Palm Sunday: https://vimeo.com/89013208

The whole city is shaken by the events, and crowd keeps spreading the word to any in Jerusalem who have not yet heard who Jesus is. Some of the Pharisees instruct Jesus to rebuke the crowds for their dangerous messianic exuberance, but he refuse to correct of curtail the excitement of the crowd over his entrance into the city.

Up to this point in Jesus’s ministry, he could still have managed to live a long, happy, peaceful life, but his actions on Sunday set in motion a series of events that could results only in either his overthrow of the Romans and the current

religious establishment or his brutal death. He has crossed the point of no return; there would be no turning back. Caesar could allow no rival kings. As Jesus approaches the city, he weeps over Jerusalem.

JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM - MT. 21:1–11, MK. 11:1–10, LUKE 19:29–44, JOHN 12:12–19

Read John 11:43–54. How did Jesus’s miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead relate to the desire of the Jewish leadership to kill him? What political concerns did the Jewish leadership have?

1. Read Luke 19:41–44. Summarize in your own words the reason for Jesus’s weeping over Jerusalem.

2. What was significant about Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem? What did his symbolic actions lead people to expect?

JESUS PREDICTS HIS DEATH (JOHN 12:20–36)

3. Jesus knew what was to come and exactly how he would die.

A. Why didn’t Jesus ask the Father to save Him? (12:27)

How do we love our own lives?

B. What did Jesus ask the Father to do? (12:28)

C. According to John 12:28–29 what was his request, and what response did he receive?

JESUS VISITS THE TEMPLE (Matt. 21:14-17 MK. 11:11)

Mondayhttps://vimeo.com/89117797On Monday morning, Jesus returned with his disciples to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus cursed a fig tree because it had failed to bear fruit. Some scholars believe this cursing of the fig tree represented God's judgment on the spiritually dead religious leaders of Israel. Others believe the symbolism extended to all believers, demonstrating that genuine faith is more than just outward religiosity.

When Jesus arrived at the Temple he found the courts full of corrupt money changers. He began overturning their tables and clearing the Temple, saying, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves." (Luke 19:46) On

Monday evening Jesus stayed in Bethany again, probably in the home of his friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

JESUS CURSES A FIG TREE - (MATT. 21:18–19; MARK 11:12–14)

1. With the background knowledge that Israel in the O.T. was often characterized as a fig tree, how does this symbolic or parabolic action point forward to Jesus’s cleansing of the temple later in the day?

2. How is religious legalism like a barren fig tree?

3. What types of "fruit" should appear in our lives as we grow as Christians? What fruit has your life borne in the last couple of months?

JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE (MATT. 21:12–13; MARK 11:15–18; LUKE 19:45–48)

4. Jesus’s ministry was normally focused on teaching and healing, but those things were not at the forefront of his mind on Monday. What “out of the ordinary” things did he do on Monday?

5. Why did Jesus describe the temple as a “den of thieves”?

6. What did Jesus teach that the temple should be?

Tuesday:https://vimeo.com/89651201On Tuesday morning, Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem. They passed the withered fig tree on their way, and Jesus taught them about faith. At the Temple, the religious leaders aggressively challenged Jesus' authority, attempting to ambush him and create an opportunity for his arrest. But Jesus evaded their traps and pronounced harsh judgment on them: "Blind guides! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of

impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness...Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?" (Matthew 23:24-33) Later that afternoon, Jesus left the city and went with his disciples to the Mount of Olives, which overlooks Jerusalem due east of the Temple. Here Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse, an elaborate prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age. He taught in parables using symbolic language about end times events, including his Second Coming and the final judgment.

Scripture indicates that Tuesday was the day Judas Iscariot negotiated with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16). After a tiring day of confrontation and warnings about the future, once again, Jesus and the disciples stayed the night in Bethany.

JESUS TEACHES HIS FOLLOWERS A LESSON ABOUT THE FIG TREE (MATT. 21:20–22; MARK 11:20–26)

1. Read Mark 11:20–26. Jesus taught the disciples a huge lesson on the role of faith in their lives. What did Jesus teach about prayer in Mark 11:25–26?

