October 9, 2026

Scriptures: John 3–5 |

John 3 begins with Nicodemus, a respected religious leader who comes to Jesus at night. He knows Scripture, follows the rules, and has built his life around religion, yet Jesus tells him, “You must be born again.” Knowing about God is not the same as being made new by God. Jesus did not come merely to improve our behavior, He came so that we could be transformed from the inside out.

John then gives us one of Scripture’s clearest pictures of God's heart: He loved the world so much that He gave His Son, not to condemn the world, but to save it. That heart becomes visible again when Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. She carries a complicated history and belongs to a group most Jews avoided, but Jesus intentionally enters her world. He offers her “living water,” and the woman who came to the well alone leaves telling an entire town about Him.

In chapter 5, Jesus meets a man who has been unable to walk for thirty-eight years. His question is direct: “Would you like to get well?” After decades of living with the same condition, Jesus leads him into a completely different future. But the healing also creates controversy because it happens on the Sabbath. While religious leaders focus on the broken rule they think they see, Jesus focuses on the broken person standing in front of Him.

Nicodemus has religion. The Samaritan woman has a painful past. The man at the pool has decades of disappointment. Jesus meets each of them differently, but offers each what they cannot produce for themselves: new life, living water, and restoration. Whatever brings us to Jesus, His call is always deeper than simply managing the life we already have.

Challenge Questions:

Where are you be settling for religious activity when Jesus is calling you into genuine inner transformation?

Which person in these chapters do you identify with most right now, and what does Jesus’ response to that person reveal about what He may want to do in you?