FAITH CHALLENGE
Jesus: Passion and Resurrection
Holy Week 1
Lesson A, Week 1
Scripture: Matthew
21-27 (CEV)
Memory Verses: “Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us.” (Romans 5:10, CEV)
“God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.” (John 3:16, CEV)
Note to Guide and Coaches: This lesson’s focus is on learning the sequence of events of Holy Week, the last week of Christ’s life and ministry. Rather than teach concepts derived from a specific Bible story, this lesson teaches the events themselves as they unfold.
·
The students will read
and hear a condensed version of the events of Holy Week as recounted in the
Gospel according to Matthew.
·
The students will
summarize the events of Holy Week in their own words and use these summaries to
construct sequencing puzzles that recount the events of Holy Week.
·
The students will
“drill” the sequence of events of Holy Week by solving each other’s puzzles.
1. The Coach leads the opening routine: snack,
fellowship, Prayer Wall activity, and Prayer Chain. Name tags are available.
2. The Coach reviews the timeline and the previous
week’s activity.
3. Introduce the Guide who leads the Workshop Lesson.
1. Introduce the memory verses for this lesson set. Note there are two memory verses: Romans
5:10 and John 3:16. Many youth may have
already memorized John 3:16 in Faith Quest, so we are introducing two verses
for this lesson.
2. Explain the purpose of this workshop. In the next two weeks this class will be
learning about Holy Week. In this
week’s lesson, the youth will focus on learning the sequence of events of Holy
Week. In next week’s lesson, the youth
will create a series of pictures and prayers that they will share with the
congregation to help them pray during Holy Week.
3. Talk briefly about Lent. Ask if anyone knows what Lent is (Lent is a time of
preparation for Easter. During Lent we
concentrate on Jesus’ sacrifice. Lent
is also a time of “penitence,” which means feeling sorry for our sins.). The Book of Common Worship says the
following about Lent:
· “Lent is a season of forty weekdays and six Sundays beginning on Ash Wednesday and culminating during Holy Week. During this season, the church, in joy and sorrow, proclaims, remembers, and responds to the atoning death of Christ. Two distinct periods at the end of Lent are Holy Week (the week immediately proceeding Easter, beginning with Passion/Palm Sunday) and the Three Days (the final three days comprising Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil.”[1]
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1. Ask students to tidy up. Collect the manila folders and the copies of “Jesus’ Last Week.”
1. The Coach conducts the closing prayer time.
2. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights.
1. Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.
2. You will need the room set up with tables and chairs for this activity.
3. Print out the paintings, in color, with the grids on the back. These grids will be the spaces where the children summarize the events of Holy Week.
4. Make photocopies of “Jesus’ Last Week.” It would be helpful to do two-sided photocopying if possible.
· Photocopies of the condensed version of Matthew 21-27 from the CEV (“Jesus Last Week”). One for each student. These will be handed out at the beginning of the lesson and collected at the end for use next week.
· Flipchart paper or whiteboard with sample grid displayed
· Artwork (paintings) printed on card stock with grids printed on back.
· Pencils, markers, or pens
· Scissors
· 12 Manila folders
The idea for the puzzles in this lesson came from the web site of Tracy Gefroh Boyd: http://www.quia.com/pages/sequencingfun.html
Artwork Credits:
· Entry into Jerusalem, Unknown Ottonian, Regensburg, about 1030 – 1040, © 2003 The J. Paul Getty Trust. All rights reserved.
· Cleansing the Temple, Bernardino Mei Italian, 1650s, © 2003 The J. Paul Getty Trust. All rights reserved.
· Woman anointing Jesus: Wu Yuen-kwei, Her Sins Are Forgiven, reproduced in The Bible Through Asian Eyes, The Asian Christian Art Association, Aukland, New Zealand
· Judas Receiving Payment for his Betrayal, 1304-06, © Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx.
· The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1498
· The Agony in the Garden, perhaps 1500-5, attributed to SPAGNA, Lo
· Christ before Caiaphas, 1304-06, © Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx.
· Denial: http://www.jesusmafa.com/anglais/imag52a.htm.
· Pilate Washing his Hands, 1308-11, © Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx.
· Crucifixion, c. 1476, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, © Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx.
· Crucifixion, Rubens, 1620-21. CGFA.
