Images of the Action Bible Story About Nicodemus and Being Born Again
Rotation.org Writing Squad
Jesus and Nicodemus: How to Run across the Kingdom
Bible Background and Lesson Objectives
The encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus teaches us many things. Master among them is that we need to look (be built-in) from God's point of view (higher up) in club to meet who Jesus is, and "enter" (participate, understand) his Kingdom.
When Nicodemus asks, "how?" Jesus reveals an important truth: you have to be "born from above" (literally in the Greek: "genesis from the top"), ...by water and Spirit. Which is to say, you lot need spiritual eyesight to come across the Kingdom, and that comes from God.
One of the challenges of didactics this story to children is that seemingly uncomplicated words like, "born," "above," "enter," and "wind," have deeper spiritual and theological meanings when Jesus says them.
- Born tin can mean a new beginning, a new point of view.
- Seeing tin can hateful agreement and believing in.
- Entering can mean accepting and participating in.
- To a higher place can mean from God and from God's point of view.
- Water and Spirit hateful the activity and gifts of God.
- It's a perspective that's not earned, but given. A style of living and seeing the earth that's a gift.
Similar Nicodemus, nosotros leave the conversation pondering Jesus' challenging words and their meaning to us, and wondering if we have just met the Savior of the world.
Scriptures for the Lesson Set
Focusing on John 3:1-5
In that location are iii singled-out parts to John's passage most Nicodemus. Nicodemus Visits Jesus in verses ane-v are quite enough for children. Verses 6-ten starting time to get a little deep. And verses 11-21 seem to be from some other teaching, according to some scholars.
1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by nighttime and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that y'all are a teacher who has come up from God; for no one can practice these signs that y'all practice apart from the presence of God."
iii Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell y'all, no one tin see the kingdom of God without being built-in from above."
The literal Greek here is nigh definitely, "born from above." It is Nicodemus who makes the mistake of thinking Jesus said, "born again." More about that beneath.
4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be built-in after having grown old? Can ane enter a second fourth dimension into the female parent's womb and be born?"
5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one tin can enter the kingdom of God without beingness born of water and Spirit. (NRSV)
Run into below for what the words, "enter," "h2o," and "spirit" can mean.
After verse 5, the words and concepts in the passage begin to diverge from Nicodemus' original question and Jesus' answer. If you take the time and your children are older, you could add verses 6 through 10.
half-dozen What is born of the mankind is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do non be astonished that I said to you, 'Yous must exist born from above.' 8 The wind (spirit) blows where information technology chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where information technology goes. So it is with anybody who is born of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a instructor of Israel, and even so yous exercise not understand these things? (NRSV)
You might discover the to a higher place verses a picayune more than obvious in The Bulletin. If verses 6-viii confused Nicodemus, there's little hope for 2d graders. Afterward poesy 10, the language and concepts become pretty deep for children. Thus, you may want to stay focused on verses i-5 for kids. Save John 3:sixteen for another time when you tin can dig into it. For topical and literary reasons, Scholars note that information technology stands autonomously, and likely wasn't an original function of the Nicodemus meet.
Cardinal Verse and Bulletin:
Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell yous, no ane can enter the kingdom of God without being born of h2o and Spirit. John 3:5 (NRSV)
Lesson Objectives
- Students volition be able to tell the story of Nicodemus and Jesus.
- Students volition be able to say what Jesus meant past "h2o and spirit."
- Students volition be able to define what the "Kingdom" is and how to run into it and participate in it.
- Students will take measure of where they stand up in their relationship with Jesus.
Bible Background
In Cursory
The story of Nicodemus addresses a central theme in Jesus' pedagogy:
- How do we "come across" (enter, empathise) and become part of God's Kingdom?
- How practice we know Jesus is the One, the Messiah?
- John's Jesus also introduces u.s.a. to the idea that it is God's Spirit that moves usa to understand and believe.
Jesus' answer is you have to be "born from higher up," i.eastward., y'all can run into the Kingdom if you're looking from God's perspective. This "genesis from the top" ("gennatha anothen" in Greek), happens when the Spirit blows through y'all. Information technology isn't something we tin arrive at on our ain. Yous can merely prepare yourself for its inflow. (Clear a straight path for him!)
In typical pharisitical fashion, Nicodemus spars over Jesus' words. He rhetorically asks Jesus how a person can enter their mother's womb a second time. And as e'er, Jesus elaborates. He answers, "Very truly, I tell y'all, no one tin enter (come across, understand) the kingdom of God without being built-in of water and Spirit." (see more virtually water and spirit below)
"Incomprehension" and the ability to "see" things from God'due south point of view, ..the ability to recognize who Jesus is and what his Kingdom is like, are common themes in Jesus' ministry building.
Nicodemus is that theme in story form.
In the showtime of Luke, Jesus announces he has come to restore sight to the blind. In the beginning of John, we acquire that Jesus is the light shining in the darkness, and soon after in John, Nicodemus appears in that darkness seeking the light.