A. How does our forgiveness of others relate to effective prayer?

B. How can you implement the truths of this teaching in your own life?

JESUS TEACHES AND ENGAGES IN CONTROVERSIES IN THE TEMPLE (MATT. 21:23–23:39; MARK 11:27–12:44; LUKE 20:1–21:4)

2. Mark 11:28 describes how the Jewish leaders tried to trap Jesus by his own words. How did Jesus turn the tables on them?

3. What three parables did Jesus proceed to tell? Try summarizing the main point of each parable in a single sentence.

4. Since coins (money) bear the image of the human ruler(s), and human beings (you and I) bear God’s image, what should be our response to Jesus’s instructions in Matt 22:21? What do we give to God?

5. After responding to several traps disguised as questions, Jesus went on the offensive and asked several of his own questions. What reaction did he finally receive (Matt. 22:46)?

JESUS PREDICTS THE FUTURE - (MATT. 24–25; MARK 13:1–37; LUKE 21:5–36)

6. Within Jesus’s discussion of the future in the Olivet Discourse, what two major events were given the most attention? One of these events is past from our perspective today, but one is still future.

7. Jesus’s teaching about the future clearly communicates that his followers will experience increasing persecution and tribulation until the end.

A. According to Jesus, how must believers respond to these difficulties?

B. Does Jesus’s teaching about the future encourage or discourage you? Why?

Wednesday https://vimeo.com/89420035

This day passes by quietly – particularly when compared with the earlier events of Sunday (the Triumphal entry), Monday (the Cleansing of the Temple), and Tuesday (Temple controversies). Jesus continues his daily practice of traveling from Bethany to Jerusalem early to teach the people in the temple complex. There do not seem to be any recorded controversies, but Luke notes the rapt attention of the crowds who had come to hear Jesus teach. His authority, actions, and teaching have made him quite a celebrity in the eyes of the people.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each describe the murderous plotting of the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the people “two days before the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened bread. Their mind is made up, and their verdict has been rendered.

THE PLOT AGAINST JESUS – (Matt. 26:3-5, LK. 21:37-38 Mk. 14:1-2)

1. How was Jesus spending his time each day?

2. The response of the people to Jesus was positive. What group was not pleased with his teaching? Why?

3. What event were the people anticipating? (Luke 22:1)

4. Why was this event important? (Luke 22:1)

5. What was the plan of the chief priests and teachers of the law? (Luke 22:2)

6. What were the Jewish leaders doing while Jesus taught on Wednesday? Of what were they afraid?

Thursdayhttps://vimeo.com/89420081In Jewish reckoning, a new day began at nightfall, so Wednesday nightfall to Thursday nightfall was the day of preparation for the Passover meal.

The Passover meal itself – including

1. Roasted Lamb2. Bitter Herbs 3. Unleavened Bread 4. Fruit Sauce 5. Four cups of Wine

The meal would have been shared after sundown that evening (Nisan 15) Thursday nightfall to Friday nightfall). In the original Passover, the blood of the lambs had been applied to the homes of the Israelites in Egypt to protect them from the outpouring of God’s judgment upon the Egyptians. Matthew alone records Jesus tells his disciples that His time is at hand on the morning of the day on which the Passover lamb was sacrificed.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE PASSOVER

1. What O.T. event did the Passover celebrate (Ex. 12:7, 12–13, 22–28)? What was the significance of this for the timing of Jesus’s death?

2. Why were the preparations undertaken with a degree of secrecy?

THE FINAL PASSOVER: THE SYNOPTICS

3. Jesus continued to reveal that he knew what was to come.

What did he share in Matthew 26:20 that none of his disciples (except one) would have expected?

Why was this news so upsetting to the disciples?

4. What are some of the ways that this was the “last supper”?

5. From the very beginning, Christians have held to and practiced the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Why is the practice so important? See Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:26. Celebration of the Lord’s Supper in local congregations involves both a looking back to Christ’s sacrifice and a looking ahead to his return.

6. Jesus himself explained the significance of the bread and wine. What do these elements symbolize?

7. What does it mean that Jesus’s blood is poured out “for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28); “for many” (Mark 14:24); and “for you” (Luke 22:19)? Theologians often discuss this language in terms of the substitutionary nature of Jesus’s death. What does that mean?

THE LAST SUPPER AND JESUS’S CLEANSING OF HIS COMMUNITY

8. In contrast to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, what did John emphasize and record during this final supper?

