About This Guide: This weekly groups guide, “A Light Has Dawned,” is designed as a companion to our Epiphany 2022 teaching series, fostering discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting. Join a group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

clearing the temple

Teaching Text: John 3:1-21

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 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.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“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!”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.”

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 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. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

Jesus as Rabbi, Jesus yoke, and how he developed it (we speak of what we know, we testify to what we have seen).

Presence

Take a moment of silence and think about these questions:

What wounds do you carry in your soul that need healing?
What doubts are you aware of that you want God to speak to?
Confess your need for him and ask him to meet you in those spaces.

Formation

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

A rabbi’s yoke is how he interpreted scripture and the lens through which he makes sense of the commands of God.
The Pharisees burdened people. They even took pride in making it hard if not impossible for people to live out the commands of God.
The Pharisees were devoted to the law. They believed that if the Jewish people would simply comply with God’s law then Messiah would come. And that was why they had such a big problem with sinners. They would look at a tax collector and think “you! You are the reason Messiah has not come.” And so they treated them poorly–they cast them to the margins of society.
Jesus comes as rabbi - he does it differently
Jesus says… “My yoke is easy” , “The spirit of the Lord is on me to proclaim the year of favor of God”
Jesus is effectively, if I can use a legal term, overturning precedent. Only teachers with authority were allowed to do that and you could only get authority by the laying on of hands of two teachers who already had it. And of course, John the Baptist, Holy Spirit and the Father had already borne witness to Jesus’ authority.
One scholar asks Jesus what the greatest commandment–he wants to know how he’s interpreting the law. And by the way this was a trick question–there was only one right answer. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. But Jesus goes further and he tells him what he believes to be the second greatest commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.
“All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew‬ ‭22:36-37, 39-40‬)
And what Jesus is stating here is his yoke. A yoke was a rabbi’s framework for interpreting the law. And Jesus’ yoke was essentially that it’s not about following rules, it’s about the state of your heart–is your heart turned toward God and those made in his image. And this was Jesus’ central problem with the Pharisees.
“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭23:4‬)
And again Jesus says about the Pharisees
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” (Matthew 23:23)
Their yoke, the fence that they placed around Torah, was too much for anyone to bear. They had forgotten that the person next to them, made in the image of God, was more sacred than any rule. Jesus, as rabbi, was instructing them on how to undo that. He was reframing the purpose and intent of God’s law, using his yoke—the lighter burden.