Arrest, Trial, Crucifixion

Next Sunday (July 26) we will focus on the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus.

(Link to the gospel doctrine instructor's manual)

There is a lot of reading listed in the manual: Matthew 26.47-75 and all of chapter 27; Mark 14.43-72 and chapter 15; Luke 22.47-71 and chapter 23; John 18 and 19.


We will focus on the three following passages:

The arrest of Jesus in John 18:1-14

The trial of Jesus in Mark 15.1-15

And the crucifixion of Jesus in Matthew 27.28-51

Here are a few questions to consider about Jesus' arrest:
-How does Jesus present himself and why is this significant?
-How can what happens to the Roman soldiers be considered a scriptural pattern for encountering God?
-Compare/contrast this passage with Abraham's interaction with God in Genesis 18.
-How does Jesus respond to Peter's continued lack of understanding about His mission?

A question about Jesus's trial:
-Compare and contrast Jesus's substitution for Barabbas with his substitution for his disciples in John 18.8. What conclusion do you draw from bringing these two passages into parallel?

Finally, some questions about Jesus's crucifixion:
What appears to be the source of Christ's greatest pain on the cross?
Why do you think he goes through with it?
At the moment of Christ's death, the veil of the temple tears, symbolizing the fulfillment of the law and suggestion that access to the divine is now open to everyone through Christ. If this is true, why would we, as Christians, still have temples?

Not My Will, But Thine, Be Done

Next Sunday (July 19) Michaela will teach lesson 25. Here are the links to the instructor's manual and to the class member study guide. This lesson focuses on the Savior's suffering in Gethsemane.

Knowing God, Knowing Joy

Next week (Sunday July 12) we will discuss John 16 and 17.

Here are the links to the teacher's manual and the student guide (lesson 24).

We will focus on two questions:

1) What does it mean to know God? (See John 17)
2) Is joy possible in this life and what is joy? (See John 16.16-33)

Follow up to our in-class discussion:
We didn't have time to discuss the idea of knowing God in class. Here are a few thoughts:
-We can know about God without knowing Him.
-But we cannot know God without knowing about Him.
-To know God is to know about him through study and prayer, and to know him by reaching out to his treasure, our neighbors. It is also to know something of his joy (John 16) and of his suffering (John 17).
-The key feature of Christianity is not a series of commandments or even a lifestyle, it is that eternal life comes through a personal relationship with a divine person.

Love One Another

On July 5th Michaela will lead a discussion based on the material from lesson 23 in the gospel doctrine manual. Here is a link to the teachers manual and here is a link to the class member study guide.

Waiting for the Lord

On Sunday June 28 we will discuss Matthew 25. It is lesson 22 in the gospel doctrine instructor's manual. And here is a link to lesson 22 in the gospel doctrine class member study guide.

Matthew 24 focused on the Parousia, the physical presence of the Lord, usually translated as the second coming.

In Matthew 25, Jesus suggests what attitudes and actions to have while we, as believers, wait for that moment of renewal. I think this chapter points to what Tom Griffith has called the vertical and the horizontal pull of the atonement. In other words, while waiting for the bridegroom to return, we are invited to look up to Christ (vertical) and out to the poor, the sick, and the captive (horizontal).

There are three passages in Matthew 25:

The parable of the foolish and wise virgins

• How does this parable relate to Christ's lesson in Matthew 7.22-23?
• What does this parable suggest about how we are to wait?
• What does this imply about how we live our faith each day?

 The parable of the talents

• First, remember that a talent is a substantial sum of money. While it's impossible to say what the precise equivalent is, some suggest that a single talent is worth a million US dollars today. Many translations use the phrase "bag of gold" (instead of "talent") to underscore the amount in question.
• How is this parable related to the Parousia (Matthew 24) and to the parable of the wise and foolish virgins?
• What prevents the slothful servant from investing the money he is given? How might this be relevant to us?
• In the preceding parable, the foolish virgins are foolish because they go into the market instead of waiting; in this parable, the unprofitable servant is unprofitable because he doesn't go into the market while waiting. How might you explain this apparent contradiction?

The sheep and the goats

• This passage relates what will happen when the Son of Man comes in his glory: he will divide the wise from the foolish, the profitable servants from the unprofitable ones, the sheep from the goats.
• Like many websites that discuss sheep and goats, this one states, "If you look closely at sheep and goats, you'll notice their physical differences and be able to distinguish between the two." The implication is that the difference isn't readily obvious: you have to "look closely" to distinguish sheep from goats. What does this imply about the judgment described in Matthew 25.31-33?
• How is this passage (Matthew 25.31-46) connected to the parable of the talents? (By the way, the answer to this question is, I think, the key to understanding the parable of the talents.)

June 21

The lesson for June 21 is lesson 21. Michaela is slated to teach.

Accepting the King

Gospel doctrine manual lesson 20.

Lesson for June 14. Taught by Corry.

In class we will focus on passages from Matthew 21 and Matthew 22.

Jesus enters as king in Jerusalem. He choreographs a triumphant entry that makes him a fulfillment of prophecies found in Genesis and Zechariah and comes with supporters from Bethphage and Bethany (where he had recently raised Lazarus from the grave) who herald him as "Son of David." He then goes to the temple where he overturns the tables of the money changers and calls the temple, "My house."

After Jesus cleanses the temple, the religious leaders ("chief priests and elders") in Jerusalem question his authority. They had authority through their schooling and moral living; Jesus was just an upstart without the proper credentials! Jesus's responses suggest that they have gotten in the way of their own salvation, that their understanding of religious authority prevents them from recognizing divine authority from the Father.  He offers several examples of how religious people fail to recognize Christ as king:

1) They put themselves in the place of God
Read the parable of the husbandmen/tenants (21.28-46)
Who do the different people represent?
How might people today be guilty of "killing the son" in the way the tenants do in this parable?

2) They don't want to change or give up the life they have
Read the parable of the wedding banquet (22.1-14)
Who are the first guests and why don't they come?
Who replaces them?
What's up with the garment story (verses 11-14)?

3) They put their ultimate faith in worldly structures
Read the account of the imperial head tax (22.15-22)
The coin in question is a denarius. Read about it here. What is its significance?
What does Christ's response imply about political power structures?
What should our commitment be to them?
What ultimately will change the world, according to this passage?