Catechist HANDOUT CATECHIST NOTES

There is no large group for Week 15 – 2/9/2020 IGNITE this week. Proceed The Topic: directly to your small SET THE WORLD group room. ABLAZE! Background Material OBJECTIVES Key Ideas for this week - The Four Faces of by 1. Help teens respond to Virginia Smith – Catholic  A gospel is an account describing the the central question every life, death, and of Update () Christian must answer is Nazareth in order to communicate the “Who do you say Christ is?” - Resources in the Catholic ‘Good News” the revelation of God’s love in Youth Bible (CYB) 2. Briefly review the and through Jesus Christ, proclaimed - Gospel Comparisons in the initially by Christ, then by the Apostles, and material presented over the last two sessions. CYB p. C32 (this will be useful now by the Church this week and in the next

 A Gospel is NOT a biography in the 3. Help the teens to see how lesson on the Gospel of John) modern sense of this word; a gospel is a different John’s gospel is - Introduction to the Gospel from the synoptic gospels. testimony of faith – an account of how a of John – CYB 1475 (ask your person or community of persons 4. Help teens understand teens to read this before you experienced Jesus as the Son of God in the importance of the meet next). their lives. ‘signs’ John presents and - THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO  the “I Am” statements The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke JOHN – short article prepared are considered synoptic 5. Continue work on your by the U.S. Catholic Bishops class Portrait of Jesus (due gospels because there are many Conference - at the end of class on Feb. similarities between them that are not http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 23) shared by the Gospel of John. john/0

The Gospel according to John is quite OVERVIEW different in character from the synoptic - 2. Major Differences 1. 4 pm Mass gospels. Between John and the 2. 5:00-5:15pm - a. It is highly literary and symbolic Synoptic Gospels | Bible.org b. It does not follow the same order or Hospitality in the https://bible.org/seriespage/2- reproduce the same stories as the Narthex major-differences-between-john- synoptic gospels. 3. 5:30- 7:00pm Small and-synoptic-gospels c. it is the product of a developed Group Lesson Plan (geared toward catechists – theological reflection and grows out of a read before your next class on different circle and tradition.

Feb. 26).

John’s Gospel is known as a signs gospel. SHORT YOUTUBE VIDEOS Unique elements in the Gospel of John a. John presents no parables and Bible Basics series - The Gospel of John - Pt 1 relatively few stories of healings LESSON COMPONENTS b. John presents eight signs to show (1:57) A. Community Building Jesus' divinity beginning with the https://www.youtube.com/ B. Shared experiences by watch?v=2Xj8jTXzsKg changing of water to wine at Cana and ending with the greatest of the signs – adults and teens The Gospel of John Pt. 2 – his death and resurrection C. Scripture & Prayer The Structure of the Gospel c. John presents seven "I AM" D. Catholic Teaching (3:50) sayings in which Jesus declares his E. Putting Faith Into Action divinity and himself as the messiah F. Announcements

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A. Community Building (20 minutes) CATECHIST NOTES  Divide your class into three smaller teams. Use peers to fill in to make https://www.youtube.com/watc the groups even numbers if needed. h?v=WzVhgt92eKA

 Ask each team to compete the Gospel Challenge Quiz (copies will be in - The Gospel of John – Pt. your bin) about things covered over the prior two sessions. Instruct the 3 - (2:19) Jesus in the groups that they are Gospel of John . To complete the quiz as a group https://www.youtube.com/ . Can use their Bibles and Teen Handouts from prior sessions watch?v=PTasGISa5hU

. They only have eight minutes to complete the quiz - The Gospel of John – Pt. 4 – use a cell phone as a timer. Themes in the Gospel of – make sure they are all ready to begin and say start John (8:16) - give them a 2 minute warning https://www.youtube.com/wat - stop them all at the same time ch?v=IzBd99-P2KM