9. Which themes occur repeatedly throughout the Farewell Discourse (John 13–17)? Briefly scan the Farewell Discourse in John and look for the presence of these themes: mission, love, joy, and peace.

10. What lesson about the forgiveness of sins does Jesus teach through Peter’s misunderstanding of the foot washing?

11. What broader lesson about sacrificial servant leadership did Jesus communicate through his humiliating symbolic action?

12. How do Paul’s remarks in Philippians 2:1–8 relate to Jesus’s lesson in John 13:1–15?

What should our response be (v. 15)?

13. Discuss the relationship between Satan’s influence and Judas’s choices (John 13:2, 27).

THE FAREWELL DISCOURSE BEGINS - (JOHN 13:31–14:31)

14. Read John 13:31–14:31 while thinking about the particular context and timing of this instruction. What statements are particularly significant in light of the fact that this is the last opportunity that Jesus will have to teach his disciples before his crucifixion? Consider the necessity of love, the clear statement that Jesus is the only way to the Father, and the indispensable future role of the Holy Spirit in light of Jesus’s coming bodily absence. - Without John 14:6, ppl would argue for another way

15. What defining characteristic does a follower of Christ need to possess, according to John 13:34–35? Reflect on your own life, attitudes, and choices. How are you reflecting this characteristic for those around you in your family, your church, your workplace, and your community?

16. Although we cannot be certain, based upon Jewish tradition it is likely that Jesus and his disciples sang Ps. 118 after the Passover meal before departing for the garden. Read and reflect on its significance for Jesus at this crucial point in his life. Give particular attention to vv. 22–23. - Jesus was singing His death song that would result in our salvation for God’s

glory and our salvation- Hebrews 12:2 – for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross

THE FAREWELL DISCOURSE CONTINUES

17. There are many points of application that can be drawn from Jesus’s discussion of the vine and the branches in John 15:1–17. Read the passage and identify one aspect of Jesus’s teaching that you find particularly important to reflect on at this point in your life. - Personal answers! - Abide = saved and dwell in Him for eternal security; Jesus is the vine and those

who abide are the branches – have to continue

18. Although the world’s hatred of Jesus’s followers has been an incredible source of

pain over the centuries, what comfort can be drawn from Jesus’s words in John 15:18–16:4a in light of continuing hostility from nonbelievers? - Personal answer - The world will hate us – because Jesus said so

o This Q is about loving Christ in the midst of persecution & loving those who persecute you – LOVE THEM

Have you ever experienced the hatred of the world because of your allegiance to Jesus? Discuss recent examples of global persecution.

19. What is the main advantage of Jesus’s departure, which he discusses in John 16:4b–15?

- See attachment on 11 benefits of the Holy Spirit

20. Summarize the main points of Jesus’s prayer to God for himself ( John 17:1–5), for his disciples ( John 17:6–19), and for future believers ( John 17:20–26). How can Jesus’s prayer serve as a model for us as we pray for ourselves and others? - Jesus prayed for His death - A model for praying for another Christian – seeks glory of God at the price of

personal suffering

JESUS PREDICTS PETER’S DENIALS

21. What are some possible reasons or explanations for Peter’s contradiction of Jesus’s prediction? It is quite possible that arrogance or self-confidence played a role. Do these attitudes ever set you up for failure? See Paul’s warning in 1 Cor. 10:12. - Boasted too much, listened too little, prayed too little, acted too fast, followed

from too far away = the fall- 1 Cor 10:12

22. Compare Jesus’s prayer for Peter in Luke 22:32 with his prayer for his disciples in John 17:6–19.

- Same prayer – protection from the evil one

JESUS ISSUES FINAL PRACTICAL COMMANDS

23. Discuss the possible interpretations provided in the commentary (pp. 87–88) for Jesus’s comments about the possession of a sword. Which interpretation seems most likely? Can you think of any other possible interpretations of Jesus’s words here?

- Same

THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE

24. What does Jesus’s need of human support and companionship during his darkest hour teach us about his humanity? Do you think that Jesus’s humanity is often eclipsed by discussions of his divinity? - Because He was a man like us – shares the same fears we experience - Divinity is not eclipsed – He is fully God and fully human

25. Jesus’s commitment to God’s will no matter the cost is a powerful example for us to follow. Have you ever drawn strength from this account of Jesus’s submission to God’s will when you have been faced with a difficult decision? - Follow Christ’s example – bear with failings of the weak to build Him up (Romans

15:1-3) Is obedience to God’s will always worth it, even if it results in death? How so?

