John, a different kind of Gospel

John 2: 13 – 25 Jesus turns over the money changers table and drives them out of the Temple area. “the zeal for your house has eaten me up.” They ask Jesus for a sign but he only cryptically said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

John 3: 1 – 10 Nicodemus visits Jesus “at night” and they have a (again, another) cryptic conversation about being born from above and the “wind goes where it chooses but we know not where it comes from or where it goes.”

The above is just a highlight of what happens in Sunday’s passage from John and the one for today. I am going to leave you with some questions to consider today, instead of a lot of commentary.

Jesus drives out the money changers in the other gospels to but all three synoptic gospels highlight the event take place the week of Jesus’ passion whereas John locates the incident at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Why, do you think?

What does John use a different way of communicating?

Does John telling the story as a first-person witness to events change things for you (authenticity, feel, mood, intimacy, etc.)?

What does Jesus’ communication to Nicodemus mean, relative to the Holy Spirit?

Is there a significance to Nicodemus coming to see Jesus “at night”?