. The winning team will get a prize (provided by the Teen Faith The Gospel of John: Pt. 5 -- office) John and me (2:15) -  When the time is up have the groups exchange their answer sheets and https://www.youtube.com/wat give the correct answers. Have all the teens record the correct answers ch?v=4o8uzJhBLtI in their TH3. The Bible Project series  The highest scoring group gets a prize (provided by the Teen Faith Office). - John Ch. 1-12 (8:45) https://www.youtube.com/wat

ch?v=G-2e9mMf7E8 DISCUSSION - John Ch. 13-21 (8:31) 1. What new things have you learned about the gospels and/or Jesus over https://www.youtube.com/wat the past two sessions? ch?v=RUfh_wOsauk 2. How does learning more about how the gospels were formulated and developed help us read the gospels more intelligently? Why are the non- 3. What qualities, teachings and actions of Jesus that we have been talking Canonical gospels not about are personally meaningful to you? considered valid? By Joe Paprocki http://bustedhalo.com/questio B. Catholic Teaching (25-30 minutes) nbox/why-are-the-non-  Direct your teens to TH2 and review the terms they should know for this canonical-gospels-not- week. Many of these terms would have been covered in reviewing the considered-valid Some of answers to the quiz your teens may have heard there are other gospels that Key Biblical Terms are not in the New Testament. This short article Gospel – “the good news” of the revelation of God in and through Jesus Christ, answers that question proclaimed initially by him, then by the Apostles, and now by the Church (CYB p. accurately and succinctly

1848)

- Why did God give us four Narrative gospel - A narrative is a report of related events presented to the Gospels? Short article that listeners or readers in words arranged in a logical sequence. The focus of a may be useful to both narrative gospel is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. catechists and teens. Matthew Mark and Luke are all narrative gospels. https://www.gotquestions.org

Non-canonical gospel – gospels written but not included in the New /four-Gospels.html Testament. After much discussion and debate the Church leadership ultimately decided what would be included and what would not be Unless one of your teens included. Many of these writings are still available to us under the name of asks there is no need to apocryphal gospels. spend a lot of time on the

non-canonical gospels. Signs gospel – A collection of observable signs and wonders (symbolic However, if some does ask actions) carried out by Jesus that the evangelist presents to the listeners or address it. readers as evidence of God’s saving action meant to bring believers to faith. 2 | P a g e

Sayings gospel – a collection of the sayings of Jesus. Scholars believe the CATECHIST NOTES ‘Q’ source was a sayings gospel. There was far more material

Synoptic gospels – The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke – these in the oral tradition than Gospels can be "seen" or "read together," because of the many parallels was used in the four that exists among the three. canonical gospels. The

reason the Church did not The “Q” source - scholars have identified that Matthew and Luke shared another include all the gospels is source in addition to the Gospel of Mark. They call this source “Q” taken from the varied German word Quelle, meaning "source" . some were repetitive Oral Tradition – the collection of the stories and teachings of Jesus handed on to . some were hard to us by eyewitnesses through word of mouth. As time went on, the Apostles and understand (especially other eyewitnesses to the saving acts of Jesus were dying. People realized it was the sayings gospels) important to have a written record of the oral tradition. The written record . Some contained material became the Gospels as we know them. that could not be

corroborated by other  Review with your teens the process of moving from the oral tradition to sources so their veracity written accounts. was questioned . There was a lot of material from the oral tradition circulating among . some were incomplete the various Christian communities . some opposed the . Not every Christian community had access to all of the oral tradition. common understanding of . As new information from the oral tradition and early written accounts who Christ was and what reached Christian communities their understanding of Jesus grew and he taught and were thus changed. This is true for us too as we solidify what our class portrait is deemed heretical. going to contain. . Not only did the access to eyewitness accounts expand so also did the SHARE THE CATHOLIC community’s reflection on this material develop. The fruit of personal TEACHING SECTION WITH and communal reflection influenced the way early Christians YOUR PEERS interpreted the material. Our class portrait will be a combination of what we know about Jesus and our reflection about what is most NOTE: When reviewing the important or meaningful to us. key biblical terms for this

 At our last session we focused on the synoptic gospels – Matthew, Mark week once again make sure and Luke your teens understand what . We discovered that Mark’s gospel, the first to be written, became a the oral tradition was and source of material for Matthew and Luke how it moved to be a written account. . We also discovered that Matthew and Luke also shared another source, the scholars call “Q” and that both Matthew and Luke chose different Make sure teens understand material from these two sources when writing their gospels that each evangelist drew o Matthew chose certain stories and teachings based on what his from the same oral tradition listeners and readers would best relate to as did Luke – just like but no one gospel includes you chose certain stories and teachings from either Mark, the entire oral tradition.