Resurrection triumphs over death! It did for Jesus, and it will for those who belong to him. Can you identify with the disciples’ struggle to pray? Jesus knew that the disciples would also be tested and would desperately need the strength that comes through prayer. Our need today is no different.

Good Friday https://vimeo.com/89429101The Scene is the Garden of Gethsemane. A place Judas knew because Jesus often met their with his disciples. The time was most likely after midnight, early Friday morning.

Good Friday is the most difficult day of Passion Week. Christ's journey turned treacherous and acutely painful in these final hours leading to his death. According to Scripture, Judas Iscariot, the disciple who had betrayed Jesus, was overcome with remorse and hanged himself early Friday morning.Meanwhile, before the third hour (9 a.m.), Jesus endured the shame of false accusations, condemnation, mockery, beatings, & abandonment. After multiple unlawful trials, he was sentenced to death by crucifixion, one of the most horrible and disgraceful methods of capital punishment.

Before Christ was led away, soldiers spit on him, tormented and mocked him, and pierced him with a crown of thorns. Then Jesus carried his own cross to Calvary where, again, he was mocked and insulted as Roman

soldiers nailed him to the wooden cross. Jesus spoke seven final statements from the cross. His first words were, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34, NIV). His last were, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46, NIV) Then, about the ninth hour (3 p.m.), Jesus breathed his last and died. By 6 p.m. Friday evening, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, took Jesus' body down from the cross and lay it in a tomb.

THE BETRAYAL AND ARREST OF JESUS

1. Betrayal by a close, trusted friend is painful. Judas’s betrayal even led to Jesus’s death. Have you ever experienced this kind of betrayal (of course, not to the point of death)?

2. How have you responded to it, or how has it shaped your trust in God?

Discussion: Jesus demonstrated his submission to God’s will by the exercise of restraint. He could have escaped, fought back, or called upon divine angelic intervention to protect him. Is your commitment to God’s will enough to sustain you through difficult or dangerous times, or do you seek the easiest way out? Faithful submission is not a human attribute that can be sustained by willpower alone. We desperately need God’s help.

Take a minute to reflect on times in your life when you have compromised your convictions in order to find an easier way out of a situation or problem. If you are currently facing such a choice or situation, take a moment to pray for God’s strength and commit yourself to doing God’s will in the matter, no matter the cost.

THE JEWISH TRIAL OF JESUS (PHASE 1): INFORMAL

3. What do you think motivated Annas’s questions to Jesus about his disciples and teaching? Was he gloating, trying to trap Jesus, or trying to give Jesus a way out of the situation through confession and repentance?

- Jesus refused to give specific answers to Annas – calm, dignified, noncommittal = disrespectful (usually ppl defend self and point fingers)

o Jesus committed later with Pilate – Jews have no authority

4. Summarize Jesus’s response to Annas.

THE JEWISH TRIAL OF JESUS (PHASE 2): MORE FORMAL

5. What separates this stage of Jesus’s trial from the previous stage? What made it “more formal”?

6. Why were the Jewish leaders in such a hurry to expedite the trial? What would happen once the city woke up if they did not quickly arrive at a valid sentence?

- The Jewish leaders violated their own law – no trials at night o This was at the height of Jesus’ popularity – during the day, could not indite

Jesuso Jesus could have escaped if He didn’t want to get caught – didn’t have to

pray at Gethsemane – not outside His control7. What charges did they bring against Jesus, and why did the charges not stick?

8. Read Isaiah 52:13–53:12. How does Jesus’s fulfillment of Isaiah 53:7 during the trial lead us to read the entire section from Isaiah in light of his death? How does the Isaiah text help us understand the significance of Jesus’s death?

9. When Jesus finally breaks his silence, he explosively applies both Dan. 7:13–14 and Ps. 110:1–2 to himself. Why did Jesus’s comments create such a response? How did they provide the Jewish leaders with both political and theological grounds for pursuing the death penalty?

