(Jesus, Our Re-Creator God - Part 1 | Part 2)
In the first part of this study, we looked at people who had given themselves to sinful behavior. All of the people Jesus touched were not "notorious sinners." In this half of the study we will look at others whom Jesus "re-created."
Nicodemus
The Scripture: John 3:1, 2
"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.'"
1. Who was Nicodemus?
2. What did he recognize about Jesus?
The Scripture: John 3:3-5
"Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.' 'How can a man be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!' Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.'"
3. What did Jesus tell him?
4. What was Nicodemus' question?
5. How did Jesus answer him?"
We know that Nicodemus became a follower of Jesus because he is mentioned again after Jesus' crucifixion.
The Scripture: John 19:38-40
"Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus....With Pilate's permission he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs."
6. What did Joseph of Arimathea do?
7. Who accompanied him?
8. What did the two men do?
9. Now it is your turn. Using your imagination, describe Nicodemus' life between his initial meeting with Jesus and His crucifixion.
The Woman With the Issue of Blood
The Scripture: Luke 8:43-44, 46-48
"A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped ....Jesus said, 'Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.' Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched Him and how she had been instantly healed.
Then He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.'"
10. What was the woman's problem?
In that culture, the woman would be considered "unclean." She and her husband could not have sexual relations.
11. What did the woman do?
12. What happened?
13. What did Jesus say when He felt her touch Him?
14. After the woman admitted she was the one who had touched him, what did Jesus say to her?
15. What do you think happened to this woman after her encounter and healing from Jesus?
The Centurion
The Scripture: Matthew 8:5-6, 8-9
"When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, asking for help. 'Lord,' he said, 'my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one, 'Go,' and he goes, and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it.'"
16. What did the centurion want?
The Scripture: Luke 7:4, 5
"When they (the elders) came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with Him. 'This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.'"
17. What do we learn about the centurion in these verses?
The Scripture: Matthew 8:13
"Then Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.' And his servant was healed at that very hour."
18. What did Jesus say to the centurion?
19. What happened?
20. Now using your imagination, write several paragraphs about the centurion's life following his encounter with Jesus.
Jairus
The Scripture: Luke 8:41, 51-55
"A man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with Him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying...When He (Jesus) arrived at the house of Jarius, He did not let anyone go in with Him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. 'Stop wailing,' Jesus said. 'She is not dead but asleep.' They laughed at Him, knowing that she was dead. But He took her by the hand and said, 'My child, get up!' Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up."
21. Whom did Jesus meet?
22. What did he want?
23 When Jesus told the people to stop mourning, that the child was only asleep, what was their reaction?
24. What did Jesus say to the child?
25. What happened?
26. Now, it's your turn. Tell what you think happened in the life of this family after Jesus raised the girl from the dead.
The Syrophoenician Woman
The Scripture: Mark 7:25-30
"A woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter...'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs,' Jesus said. 'Yes, Lord,' she replied, 'but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' Then He told her. 'For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.' She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone."
27. Who came to Jesus?
28. What did she want Jesus to do?
29. What did Jesus say in answer to her response?
30. What happened?
31. What do you think occurred in the life of this woman and her child, following the girl's healing?
32. Jesus' "recreation" work in our lives is never finished. Thinking back over your life, describe how Jesus has re-created you.
The Answers
- A Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council
- That He was a teacher who came from God
- "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
- "How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he can't enter his mother's womb a second time."
- “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit."
- He asked Pilate for Jesus' body
- Nicodemus
- They prepared Jesus' body for burial according to the Jewish burial customs.
- Your answer
- She had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.
- She touched the edge of Jesus' cloak.
- Her bleeding stopped.
- "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from Me."
- "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."
- Your answer
- For Jesus to heal his servant
- That he loved the nation and had built their synagogue
- "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would."
- The servant was healed.
- Your answer
- Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue
- For Jesus to heal his young daughter
- They laughed.
- "My child, get up."
- Her spirit returned to her body and she got up.
- Your answer
- A Greek woman whose daughter was possessed by a demon
- Drive the demon from her daughter
- "For such a reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter."
- She went home; the demon was gone.
- Your answer
- Your answer
All scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version
(unless otherwise indicated)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, New International Bible Society
Copyright © 2003 by JoAnne Sekowsky