How exercise you come across from God's point of view? How do you see the Kingdom and King? Jesus says you demand God's spirit to wash and blow over you.
Why didn't Nicodemus understand ("meet") Jesus? Probably considering he had let his devotion to The Police force and false messianic expectations go along the Spirit and Water at an arm'south length. He wasn't looking for the suffering servant Messiah. He wasn't looking for grace. He thought knowing scripture astern and forwards, going to Temple, and obeying a thousand religious rules was the way to knowing the mind of God. Jesus says that's not enough. He tells Nicodemus that he needs to undergo a spiritual transformation. A change of the center, a new perspective –ane from the top –from God.
Spiritual transformation isn't an piece of cake job for God, and some people make it especially difficult. But Jesus engages Nicodemus, looking for an opening, In upshot, Jesus humbles the learned leader, and as nosotros know from elsewhere in the Gospels, humility is often the opening God needs.
What happened to Nicodemus? Like so many who heard Jesus speak, he undoubtedly walked away a fleck confused and troubled. Spiritual birth is usually not sudden or easy. Seeing from above often requires a lot of climbing, searching, and questioning. John tells us in his 19th chapter that Nicodemus joined Joseph of Arimathea in honoring Jesus with a proper burial. Ane can only guess where his awakening took him afterwards Jesus' Resurrection.
More About Nicodemus
Nicodemus is both literally and figuratively in the dark. A Pharisee and fellow member of the ruling council in Jerusalem, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night looking for prove that Jesus is the Messiah bringing God's Kingdom. He has studied scripture, gone to worship, and been an ethical member of his community. Only something is missing, and he undoubtedly hopes Jesus will reveal himself in a life-altering style. Nicodemus is not the first or last Pharisee to question Jesus and wonder if he is the Messiah. But he is the outset in John's Gospel, and Jesus gives him a challenging answer to the question: who are you? It's a question we'll hear many other times. Recall Jesus asking the disciples, "Who practice people say that I am?"
It'south About Us
Nicodemus is us. We are in the night too. And even when nosotros experience we have been transformed past the Spirit of God and are stepping from the shadows, we have questions:
- Why exercise some people believe and others don't?
- Why tin can some "see" the Kingdom, and others think it's a fantasy?
- Why do some look at Jesus and see simply a not bad teacher?
- Why will some Sunday School kids accept Jesus equally their savior, and others won't?
- Why practise I feel like my organized religion is still in the night sometimes?
- Where am I in my own spiritual transformation?
What nosotros seek, merely God can provide.
Born Again ? Born Afresh ? or Born from To a higher place ?
Depending on the Bible translation you use, it may read, "born again," or "born anew," or "born from above." Most Bibles footnote the phrase to alert you that the literal Greek does indeed say "from higher up," and that is how most modern English translations now translate information technology.
Here's why information technology's important:
The Greek words "born from in a higher place" (gennēthē anōthen) literally hateful "genesis from the top." "Gennatha Anothen" (literally, "Genesis/Born from the Top/Above") is pronounced with a hard 'yard' – "ge-na-tha a-noth-en"].
"Gennetha" (born) literally ways "genesis." The discussion itself is meant to remind usa of the Genesis story when the Spirit moved over the waters and created the world. Recall that John's Gospel starts out with this aforementioned discussion and theme: "In the first was the Give-and-take...."
"Anothen" (above) literally ways "from the top." It does not mean "again" (that was the mistake Nicodemus and early translators made). "Anothen" is a location word, and the location being referred to is indisputable. The "top" is where God is. It's a heavenly perspective. Information technology's "from God."
Univ. of N.C. NT Professor Bart Ehrman notes in his book "Jesus Interrupted," that the concepts of "once more" and "above" are non synonymous in Jesus and Nicodemus' Aramaic language. Translating "above" as "again" is only a option in the Greek. So nosotros can forgive the early translators for non knowing their Aramaic, or recognize that Jesus was pointing to the origin of our birth – as coming from God above.
Seeing What? (The Kingdom)
Jesus talked a lot about God's Kingdom. The Kingdom is God's vision for the world, ...what God wants life to look like and his creatures to human activity like. Particularly with kids, the concept of "Kingdom" is easy to describe using opposites:
Bad ⇒ Good
Hate ⇒ Beloved
Sentence ⇒ Compassion
Selfishness ⇒ Selflessness
Blindness to the Truth ⇒ Spiritually Awake
Darkness (Ignorance, sin) ⇒ Light (knowledge, salvation)
Dubiousness ⇒ Faith
Exclude ⇒ Include
Hell ⇒ Heaven
What's the "genesis" of this Kingdom signal of view?