10. How do Jesus’s beatings fulfill Old Testament prophecy?

PETER DENIES JESUS

11. How did Peter’s actions initially seem to confirm his earlier promises of loyalty unto death? What level of danger was he in by his commitment to stay as close as possible to Jesus through the trials?

12. What gave Peter away despite his attempts to blend in with those in the courtyard?

13. How did Peter strengthen his denials of Jesus in an attempt to convince his questioners that he was telling the truth? How did these additional statements compound his guilt?

14. Have you ever felt like Peter felt once he became fully aware of the weight of his betrayal and sin? Did your response mirror Peter’s? Because of his oaths and self-inflicted curse, Peter likely felt that there was no place for forgiveness. He did not know at the time that Jesus was about to bear the consequences of the curse and the full outpouring of God’s judgment upon sin.

THE JEWISH TRIAL OF JESUS (PHASE 3): THE FINAL VERDICT

15. Why was the third phase (charge) of the trial important even though it was a mere formality?

- Jesus is painted as a dangerous revolutionary – “claims to be King” – threat to

Rome/Caesar

JUDAS HANGS HIMSELF

16. What are the reasons, for and against, for thinking that Judas’s repentance did not lead to salvation?

- Big difference between repentance and remorse

o Remorse = sorry you got caught (Judas) o Genuine sorrow leads to repentance

17. How does 2 Corinthians 7:10 communicate the truths that are illustrated by both Peter and Judas?

THE ROMAN TRIAL OF JESUS (PHASE 1): PILATE

18. Why was it necessary for the Jewish leaders to deliver Jesus to Pilate? Why couldn’t they just kill Jesus themselves?

19. Although the Jewish trial focused on the theological charge of blasphemy, Pilate did not care about this charge. What charge did the Jewish leaders highlight when they handed Jesus over to Pilate, and what was the only thing Pilate needed to know to determine his verdict?

20. What three examples did the Jewish leaders give to try to demonstrate to Pilate that Jesus was a threat to Roman rule? Example # 1

Example # 2

Example # 3

21. Summarize the essence of Jesus’s response to Pilate. Was he a political threat to Rome in the way the Jewish leaders were indicating?

22. What was Pilate’s initial verdict concerning Jesus?

23. What caused Pilate to back down from his verdict, and how did the presence of Herod in Jerusalem provide him with a possible way out of the tricky situation?

- Herod was in town – a way to “pass the buck” o Led to Pilate and Herod’s friendship bc they both believed Jesus was

innocentTHE ROMAN TRIAL OF JESUS (PHASE 2): HEROD ANTIPAS

24. What was the extent of Herod’s interest in Jesus?

25. Did Jesus’s trial before Herod help Pilate make his decision?

THE ROMAN TRIAL OF JESUS (PHASE 3): THE FINAL VERDICT

26. Upon the return of Jesus from Herod, Pilate again declared his verdict. What was his verdict, and why did the Jewish leaders not accept it?

27. What did Pilate do next to try to get Jesus off the hook? What was the outcome?

28. What explains the shift in the attitude of the crowd from the excitement of the triumphal entry to the call for Barabbas’s release instead of Jesus’s? In addition to the activity of the Jewish leadership and the charge of blasphemy, it is also likely that the crowd at the triumphal entry was made up primarily of Galilean pilgrims, and the crowd calling for Barabbas were residents of Jerusalem who would have been more loyal to the established Jewish leadership.

29. What is so startling about Jesus’s response to Pilate in John 19:11?

30. What statement do the Jewish leaders make to Pilate in John 19:12, and why would this statement have functioned as a forceful and direct threat?

31. What is so startling and disturbing about the statement from the chief priests, “We have no king but Caesar”? ( John 19:15).

32. In light of an impending riot that would have resulted in significant bloodshed, Pilate gave into the demands of the crowd.

A. How did Pilate communicate that he was not responsible for the death of an innocent man?

B. Was Pilate successful in passing the blame for Jesus’s death onto the Jewish people?

THE ROAD TO GOLGOTHA

33. What was so ironic about the way the soldiers dressed Jesus as a pretend emperor with a robe and a crown of thorns?

34. How does Mark’s mention of Simon’s two sons and the likely presence of one of the sons in Rome a few decades later (Rom. 16:13) introduce a note of redemption and grace into the terrifying narrative? - Simon of Cyrene – helped Jesus carry the cross

o Rufus and Alexander got saved – mentioned by Mark & Paul; became leaders in the church

An early reader of Mark’s Gospel in Rome likely would have recognized immediately the significance of Mark’s mention of Simon’s sons. Rufus would have been an early eyewitness to validate the content of the Gospel narrative at this point.