Matthew or Luke that you found most meaningful during last session. Direct your teens to the  John has two purposes in writing his gospel (direct teens to Gospel Comparison chart appropriate box on TH1 on C32 in their CYB. Direct 1. He wants us to believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God their attention to the 2. He wants our belief to change us – to change the way we live, the historical situation box way we think, feel, and behave. under John. Point out that at this point both the Romans Direct your teens to :1-5. Ask a volunteer to read it while and the Jews are persecuting the others follow along. Christians.

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Ask the teens CATECHIST NOTES What 3 things about Jesus does the evangelist identify in this passage? (Jesus is the Word of God, life and light).

Have another teen read John 1:6-9.

Ask: 1. Who is the evangelist talking about in this passage? (John the This is a key question you Baptist) 2. What is ’s role? (to testify to the truth) can spend some time on. 3. What does it mean to testify to the truth? This might be a good place to have you or one of your  John’s gospel is quite different in character from the synoptic peers give an example gospels. from your own life. . It is highly literary and symbolic – the first five verses we read, read like poetry . It does not follow the same order or reproduce the same stories as the Cover these points in your synoptic gospels. own words. o It appears that John was using a totally new source of material to write his gospel.

 Unique elements in the Gospel of John . Not only is John drawing on different source material he is structuring his gospel differently o John presents no parables and relatively few stories of healings and lots of new stories o John’s chronology is different o John’s focus or emphasis is different . John presents seven signs to show Jesus' divinity beginning with the changing of water to wine at Cana (direct the teens to the box Seven Signs of Jesus on TH1)

. Not only are these events part of the Jesus story, for John they are SYMBOLIC – These seven events represent something bigger, something more than even themselves. When we hear or read these ‘signs’ John wants us to start making links between what the story represents and our life.

C. Scripture (15-20 min)

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These questions are a mix Symbolic Events of both comprehension and application questions. John 5: 1-9 You might point out that Cure of the Lame Man finding out what the Sheep Gate and the pool of  Invite a teen or peer to read the passage aloud, having everyone else Bethesda are improve our follow along. understanding of the story 1. What is the Sheep Gate? (Jerusalem was a walled city. You could only enter and are an example of the city at certain points where there historical critical method were openings or gates. The Sheep of scripture interpretation. Gate was on the north of the city by which animals were brought in from the countryside for sacrifice).

2. What is near the Sheep Gate? (The pool of Bethesda - a hot spring pool just

outside the city gates where the sick went to soak in the waters for relief of pain. These waters had healing properties – think therapeutic whirlpool)

3. What does the man want from Jesus? (Help getting into the pool at the right time – when the waters were stirred – were their most effective). 4. What did Jesus do for this man? (Healed him so he no longer needed to come to this place and wait for healing).

Now let’s look at the symbolic meaning of the story

5. Who does the lame man represent? (Everyone who needs to be healed, which

is all of US). 6. What is Jesus willing to do for us? (heal us) 7. What do we have to do? (Trust him enough to ask for healing). 8. Who does Jesus represent in this story? (Jesus is the Sheep Gate, our access to

the life giving waters of healing).

9. Keep thinking about Jesus as a gate, a point of access – what else might

Jesus be the point of access for? (Peace of mind, self-esteem, forgiveness, justice, guidance, comfort, freedom…)

Each group will present their portrait to the other A. Putting Faith Into Action (25-30 minutes) IGNITE groups during  Your class portrait needs to be finished by the end of class tonight. large group on March 5.  At our next session, Feb. 26, each IGNITE group will present their Jesus portrait Teen faith will be happy to to the other IGNITE groups during Large group. Spend some time talking about store them after class on their presentation. If you need help with the presentation let Mel know. Feb. 26. They will also be displayed to the whole B. Announcements parish. 1. Next week we have to present so make sure all your teens are

on time for Large group. 2. Christian Rock Concert on March 12 for IGNITE and their friends There is no charge for this event. Encourage your IGNITE teens to invite friends from school or other churches.

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LESSON PREPARATION NOTES: Things I will need for class this week: Is there something I want to pick up or go over from last week’s class? ______

My community building activity this week will be ______

______The Key Ideas/Objectives ______for this week are

What parts of the lesson will the Peer Ministers lead/facilitate? ______Do I need anything from the Faith Office prior to class? ______Things I need to consult Mel about ______Other______

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