Jn 2:13-25 After spending some time in Capernaum, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Passover festival in the spring of 27AD (see 1 on Map 6). He performs many miracles and many people believe in him.
Map 6 Early Journeys of Jesus
Jn 3:1-8 While Jesus is in Jerusalem, one of the members of the Jewish council (the Sanhedrin) – who is impressed by the miracles Jesus is performing – comes to see Jesus secretly under cover of darkness. Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot be in God’s kingdom” (John 3:3). Jesus points out that he is referring to spiritual re-birth, not physical re-birth. To enter the kingdom of God, Jesus explains, people must have a powerful new experience of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Jn 3:9-21 Jesus tells Nicodemus that the ‘Son of Man’ – a title that Jesus adopts to show he is the Messiah, the Christ (see Daniel 7:13-14) – will be killed in order to save mankind from wrongdoing and death. “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Nicodemus becomes a secret follower of Jesus, and when Jesus is crucified three years later, Nicodemus – together with his fellow Jewish councillor Joseph of Arimathea – asks Pilate’s permission to bury the body of Jesus (see John 19:38-42).
Jn 3:22-36 Jesus and his disciples move into the Judaean countryside where they baptise in the River Jordan during the summer of 27AD (see 2 on Map 6). John is also baptising in the Jordan at Aenon.