THE CRUCIFIXION

35. How did Jesus’s death on the cross seem to invalidate his claims and confirm to all Jerusalem that the religious leaders were correct the entire time?

36. Discuss the powerful impact of Jesus’s prayer that God would forgive those who were crucifying and mocking him.

A. How did this foreshadow the forgiveness of sins that would soon be proclaimed throughout the entire world?

B. How does this function as a model for us today?

37. How does the salvation of the repentant robber powerfully illustrate the truth that salvation is by grace through faith and not by works?

38. What was the deeper significance of the charge posted on the cross? Why did the

charge become an early Christian confession, and what did the early Christians mean by it?

39. Spend a minute reflecting on the reality that at the time of his death, Jesus’s possessions consisted only of the clothes on his back. Such a life could hardly be thought of as successful by the world’s standards. How did Jesus’s death fulfill various statements in Psalm 22?

THE DEATH OF JESUS

40. Based upon the symbolism of darkness in some passages in the Old Testament, what is the significance of the supernaturally caused darkness that covered the land during Jesus’s crucifixion?

41. Reflect on or discuss the significance of the following words or events:

o “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”o The manifestation of God’s hatred toward sin

o “It is finished.”o Jesus emphatically said – it’s done! All God’s wrath that we deserved is

absorbed by JESUSo The tearing of the curtain of the temple.

o The Holy of Holies is open for all people for all time o The Roman centurion’s statement that Jesus was the Son of God.

o Got saved or not saved? Saved – very hard for a Roman centurion soldier to recognize Jesus

as Son of God – Rome has many gods; his statement is a change of allegiance from Caesar to God

o Both Roman centurion & thief on the cross – got saved during that hour Why? Jesus’ forgiveness, the silent Shepherd and Passover lamb

o Darkness fell = sympathy for the Son of God

THE BURIAL OF JESUS

42. Consider the involvement of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus in Jesus’s burial.

A. What risks were they taking by identifying with Jesus?

B. What evidence did they provide that the Jewish leadership was not unanimous in its rejection of Jesus?

Saturday https://vimeo.com/89436644The Gospel do not provide any information concerning the activity of the disciples on the Sabbath (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.) We can presume, however based on their actions Friday evening fearfully hiding together behind locked doors that Saturday was spent in secretive fear and dread. They were reeling from the shock of the previous day’s rapid events.

Matthew alone records activity on Saturday. The chief priest and Pharisees approach Pilate and ask him to secure the tomb until the third day (Sunday). The explain to Pilate that the imposter said after 3 days He will rise and express concern that his disciples will steal the body and proclaim a resurrection.

THE JEWISH LEADERS POST GUARDS

1. Mentally put yourself in the place of Jesus’s disciples on this Saturday and consider the wide range of emotions and thoughts they must have endured.

2. While the disciples hid in fear, the Pharisees were active.

A. What did they ask of Pilate?

B. Why did they ask Pilate?

Throughout the course of church history, many people have taught that Jesus’ spirit descended into hell after His death on the cross. Basing this idea on Ephesians 4:8–10 and 1 Peter 3:18–20, most of those who have taught that Jesus’ spirit went to hell after His death have said that He went there to proclaim judgment to sinners and/or rescue the saints of the Old Testament. Today, many in the heretical Word of Faith movement teach that the crucifixion was insufficient to atone for our sins and that Jesus also had to suffer three days of torment in hell.

Faithfulness to all of Scripture, however, requires us to deny that Jesus’ spirit went to hell after He died. First, Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross that he would be with Christ in Paradise

on the same day of their crucifixion (Luke 23:39– 43). Second, nothing in Ephesians 4:8–10 says Jesus descended into hell; Paul means only that Christ descended into the grave. Third, 1 Peter 3:18–20likely refers to the Son of God preaching by the Holy Spirit through Noah to the people of Noah’s day. Finally, Jesus finished His atoning work on the cross. The New Testament speaks of propitiation, the turning away of the Lord’s wrath, only in relation to Jesus shedding His blood on the cross (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 9:1–10:18; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; 5:6–11). Moreover, our Savior’s last words on the cross were “It is finished” (John 19:30). He saw His work as completed when He died. Jesus’ spirit never went to hell, but on the cross He suffered the full wrath of God that is poured out in hell. True, the scourgings of the guards, the nails in Christ’s hands, and the other physical pains Jesus suffered manifested God’s wrath. Nevertheless, the most intense suffering Christ experienced was spiritual in nature, the hopelessness of losing the gaze of His Father’s blessing and the torment of experiencing God’s wrath for the sins of His people (Mark 15:34).

