that we can, but we all have our own experience of struggle that sends us searching for relief. Is Jesus the answer? Can he deliver us? Will he bring me the life I want? These questions drive us to want “to see Jesus.” We want to see a Jesus who will ride into town and fix all that is wrong, set things straight and restore our world the way we think it should be. In short, we want to see a miracle and we want to see it now. We want to see Jesus.

Do you see the impersonal nature of this search to see Jesus? Like the Greeks, we may “request” to see Jesus but it’s not Jesus we really want to see. It’s what we think he can do for us. Jesus is a means to an end. The way John tells the story carries this impersonal tone. First, the Greeks do not go to Jesus directly but to Philip, a disciple with a Greek name who is from Bethsaida, a Greek-Jewish town. These Greeks seem to want to stay in their comfort zone as much as possible in seeing Jesus. Philip responds by telling Andrew, another disciple with a Greek name from the same town. Philip seems to have picked up on the sensitivity of these gentiles and puts one more step of distance between them and Jesus by going to Andrew next. Philip and Andrew are engaging in a “seeker sensitive” approach to bringing others to Jesus.

How about our own desires to “see Jesus?” Do we really want to see Jesus for who he is, or are we wanting to see if Jesus can restore our comfort zones? Can you relate to the “Speaking of Life” video? Do we treat Jesus like the manager of a retail store that we only want to see when things don’t go our way? Often in our search to see Jesus we find that what we really want is to see ourselves getting our way on our terms. But, before we throw the Greeks and ourselves to the curb for self-serving intentions, notice how Jesus responds to the Greeks’ request:

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. (John 12:23-26 NRSV)

Jesus replies to their request with an odd little farming analogy about a wheat kernel that falls to the ground and “dies.” He follows this up with some paradoxical talk about losing your life to save it. Probably not exactly the response we would expect from our request to see Jesus. But Jesus has the cross firmly fixed in his mind. He is in Jerusalem and knows that very shortly he is going to be delivered up. He will die, be buried, rise and then ascend back to the Father. Jesus is not going to be around much longer to be “seen.”

With the use of a wheat kernel, Jesus has predicted that the restored life he is bringing will be accomplished through the paradoxical means of death. And like a kernel of wheat planted in the ground, this mysterious work will go unnoticed. We will not “see” it.

Have you ever planted a seed in the ground? If so, you probably can recount how the seed almost disappears after it hits the ground. It is hard to see as it camouflages in the dirt, especially a little brown wheat kernel. If we come looking to see Jesus riding in on a white stallion to set us up just the way we have decided it should be, we may be looking for a wheat kernel in the dirt. Don’t expect to see it. But the seed has been planted nonetheless. Only this seed will come up after its own kind. It will not break the dirt bearing the fruit we demand of it. It will come up looking like the resurrected Jesus, the ruler of his Father’s kingdom, on his Father’s terms and with his Father’s timing. And all this is God’s grace and mercy to us and all the world.

Jesus doesn’t turn the Greeks or us away for self-serving intentions. Rather, he reveals himself to us as the Life, Way and Truth who invites us to “see” and know him and his Father in the Spirit of their perfect relationship of love. You might say, “Jesus makes it personal.” No middleman for comfort’s sake, and no seeing from a distance.

Let’s read the last two verses again:

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. (John 12:25-26 NRSV)

Jesus then goes on to talk about losing one’s life to save it and a life of serving and following Jesus. This is the means of apprehending the restorative work he has accomplished. By faith, not by sight. We can take comfort today as we look around and see so much unrest and pain. We see evidence all around us that we live in a broken world full of death. But we don’t live by sight. We live by faith. Jesus has reconciled the world. He has restored and redeemed all creation. He has made all things new. And all this has been accomplished in Jesus Christ. We can’t always see it, but we can believe it. So, as we experience our own daily deaths by way of pain, loss, disappointment, discouragement, depression, and whatever else may be on our list of sorrows, we can take comfort and find peace in the fact that it is in and through these things that Jesus is mysteriously working to bring about new life.

Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. (John 12:27-30 NRSV)

Take note of the voice from heaven that says, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again,” in response to Jesus’ request to “glorify your name.” There are a couple of interpretations to this voice that Jesus said was for our benefit, not his. One possible reference being made here is the raising of Lazarus as the first instance of glory and the raising of Jesus as the second. In both of these we see that the Father is glorified in the restoration of humanity. John 11:40 records Jesus as saying in regard to Lazarus’ resurrection, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” When Jesus is resurrected, we see the restoration of not just one human but of all humanity. In this the Son glorifies the Father.

The second interpretation to consider is seeing, “I have glorified it” as referring to the life of Jesus. The incarnation of the Son, living his life in human flesh, serves to restore and redeem humanity. The statement, “and will glorify it again” can be a reference to the death of Jesus that was about to take place. Both the life and death of Jesus serve to restore all mankind.

Either interpretation helps us see that the Father is glorified in our restoration. This is of great benefit indeed for us to hear that what brings the Father glory is our restoration and healing. He is more for our deliverance and healing than we are. He knows how tight the shackles of bondage we are enslaved in really are. He knows the root of our suffering and he has plunged the depths of our sorrow. He doesn’t settle for our shallow request. He provides in himself the very life we are created for. In him there is true freedom, peace and joy far beyond our wildest imaginations.

The passage concludes with a statement about judgment.

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. (John 12:31-33 NRSV)

We see that the judgment of the world involves a “driving out and a drawing in.” The first Adam listened to the serpent in the garden, resulting in he and Eve being driven out. Jesus, as the second Adam, listens faithfully to his Father and the “prince of this world” is driven out. Verse 32 provides the restoration or the “drawing in” that Jesus accomplishes through his death: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” When he said this, he predicted how he would die. And like the wheat kernel that falls to the ground, he will spring all humanity upward in a restored and resurrected life in him.

What is important here is to see that our true humanity is found not in ourselves but in Jesus. What needs to be driven out of us is our self-reliance and self-centeredness. We cannot be like a sulking child who refuses to come out of his room in defiance to his Father. That would only lead to a loss of freedom to live in the other parts of the home as part of the family. He has imprisoned himself in his own self-determined reality. It’s only when this sinful rebellion is driven out of us that we can enter into the full home of the Father that Jesus has drawn us into. And even this is by God’s grace. It is his glory to make us fully human, to live as children of the Father, just as Jesus lives as the Father’s beloved Son.

Small Group Discussion Questions