Lent Event 2008 Bible Study
Lent Event 2008 Bible Study
Lent for Life
The Lenten Studies are part of the new Lent Event package which our congregations will be using this year. You can download a copy free from
or they can be purchased as print books at
Rev Graeme Gardiner deepens our spiritual walk through Lent with a four part, lectionary-based, Bible Study Series. This challenging and contemporary study looks at significant stories from John’s Gospel and personal stories of Lent Event participants. It encourages us to reflect on what we might be wise to give up not just for Lent, but for life. And it reminds us to focus not on what we are giving up, but on what we are acquiring – a life lived in partnership with God.
Lent for Life
Studies in the Gospel of John
Lent 2008
Rev Graeme Gardiner
Introduction:
The traditional practice for the season of Lent, and the core activity of Lent Event, is to ‘give something up’. It might be counter-intuitive, but this discipline of ‘giving up’ or ‘letting go’ can actually result in us gaining or receiving gifts that are far greater. It might not lead to culturally acceptable acquisitions such as success, fame or fortune, but it is a pathway to acquiring ‘life’ as Jesus might define it.
This study series takes significant stories from the gospel of John, along with some personal experiences of Lent Event participants, as a starting point for reflecting on what it might be wise for us to ‘give up’ not merely for Lent, but for life.
As we journey through the four stories from the Gospel of John that are set down in the lectionary readings for the season of Lent, we will bear in mind this key interpretive verse from John 12:24:
Key Interpretive Verse:
“ I tell you the truth, unless an ear of
wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single seed. But if
it dies, it produces many seeds. The
one who loves their life will lose it,
while the one who hates their life in
this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 12:24
How to use this study:
Dates: The study uses the set Gospel reading for weeks 2 through to 5
in the season of Lent – that is,
Study 1: Sunday 17th February,
Study 2: Sunday 24th February,
Study 3: Sunday 2nd March and
Study 4: Sunday 9th March.
You may choose to use the study material either in the week preceding
the Sunday as a form of preparation for worship, or in the week following
the Sunday as a way of building
upon worship.
Individual and group use:
The studies are designed for small group discussion. However, if you
are unable to meet with others you will still find benefit from individual
use of the Study. If using the material in a small group the best use of
limited time will be made by each member working through the material
in advance and noting down responses in the spaces provided.
It will also be valuable to note any questions or surprises that arise. In
this way you can prepare the mind and heart so that the discussion will
be deepened by the sharing of considered responses instead of mere
‘first thoughts’.
Study 1:
“The self-made person”
John 3:1-17
Read: this reflection from a
participant in Lent Event
“Event – incident – accident – situation – circumstance –happening … Generally, these words mean a temporary occurrence, and we’re glad that some of them are not permanent; at other times we wish a pleasant experience could go on forever. When we have a choice we’re happier than when we do not have control. God’s beloved human
creation prefers to know What, How, Why, Where, When (don’t we?).
The annual Lent Event is a temporary choice in our lives. However, it brings permanent benefit for the many people assisted through Lent Event’s partnership with Uniting Church Overseas Aid.
An important part of being God’s people, disciples of Christ, students of the Holy Spirit, is Stewardship – aright understanding of the blessings in our lives. Those gifts are lent to
us to give life to others because we’re trusted to be God’s hands, the physical presence, the repeated Incarnation of a holy and loving God. By understanding and living
the Stewardship way, the Event can become a way of Life.
We are the temporary holders of all the good things God has put into our hands: Life itself, Time, Gifts (each of us has a spiritual gift), Talents and skills (inborn and learned), Money (wage, Centrelink assistance, salary, stipend, pension, dividend, pocket money) … whether we are city, suburban, rural, or outback people. From these visible and invisible blessings we are to resource a moderate lifestyle, and return to the Giver what others need for an improved lifestyle. We’re blessed with this privilege and responsibility - the luxury of choice. Lent Event for a few weeks each year can create the habit of Lent for Life: gifting what is not, in the first place, ours to keep. Lent Event can nurture a new
understanding that what we have is not ours alone – it is lent, for life. “
Gwen (61)
(Lent Event is grateful to Gwen for coining the phrase “Lent for Life”) A theme within this reflection is that of “the luxury of choice”. It is a luxury that only belongs to the privileged
of this world. Does your ability to choose and ‘build a life’ have an impact upon the capacity for others around the world to choose a future? In what ways?
Read: John 3:1-17 together, taking one verse each as you go round the
group.
Nicodemus is a wealthy and significant member of the ruling council of the Jewish people – the Sanhedrin. He has money, prestige and influence. He is the classic ‘selfmade man’.
He comes to see Jesus alone, and, we are told explicitly in verse 2, at night.