John Calvin comments, “After explaining what Christ endured in the sight of man, the Creed appropriately adds the invisible and incomprehensible judgment which he endured before God, to teach us that not only was the body of Christ given up as the price of redemption, but that there was a greater and more excellent price — that he bore in his soul the tortures of a condemned and ruined man” (Institutes 2.16.10).

Where was Jesus on Saturday?- Unknown – maybe not in Hades? - Didn’t go home until the ascension - ***check video for comment***

Resurrection Sunday: https://vimeo.com/89013208

Human experiences consistently confirms the fact that death is final and irreversible. Nothing changes this nothing natural, that is. But, what of the supernatural? Could God raise his Messiah not seem to expect that God will do so. Death by crucifixion is too great an obstacle.

It has completely overturned all of their preoccupied messianic expectations. There is no way God’s true Messiah could die like that. After all, hadn’t Yahweh revealed in his authoritative law that those who died on a tree like this are either blasphemers or traitors. If Matthew had ended at chapter 27, Mark at chapter 15, Luke at chapter 23, and John at chapter 19, this would indeed be the end of the story. Jesus would have been just another failed messianic pretender who clashed

with the Roman Empire and paid the ultimate price for his folly. The story is not yet over and the world is about to be turned upside down. New Creation is about to break in the midst of this old creation, and nothing will ever be the same.

WOMEN DISCOVER THE EMPTY TOMB

1. In addition to the irreversible reality of death itself, what was it about the manner of Jesus’s death that seemed to undermine any hope of resurrection? (Cf: Deut. 21:22–23.)

2. What logical improbabilities surround the story that the guards were convinced by bribes to spread among the people?

3. The differences between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John concerning how many women went to the tomb and when, and how many angels were there and what they said, pose a difficulty if one assumes that each author provided an exhaustive and scientifically precise account of events.

The reality is that each author, guided by the Holy Spirit, selectively included and arranged the available material based upon the memory of eyewitnesses. The commentary section (pp. 175–80) provides several possible explanations of the differences and possible harmonization’s of the details. Certainty is impossible, but the various options indicate that there are no necessary contradictions. The differences can be explained by authorial selectivity and arrangement and testify to the reality of four different eyewitness accounts that all bear witness to the same reality: Christ rose from the dead!

4. Reflect on the various narratives and discuss the possible solutions to the differences offered in the commentary.

Are there any differences that cannot be plausibly understood as authorial selectivity? Do the differences strengthen your confidence in the main point of each narrative, since a conspiracy would likely have resulted in a more unified account? Yes No

These differences need to be discussed and understood by Christians. If we leave it up to atheists and opponents of Christianity to discuss the differences, we leave room for would-be believers to be shaken by the claim that the Bible contains errors and contradictions. Legitimate historical harmonization is possible.

THE WOMEN TELL THE DISCIPLES

5. What is the significance of the fact that Jesus received the worship of the women and did not rebuke them (Matt. 28:8–10)?

PETER AND JOHN RUSH TO THE TOMB

6. Peter and John find the tomb empty with the linen cloths and face cloth folded up. What does the presence of these items indicate?

MARY RETURNS TO THE TOMB AND ENCOUNTERS JESUS

7. Discuss the significance of Jesus’s use of familial language in reference to his followers:

“Brothers”

“My Father and your Father.”

ENCOUNTER ON EMMAUS ROAD

8. Cleopas’s description of the things that had just transpired is fascinating because it is from the perspective of someone not among the Twelve. How does he describe Jesus and his hope in Jesus?

9. The disappointment Cleopas expresses concerning Jesus’s crucifixion correlates with John’s statement that the disciples did not know or expect that Jesus would rise from the dead ( John 20:9).