Nicodemus' "genesis," or "starting bespeak of view," was that of a Pharisee. That's why he couldn't "see" the Kingdom or the King standing right in front of him. The Pharisees looked for the Kingdom in celebrity, non in meekness. They looked for a conquering male monarch, not the peaceful Lamb of God. They were "built-in from below." This is why Jesus called the Pharisees "blind guides," and expressed dismay that Nicodemus didn't empathize.
"See," "Enter," and "Participate" are all synonyms in scripture. To "meet" the Kingdom means you understand information technology and are function of it. Information technology means yous "get" the Beatitudes. You tin can also say that "born" (genesis) is also a synonym for seeing/participating equally well. When you become "built-in from higher up," your birthplace, your starting time signal is God, not man, Dear, not Police.
In the lessons of this set, nosotros're going to use the metaphor of eyeglasses as a handy way for children to understand the spiritual meaning of "seeing."
"Born" (genesis) and H2o Baptism
Information technology's no accident that the language of Baptism ofttimes talks about "birth" and being reborn into a new life. When Jesus used the term "genesis" (born), he was mining a rich theological metaphor that stretched from the Jordan River, all the style to the waters of Creation. Paul would talk about "new life in Christ" to mine the aforementioned vein.
"Seeing" or having your "genesis from the top" is not that piece of cake...
Verse 8 is a note of grace to Nicodemus and to us:
"The wind blows where information technology chooses, and you hear the sound of it, just you practise not know where it comes from or where it goes. Then it is with everyone who is built-in of the Spirit."
Being "born from to a higher place" (or built-in again) is non equally simple as making a pledge, knowing scriptures, and going to worship. Nicodemus did all that. Developing "God sight" requires the action of the Spirit. Having some h2o poured over you and saying some words isn't enough. And it's both paradoxical and frustrating that good people (like Nicodemus) can spend their whole lives trying and failing to observe and know God. And the reality for almost Christians is that spiritual sight is a fleeting experience. Mayhap this is why Jesus emphasized the more tangible acts of spirituality: mercy and service, humility and peacemaking (think of the Beatitudes). Spirituality is not special knowledge to exist sought afterward in the nighttime, but acts of kindness and holiness to be adept during the solar day.
Jesus teaches that "The wind blows where it will." And yet, it would exist so much more convenient if God were predictable and obvious! God's presence is like the wind, and his Kingdom is like a treasure that not everyone sees and many volition overlook. It is a great pearl that many will not exist prepared to own when they find it. Think of how many different ways Jesus expressed the Kingdom! ...and and so he tells us just God can show information technology to us – "through water and spirit."
Jesus spoke a lot most incomprehension, including his kickoff sermon in Luke 4 when he preached from Isaiah that he had been sent to restore sight.
What tin a person practise to set themselves to run across God and his Kingdom?
Nicodemus was doing it. While others stayed away, he took a run a risk by coming to talk to Jesus. He put himself in a position to let Jesus face up his pre-conceived notions and beliefs (which he did, and usually does). Sunday School and going to church is a lot similar this! It's something we do – not because we already see, but considering nosotros know we need aid seeing.
Something inside Nicodemus' heart plain stirred him to brainstorm the journey, and information technology would eventually lead him to the cross to claim Jesus' trunk. We know from many other Jesus stories, that "religious" people were frequently listening in the oversupply. (Perhaps this is what Sunday School is, a place in the crowd, an opening for God's Spirit.)
How practise y'all move from dark to day in your faith? ...from "same-old" to "new"? Would that information technology came suddenly like some people merits. Simply in truth, for the vast majority of believers the "new" is always struggling to be born. Faith is often a series of steps forward and backward, moments of re-birth, re-dedication, and eye-opening experiences – betwixt moments of spiritual dim and darkness. We are e'er in need of "Gennatha Anothen," and "Maranath!" ("Come Lord Jesus")
What volition we see from God's bespeak of view?
Jesus taught a bunch of Kingdom stories and parables.
We will see strangers every bit friends, and the broken as beloved.
Where others come across judgment, those with God sight volition see forgiveness and mercy.
When we look from to a higher place with God's perspective, nosotros put others first, and lift them up with u.s.,
Questions for those set to come across Jesus and be part of his Kingdom:
- Exercise you love Jesus, or simply respect him?
- Do you "similar" his teachings, or practice you follow them?
- Exercise you live your faith in the shadows, afraid of telling others, or do you lot let it smoothen?
- Having been baptized with water, have yous sought out God'due south Spirit in prayer and worship, scripture and acts of compassion?
- When you lot see others in need, what's your initial response? Walk towards or walk away?
This famous devotional song past Paul Baloche captures what could have been sung by Nicodemus himself. See the Nicodemus Music Video mail service for others.
"Open up the eyes of my heart Lord, i want to see you...."
Written past Neil MacQueen for the Rotation.org Writing Team
with contributions from Carol Hulbert, Cathy Walz, Amy Crane, and Luanne Payne.
Source: https://www.rotation.org/topic/wt-nicodemus-water-and-spirit-bible-background-and-lesson-objectives
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