This is the final instalment in our study of the first three chapters of John’s Gospel. (I’ve written on chapters 4 and 5 previously; you can search the archives if you want to continue the tour.) It’s a longer passage, but it deals mostly with two related ideas that we’ve met back in chapter 1: a comparison between John the Baptist and Jesus, and the importance of accepting Jesus as having been sent from God.

John 3:22-24 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³ Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put in prison.)

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Last week, we saw Nicodemus secretly meet Jesus by night – he was still in the dark as to who Jesus was, but he was intrigued. Jesus told him he needed to be born again from above – to be born of water and Spirit. In other words, he needed the “new heart” that Ezekiel spoke about long before hand – the Spirit of God that would move people to obey him from the heart, rather than from external constraints like the Law.

How can we be born again?

But how does that work, exactly? We don’t know, because we’re not God. As Jesus says:

John 3:8  The wind blows wherever it pleases…

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What does it mean to be ‘born again’? What is a born again Christian?

Now you might have a pretty clear idea of the concept. But for the vast majority of people in the world – they don’t get it! When those who aren’t use the label ‘born again’ it’s mostly in a negative sense. It’s come to be synonymous with ‘fundamentalist’, ‘fanatical’, and ‘self-righteous’. Which is kind of ironic, since the phrase ‘born again’ comes from the passage we’re looking at this week, in John chapter three. And in this passage, Jesus is talking to someone who was a member of one of the most fundamentalist, fanatical and self-righteous religious sects around – and he told him that he wasn’t born again!

But the fact remains that most of the world associates the term ‘born again Christian’ with being an extremist. Fanatical about converting others to Christianity. A holier-than-thou attitude. Perhaps even a little bit brainwashed. Yet what does it really mean?

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Yesterday, Jesus drove out the money-changers and animal traders from the temple – maybe as a protest against how it excluded Gentiles or exploited pilgrims, but most probably as a general sign of judgement on how it had become all about performing outward ritual rather than having a right heart before God.

Naturally, this didn’t go down too well with the powers-that-be.

John 2:18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

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Having performed his debut “sign” at a wedding in the backwaters of Cana (see last week), the next event John narrates has Jesus in a much more public place: the temple. Here, too, he performs a sign – not a miracle, but a sign of judgement.

John 2:13-16 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

What’s going on here? Is Jesus just having a bad day? What could have prompted him to do such a provocative, violent act?

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Yesterday, we saw Jesus interrupt his plans to help out some of his mother’s friends. Facing the shame of running out of wine at a wedding, Jesus intervened, miraculously turning some water into wine of the highest quality. And in doing so, he showed his compassion for our everyday needs.

But, in true Jesus-style, he managed to turn this simple meeting of human need into a meaning-filled sign about his identity and his mission. How? Let’s look at some of the parts of the story we skipped over yesterday.

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Yesterday, Nathanael trusted in Jesus after witnessing just a tiny display of his supernatural power:

John 1:48-49 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” ⁴⁹ Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

Jesus’ response? You ain’t seen nothing yet:

John 1:50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”

In today’s story, we see the first of these “greater things” – the miracle at the wedding at Cana.

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Yesterday, we saw Andrew being invited by Jesus to “come and see” what God was up to – and he went and brought his brother, Peter. Today, we read a very similar story with Philip and Nathanael.

John 1:43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Normally, disciples would seek out a rabbi. But this teacher reverses this, going out to find his disciples. Again, Jesus’ authority is on display, as Philip obeys his command (and even seeks out another recruit.)

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Last week, we saw a comparison between John the Baptist and Jesus: John is merely a voice crying out in preparation for the eternal Word; he’s a brief lamp that guides the path to the everlasting light of the world. Today, we read of how some of John’s disciples left him to follow Jesus, as a result of John’s testimony.

John’s Disciples follow Jesus

John 1:35-37 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

John had taught his disciples well. When he pointed out the one who would come after him, they left John to follow Jesus.

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