How does this lack of expectation strengthen our perception of the historical reliability of the resurrection?

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself ” (Luke 24:27). It is likely that this conversation jump-started early Christian interpretation of the Old Testament in reference to Jesus. We do not know exactly what passages Jesus discussed, but it is likely that Isaiah 53 was included.

10. Read Isaiah 52:13–53:12 and identify statements that point forward to a suffering Savior.

JESUS APPEARS TO THE TEN WITHOUT THOMAS

11. How did Jesus convince the disciples that he was not a ghost?

12. Compare John 20:21 with John 3:16. Jesus was sent on a mission by God to the world, and in John 20:21 he includes his disciples in that mission. We, as Christians today, are included in this mission. How does John 3:16 help us understand our mission as representatives and extensions of Christ throughout the world?

EPILOGUE: LATER APPEARANCES OF JESUS AND THE ASCENSION

JESUS APPEARS TO THE ELEVEN, INCLUDING THOMAS - (JOHN 20:24–31)

1. Have you ever identified with Thomas’s desire for solid evidence? Thomas often gets negatively portrayed, but Jesus did not reject him for his hesitancy. Rather, he directly reached out to him and provided the evidence necessary for belief.

2. Spend a few minutes discussing this question:

What evidence(s) has God provided you to lead you to faith in Jesus for salvation? Jesus declares a special blessing upon you and me: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

3. Discuss John’s purpose statement in John 20:30. John wrote his Gospel as an eyewitness who was absolutely convinced of Jesus’s resurrection. His desire, as part of God’s mission to the world, is for as many people as possible to hear about Jesus, believe, and find eternal life in Jesus.

JESUS APPEARS TO SOME AT THE SEA OF GALILEE - (JOHN 21)

4. John 21 centers on Jesus’s full restoration of Peter.

A. What parallels are there between this account and Peter’s denials?

B. What has changed within Peter as a result of his experience of complete failure and forgiveness and restoration?

5. In John 21:22 what point does Jesus drive home to Peter in response to Peter’s question about the fate of John? How can we apply this point to our own lives?

THE GREAT COMMISSION - (MATT. 28:16–20; LUKE 24:45–49; JOHN 20:21–23; ACTS 1:8)

We may wish that the Gospel authors had recorded more things from Jesus’s discussions with his disciples during the forty days between his resurrection and ascension. John records the restoration of Thomas and of Peter.

Luke records the meeting with two disciples on the Emmaus road. In addition to these items, each of the Gospels emphasize one central point in Jesus’s final weeks of teaching. There is one thing in particular that Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples would not forget, marginalize, or get wrong.

6. What was that thing? Summarize it in your own words.

7. How should this emphasis in Jesus’s final words impact your life, decisions, and priorities? Every Christian is called to join Jesus in God’s mission to the world. That is a central part of what it means to be a Christian.

THE ASCENSION: (LUKE 24:50–53; ACTS 1:9–11)

8. Jesus made it clear to his disciples that there will be a delay in the physical, concrete, full realization of God’s kingdom on earth. Sometimes it is missed that he also clearly communicated the reason for the delay: the Great Commission.

How do the words of the two angels give us hope in the midst of this delay?

We write with the same purpose as John (John 20:30). We are convinced of the truthfulness of the resurrection as attested to by the Word of God and invite you, the reader, to be forgiven and transformed by the same God who has forgiven and is transforming us.

Take a minute at the conclusion of this study to reflect on your relationship and allegiance to Jesus. If you have made a commitment and surrender of your life to his rule, then use the moment to thank him and worship him.

If you have not yet taken that step:

Why delay? Yes, it will require faith and surrender, but the faith is not blind faith. It is supported by eyewitness testimony and the inward witness of the Holy Spirit, and the surrender is of the sin that harms and destroys us so that we can experience and be filled with Jesus’s resurrection power.

Why delay?

Potential ScheduleWeek 1 Palm SundayWeek 2 Monday-WednesdayWeek 3 Thursday, pt. 1Week 4 Thursday, pt. 2Week 5 Friday, pt. 1Week 6 Friday, pt. 2Week 7 Friday, pt. 3Week 8 Saturday & Resurrection Sunday

Good FridayStations – each D-group responsible for a station

- Bethlehem- Pick 1 item from each day (Palm Sunday – Good Friday)