THE KING IN JERUSALEM (TALK 11/12: JESUS’ DEATH & RESURRECTION) SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CONNECT: Who can you invite to our Good Friday and Easter Day services? How will you do it? WARM-UP 1. As our celebrations of Easter this year looked a little different, what changed for you? What did you miss most? What gave you a greater appreciation of Jesus’ death and resurrection? 2. What is it about Easter that most gives you a certainty even amidst such uncertain times? READ Matthew 27:27-44 1. What most stands out for you in this account? Is there anything that you haven’t noticed before? 2. How do verses 27-29 point to Jesus’ ultimate purpose? How has it been fulfilled? 3. How does Jesus differ to every other king in existence? What makes him the ultimate king? 4. What was the irony in the mocking of Jesus, “he saved others, but he can’t save himself…”? Have you ever witnessed people mocking Jesus? Do you think we can ever mock Jesus with our lives? READ Matthew 27:45-55 5. What does Jesus cry out when he dies? What is the significance of what this means? 6. What is significant about darkness coming over the land? How about the curtain being torn in two? 7. As Matthew reports people being raised to life, what is this all about? What is the effect of Jesus’ death that is being pointed to in this extraordinary event? 8. What did the Centurion realise about Jesus? Do you have confidence about who Jesus is? If you’re not sure, what could be a ‘next step’ to help you to get to know Jesus better? READ Matthew 28:1-10 9. What is the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection that gives you a certainty that it was a real event? 10. If Jesus had only died and not risen, would that be sufficient? Why or why not? 11. How is Jesus’ resurrection also the defeat of death and the beginning of life for us? Whilst we still experience the lingering effects of death, when will it be completely done away with? 12. What’s significant about the declaration of the messenger in verses 5-7? Why were the women afraid? 13. Because Jesus has risen from the dead, how does that help us to ‘not be afraid’ right now? 14. The women go and tell all they had seen. How is this a great model for us? Who can you tell this week? APPLY: Who is one person this week with whom you can share how you celebrated Easter? PRAY: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the Easter weekend. Thank you for your phenomenal love poured out for us, and for your defeat of death. Help us to never take the Gospel for granted but to revel in it, proclaim it, and be transformed and renewed in it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU THE KING IN JERUSALEM (TALK 11/12: JESUS’ DEATH & RESURRECTION) GOING DEEPER RESOURCES On Your Front Line this Week • Who on your frontline can you share the Good News of Easter with this week? For Families • Download some of the family resources to use at home (includes Kids Talks and special activities for both Good Friday and Easter Day) stbarts.com.au/livestream Listen, Watch, and Read • AUDIO: Remember Me… by William Taylor: https://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/series/4989/ • AUDIO: Tom Wright on COVID-19, isolation, and prayer: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ask-nt-wright-anything/id1441656192?mt=2 • AUDIO: John Lennox on where to find God amidst crisis: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/gospelbound/john-lennox-find-god- during-covid-19/ • AUDIO: John Dickson on debunking Easter myths: https://undeceptions.com/ • ARTICLE: From RZIM on a biblical and historical view of COVID-19: https://www.rzim.org/read/rzim-global/coronavirus-a-biblical-historical-perspective • ARTICLE: “9 Ways to Love your Neighbour During this Pandemic” by Justin Earley: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/love-neighbor-pandemic/ Other Helpful Resources (For Series) • STUDY GUIDE: Download our Study Guide on Matthew: https://stbarts.com.au/matthew • ONLINE: Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew (Fuller): https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/introduction-to-matthew/ • VIDEO: The Bible Project, Matthew Overview: https://thebibleproject.com/explore/matthew For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU Talk 11C/12 (The King in Jerusalem): 12/04/20 “EASTER DAY” by the Rev’d Adam Lowe Reflection A: Matthew 28:1-15 Reflection B: 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 INTRODUCTION \\ ANCHORED IN THE RESURRECTION The tomb was empty, The stone had been rolled away, The soldiers fled in fear, The authorities couldn’t produce a body. The disciples once scattered and disillusioned are now willing to lose their lives in order to tell the Good News. That Jesus wasn’t just the Son of God, That Jesus didn’t just die for us, BUT That Jesus is Risen from the dead. And of course it wasn’t just one individual, or a small group who witnessed Jesus alive, but up to 500 - simultaneously - all at one time. • They: spoke with him, shared meals with him, saw him eat broiled fish, verified his wounds. 2 • He wasn’t a figment of their imagination, a ghost, or a vision, This wasn’t just an ancient hologram or augmented reality trick! Jesus was alive: flesh and blood, standing bodily right before their very eyes. // • When the two Mary’s are the first responders, and they see the tomb is empty, they’re probably worried that someone has taken the body, but the truth is far more shocking and unexpected: Jesus is alive! • And as they race to tell the disciples, encountering the risen Jesus along the way, falling at his feet and worshipping him, Jesus says to them: • Not, hello there, Good News, I’m back! But: “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” • When we hear that, it’s kind of unexpected at first, we might not really think that this seems like that first thing Jesus would say, but it’s actually such an honest moment speaking to their humanity, and the authenticity of the account. • Of course they’re freaked out! Dead people don’t come alive. If you went to a funeral on a Friday, and then come Sunday that person showed up, you’d be freaked out. • And even though Jesus told people again-and-again that he would be raised, no one expected it. 3 • But he was. And that event, some 2000 years ago, has not only changed the course of history, but it’s changed the course of eternity. Everything pivots on the resurrection. It means, that: Christians can have a certain hope, because our hope: • is not anchored to an idea or a philosophy, to our careers or achievement, to our wealth or our health, to our aspirations or our bucket lists, to our popularity or our prowess, all of those things can come and go, all of those things are uncertain, but we can have a certain hope, because it’s hope anchored in history: in the death and resurrection of Jesus. • And so today, I really just want to share two implications, as to why Jesus’ resurrection, gives us the greatest anchor point we could ever imagine. 4 POINT A \\ FOREVER FORGIVEN \\ MATTHEW 28 So first, Jesus’ resurrection is the cause for certain hope, because when our lives are anchored in him, it means we are forever forgiven. • Jesus' resurrection is a victory over sin and death. • His true identity has been confirmed, he’s who he said he was, His promises have been fulfilled, he said that he would be raised, His resurrection confirms that he has conquered sin and death. • That his death wasn’t merely an extraordinary example of sacrificial love, but that his death was a totally and comprehensively effective sacrifice: one-and-for-all, dealing with the problem of both sin and death. • In order for Jesus’ to be victorious, he couldn’t just deal with sin but not death, or death but not sin, because the two are inextricably linked. You can’t separate them. • That sin has caused such a breakdown in our lives, and in the world, that the consequences are so far-reaching that it doesn’t just taint life, but destroys it. • That starts right back in Genesis, that as sin entered the world, so did death. • However, God had a plan to set things right, through his son: that Jesus’ death would be for the sin of the world. 5 • In Matthew, we see the effect of Jesus’ death, as the curtain in the Temple, the curtain that separated the holy of holies, the curtain that separated the very presence of God, was torn in two, symbolising that through his death, a way opened up for relationship with God. • But if Jesus stayed dead, it wouldn’t be much of a victory! It would be totally hollow! • It would mean that the King is dead, that we couldn’t be sure, that forgiveness is not permanent, that he died as a sacrifice, but that sacrifice simply wasn’t adequate. • But because even death could not hold him down, we can be absolutely certain that what he did was sufficient. That we’re forgiven. We read in the book of Acts: 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.