· The Entombment, 1602-03, © Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Kren and Daniel Marx.
When Jesus and his disciples came near
Jerusalem, he went to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives and sent two of them on
ahead. 2 He told them, "Go into
the next village, where you will at once find a donkey and her colt. Untie the
two donkeys and bring them to me. 3
If anyone asks why you are doing that, just say, 'The Lord needs them.' Right
away he will let you have the donkeys."
6 The disciples left and did
what Jesus had told them to do. 7
They brought the donkey and its colt and laid some clothes on their backs. Then
Jesus got on.
8 Many people spread clothes in the road,
while others put down branches which they had cut from trees. 9 Some people walked ahead of Jesus and others
followed behind. They were all shouting, "Hooray for the Son of David! God
bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hooray for God in heaven
above!" 10 When Jesus came to Jerusalem, everyone in the
city was excited and asked, "Who can this be?"11 The crowd answered, "This is Jesus, the
prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
12 Jesus went into the temple and chased out
everyone who was selling or buying. He turned over the tables of the
moneychangers and the benches of the ones who were selling doves. 13 He told them, "The Scriptures say, 'My house
should be called a place of worship.' But you have turned it into a place where
robbers hide."
When Jesus had finished teaching, he told
his disciples, 2
"You know that two days from now will be Passover. That is when the Son of
Man will be handed over to his enemies and nailed to a cross."
3 At that time the chief priests and the nation's
leaders were meeting at the home of Caiaphas the high priest. 4 They planned how they could sneak around and have
Jesus arrested and put to death. 5 But they said, "We must not do it during
Passover, because the people will riot."
6 Jesus was in the town of Bethany, eating at the
home of Simon, who had leprosy. 7 A woman came in with a bottle of expensive
perfume and poured it on Jesus' head. 8 But when his disciples saw this, they became
angry and complained, "Why such a waste? 9 We could have sold this perfume for a lot of
money and given it to the poor." 10 Jesus knew what they were thinking and he said:
Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. 11 You will always have the poor with you, but you
won't always have me. 12 She
has poured perfume on my body to prepare it for burial. 13 You may be sure that wherever the good news is
told all over the world, people will remember what she has done. And they will
tell others.
14 Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve disciples.
He went to the chief priests 15 and asked, "How much will you give me if I
help you arrest Jesus?" They paid Judas thirty silver coins, 16 and from then on he started looking for a good
chance to betray Jesus.
17 On the first day of the Festival of Thin Bread,
Jesus' disciples came to him and asked, "Where do you want us to prepare
the Passover meal?"18
Jesus told them to go to a certain man in the city and tell him, "Our
teacher says, 'My time has come! I want to eat the Passover meal with my
disciples in your home.' " 19 They did as Jesus told them and prepared the
meal.
26 During the meal Jesus took some bread in his
hands. He blessed the bread and broke it. Then he gave it to his disciples and
said, "Take this and eat it. This is my body." 27 Jesus picked up a cup of wine and gave thanks to
God. He then gave it to his disciples and said, "Take this and drink it. 28 This is my blood, and with it God makes his
agreement with you. It will be poured out, so that many people will have their
sins forgiven. 29 From
now on I am not going to drink any wine, until I drink new wine with you in my
Father's kingdom." 30 Then
they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
36 Jesus went with his disciples to a place called
Gethsemane. When they got there, he told them, "Sit here while I go over
there and pray."37
Jesus took along Peter and the two brothers, James and John. He was very sad
and troubled, 38 and
he said to them, "I am so sad that I feel as if I am dying. Stay here and
keep awake with me."39
Jesus walked on a little way. Then he knelt with his face to the ground and
prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, don't make me suffer by having me
drink from this cup. But do what you want, and not what I want."40 He came back and found his disciples sleeping. So
he said to Peter, "Can't any of you stay awake with me for just one hour?
The time has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to sinners. 46 Get up! Let's go. The one who will betray me is
already here."
47 Jesus was still speaking, when Judas the betrayer
came up. He was one of the twelve disciples, and a large mob armed with swords
and clubs was with him. They had been sent by the chief priests and the
nation's leaders. 48
Judas had told them ahead of time, "Arrest the man I greet with a
kiss."49 Judas
walked right up to Jesus and said, "Hello, teacher." Then Judas
kissed him.50 Jesus
replied, "My friend, why are you here?" The men grabbed Jesus and
arrested him. 55
Jesus said to the mob, "Why do you come with swords and clubs to arrest me
like a criminal? Day after day I sat and taught in the temple, and you didn't
arrest me." All of Jesus' disciples left him and ran away.