In John’s gospel ‘night’ is more than the literal ‘night-time’. It is ‘code’ for ignorance
(see, for instance, John 1:5). Nicodemus’ motivation for coming at night to see Jesus
Is often considered to be stealth or cowardice – a reluctance to be seen by others. However, an alternative reading casts Nicodemus in a more positive light.
The rabbis taught that the Torah was best studied at night when the distractions of the day had subsided. In this view, Nicodemus uses his precious study time to expand his
search beyond the standard texts and Jesus himself becomes the book into which Nicodemus delves, mining every word for wisdom and understanding. In this view, although clearly not understanding, Nicodemus has come as a genuine seeker.
Note:
For the context of Nicodemus’ conversation with Jesus, we can
look back to Chapter 2, verses 23 to 25. In the original Greek there is
a word play between episteusan, translated as “believe in” and
episteuen, translated as “entrust”. Many people were “believing in
Jesus”, but Jesus was not “believing in/trusting them”.
Both words are derived from the Greek word pisteuo that is often
translated as “faith”. In 3:2 we discover that Nicodemus holds
an episteusan kind of “faith” – a believing in Jesus based on his
miraculous signs. Jesus’ immediate reply to Nicodemus in verse 3 can
then be seen as an outworking of 2:25 – Jesus knows what is within
Nicodemus, that is, he knows the kind of faith he holds.
How do you see Nicodemus and his motivations? Do you regard him
as a kind of ‘patron saint of spiritual seekers’ or do you consider him to
have devious motives?
Jesus declares in verse 3, “I tell you the truth, unless a person is born again, that person cannot see the kingdom of God.” The word translated ‘born again’ can mean either ‘born for a second time’ (its more literal meaning) or ‘born from above’ (that is, from a divine source). Nicodemus chooses to understand the word in its more literal meaning.
What does this suggest about
Nicodemus? What does this suggest
about Nicodemus’ understanding or
experience of religious life?
Nicodemus has much to lose in coming to see Jesus. He is putting his hard-earned status and achievements on the line. Something has drawn him and perhaps Jesus
has identified what it is - a longing for a more authentic life. This would explain the direction of Jesus’ conversation and in particular his statements about ‘eternal life’ in
verses 15 and 16.
Note:
(Eternal) life in John’s gospel: While the religious sect of John’s day known as the ‘Gnostics’ took the concept of ‘eternal life’ to be an almost inaccessible world beyond
space and time, John brings it right into the present. So, for instance in 5:24 John can say that the one who believes has already passed from death to life and has eternal life.
In John, the word ‘life,’ with or without the qualifier ‘eternal,’ refers to a definite quality and quantity of existence. In terms of quality, this life is different from the old existence
that was typified by hate, lack of love, sin, pain and death. It does not begin in the future, it already belongs to those who have entered into a relationship of faith with Jesus. In terms of quantity, because this life belongs to Christ it has no end. (“I am the way, the truth and the life”, “I am the resurrection and the life”) It will not cease even at death
(see 11:25).
If it is true that the ‘material’ cannot give birth to the ‘spiritual’ (verse 6) and that our life does not depend so much on what we make of it, but upon what God makes of it (verse 8), what does this suggest to you about
the risk we take if we live according
to our society’s priorities?
While hard work, achievement and excellence are not bad things, do they in your experience or view, necessarily result in a complete, lasting and fulfilled life? If not,
what might?
Note: Belief in John’s gospel:
John departs from the more usual expression of his time ‘believe that…’
and makes striking use throughout the gospel of the expression ‘believe
in(to)’. He uses the word mostly as a verb, and only rarely as a noun. In
this way, instead of presenting belief/faith as a set of propositions to which
we can intellectually assent (although this is still of some importance to
John), he presents a more relational and missional notion of what it
means to believe or have faith. Belief/ faith for John is as much about
following and aligning oneself with Jesus as it is about believing that he
is the eternal Son of God who lays down his life for the world.
According to Jesus, Nicodemus’
hard-won accomplishment of
becoming ‘Israel’s Teacher’ (vs
10) has not served him well
in discovering authentic life in
relationship with God. What do you
think Nicodemus needs to ‘give up’
in order to discover the life Jesus
speaks of in verse 16?
Gathering up:
Key Interpretive Verse:
“I tell you the truth, unless an ear of
wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single seed. But if
it dies, it produces many seeds. The
one who loves their life will lose it,
while the one who hates their life in
this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 12:24
Keeping in mind this story about
Nicodemus, the issues raised
regarding being a ‘self-made person’,
and this verse from John 12, what
might be wise for you to ‘give up’,
not merely for Lent, but for life?
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