57 After Jesus had been arrested, he was led off to
the house of Caiaphas the high priest. The nation's leaders and the teachers of
the Law of Moses were meeting there. 58 But Peter followed along at a distance and came
to the courtyard of the high priest's palace. He went in and sat down with the
guards to see what was going to happen.59 The chief priests and the whole council wanted to
put Jesus to death. So they tried to find some people who would tell lies about
him in court. 60 But
they could not find any, even though many did come and tell lies. At last, two
men came forward 61 and
said, "This man claimed that he would tear down God's temple and build it
again in three days."
62 The high priest stood up and asked Jesus,
"Why don't you say something in your own defense? Don't you hear the
charges they are making against you?" 63 But Jesus did not answer. So
the high priest said, "With the living God looking on, you must tell the
truth. Tell us, are you the Messiah, the Son of God?"64
"That is what you say!" Jesus answered. 65 The high
priest then tore his robe and said, "This man claims to be God! We don't
need any more witnesses! You have heard what he said. 66 What do
you think?" They answered, "He is guilty and deserves to die!" 67 Then
they spit in his face and hit him with their fists.
69 While
Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, a servant girl came up to him and said,
"You were with Jesus from Galilee."70 But in
front of everyone Peter said, "That isn't so! I don't know what you are
talking about!" 71 When
Peter had gone out to the gate, another servant girl saw him and said to some
people there, "This man was with Jesus from Nazareth."72 Again
Peter denied it, and this time he swore, "I don't even know that
man!" 73 A little
while later some people standing there walked over to Peter and said, "We
know that you are one of them. We can tell it because you talk like someone
from Galilee."74 Peter
began to curse and swear, "I don't know that man!" Right then a rooster crowed, 75 and
Peter remembered that Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows, you will
say three times that you don't know me." Then Peter went out and cried
hard.
Early the next morning all the chief
priests and the nation's leaders met and decided that Jesus should be put to
death. 11 Jesus was brought before Pilate the
governor, who asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Those
are your words!" Jesus answered. 12 And when the chief priests and leaders brought
their charges against him, he did not say a thing.13 Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear what
crimes they say you have done?" 14 But Jesus did not say anything, and the governor
was greatly amazed.
15 During Passover the governor always freed a
prisoner chosen by the people. 16 At that time a well-known terrorist named Jesus
Barabbas was in jail. 17 So
when the crowd came together, Pilate asked them, "Which prisoner do you
want me to set free? Do you want Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the
Messiah?" "Barabbas!" they replied.22 Pilate asked them, "What am I to do with
Jesus, who is called the Messiah?" They all yelled, "Nail him to a
cross!"23 Pilate
answered, "But what crime has he done?" "Nail him to a
cross!" they yelled even louder.24 Pilate saw that there was nothing he could do and
that the people were starting to riot. So he took some water and washed his
hands in front of them and said, "I won't have anything to do with killing
this man. You are the ones doing it!" 26 Pilate set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his
soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross.
35 The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled
to see who would get his clothes. 36 Then they sat down to guard him. 37 Above his head they put a sign that told why he
was nailed there. It read, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." 38 The soldiers also nailed two criminals on
crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.39 People who passed by said terrible things about
Jesus. They shook their heads and 40 shouted, "So you're the one who claimed you
could tear down the temple and build it again in three days! If you are God's
Son, save yourself and come down from the cross!"
45 At noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way
until three o'clock. 46 Then
about that time Jesus shouted, "My God, my God, why have you deserted
me?" 50 Once again
Jesus shouted, and then he died. 55 Many women had come with Jesus from Galilee to be
of help to him, and they were there, looking on at a distance. 56 Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and
Joseph, and the mother of James and John were some of these women.
57 That evening a rich disciple named Joseph from the town of Arimathea 58 went and asked for Jesus' body. Pilate gave orders for it to be given to Joseph, 59 who took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. 60 Then Joseph put the body in his own tomb that had been cut into solid rock and had never been used. He rolled a big stone against the entrance to the tomb and went away.