Light on the Lessons s9

Light on the Lessons

Acts 10:34-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18

The Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day; Cycle A; April 16, 2017

Leader Guidance

Materials Needed

+ Bibles for everyone (variety of translations often useful)

+ Lectionary sheets (very convenient if you use them in worship)

+ Chalkboard, newsprint, overhead, or another means for displaying information and recording thoughts.

+ Basic reference books for use as needed: Bible dictionary, Bible atlas, concordance, a one-volume Bible commentary.

I Getting Started

Open with the exchange: L/ Christ is risen. R/ He is risen indeed. Read the lessons aloud before discussing them. Offer prayers, and then move on to the opening “Getting Started” questions.

1. This is a sharing experience, without right-wrong responses.

2. Responses will vary. We see something like God’s surprise in situations when everything seems lost, but then recovers and all goes well. Even a vacation that starts in chaos and potential disaster yet turns out to be fun, can suggest God’s surprises.

II Check the Texts

1. Acts 10:34-43

A. Title will vary, but “The Story of Jesus” is one. This lesson fits Easter because Easter is the capstone of Jesus entire ministry.

B. Peter was in the home of Cornelius, a Roman soldier and “god-fearer,” a Gentile who attended synagogue by did not keep the full law as a proselyte would. Thus, verses 34-35 embrace Cornelius and, by extension, Gentiles. The setting for this lesson reminds us that the gifts of blessing in Easter are for all people.

C. Verses 36-41 seem to sum up Jesus’ career. Verse 42 states the mission of the apostles, such as Peter. Verse 43 states the significance for us of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The verses summarizing Jesus’ ministry could be taken as the outline for a Gospel. Most likely, the Gospels were constructed from an outline of Jesus’ life used by the apostles and other early Christian preachers and evangelists.

D. The apostles were witnesses to the Risen Christ. They had met him. Thus, they were in a special position to proclaim the Gospel with authority. The experience of the Risen Lord empowers a trembling, fearful group of disciples into bold, life-risking missionary apostles.

E. The Isaiah passage, and others like it, forms the background for verses 34-35 in our lesson. Jesus fulfilled this vision of Isaiah and so he is “Lord of all” (verse 36b).

2. Colossians 3:1-4

A. Our participation in and union with Christ is suggested by “raised with Christ,” “life hidden with Christ in God,” and “Christ who is your life.” Christ in us is a powerful idea which we have not fully dealt with. It lies behind Luther’s challenge to become “little Christs” to our neighbor. Discuss: What would it mean if we decided to fully embody Christ (to the best of our sinful ability) in every aspect of our lives? What would change in the way we act and live?

B. Responses will vary. In part, we should experience Christ’s victory, which could remove a lot of our spoken and unspoken fears.

C. Encourage participants to share their sense of how Christ’s victory has touched their lives. (Question III, 6 also deals with this issue.)

3. John 20:1-18

A. First Mary Magdalene, then Peter and the beloved disciple who is not identified but could be John, the traditional author of this Gospel.

B. What he saw that caused him to believe that Jesus had risen were the linen wrappings and head cloth (verse 6-7). Something in their arrangement or positioning convinced him of the resurrection, rather than a judgment based on a prior interpretation of Scripture. Possibly, John inserts this note to uphold the objectivity of the resurrection, that it is a fact rather that a wish-fulfillment of Scriptural interpretation. It is interesting, as Massey Shepherd, Jr., notes, that Peter is first to see, but the “beloved disciple,” who represents all believers, is the first to see and believe.

C. In John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene, at the tomb, actually sees the risen Lord and thus becomes the first witness to the resurrection. The symbolic meaning of this, if any, is speculative, but speculation can be fun so long as we don’t confuse it with assured truths. Perhaps John wants to elevate Mary Magdalene over Peter, who in the tradition was the first to see the Risen Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Mary Magdalene enjoyed a very prominent position among the female disciples, but the women are not lifted up in our Gospels. In some apocryphal (non-canonical or not officially endorsed) writings such as “The Gospel of Philip,” Mary is elevated to the status of an apostle.

D. In verse 15, Mary makes an offer that reflects her deep love for Jesus and concern for his welfare. When she realized she is talking to Jesus, she likely reached out to embrace him, an act which Jesus stopped. Symbolically, it suggests that the old relationship between disciple and teacher had changed. Now the relationship was with one who ruled at the right hand of the Father. Also, the resurrection body was not corporeal; apparently the Risen Jesus could pass through closed doors (John 20:19).

E. In all lists save John 19, Mary Magdalene appears first. Luke 8 states that Jesus healed Mary Magdalene of seven demons. Matthew 27 and Luke 8 say that the women “provided for Jesus.” We can imagine them as a support group, perhaps providing food and money for Jesus and his disciples. The women tend to appear in the Gospels in connection with our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection; they were with him at the end. (These lists name a confusing array of Marys. Mary, mother of James, or of James and Joses, or of Joseph are probably one person, the same one identified sometimes as “the other Mary.” Some scholars also identify Mary, wife of Clopus, with this person. That would make two key Marys: Magdalene and “the other Mary” rather than several.)

F. “From Magdala,” a town in Galilee, is correct. A widespread tradition identifies Mary with the repentant prostitute in Luke 7:36-50 and the term Magdalene has become associated with penitence. There isn’t any scriptural basis for that tradition.

III What Does It All Mean?

1. Responses will vary. Encourage this kind of faith sharing.

2. Immortality of the soul or spirit is a Greek idea, bodily resurrection a Hebrew idea. Jews viewed body and soul as of one piece. To have eternal life, one needed a complete personality, rather than a disembodied spirit. The image of a bodily resurrection seems very crude to many today, but the idea holds a very important thought: beyond the grave, we are transformed (as was Jesus’ body at Easter) but we are still complete personalities in some way rather than disembodied spirits. Thus the images in Revelation of the saints gathered at the throne of the Lamb singing praises.

3. They saw the Risen Lord and the empty tomb. The Resurrection assured them that the Father approved and blessed all Jesus did and taught. Before Easter, they wavered, were confused. After Easter, they were committed apostles.

4. Answers will vary. We have many ways to tame Jesus. We might hold on to him as a human teacher, to avoid dealing with his supernatural side, and thus save ourselves from dealing with God’s transforming spiritual power in our lives.

5. Responses will vary. Most likely, it reflects the patriarchal bias of the Gospel writers.

6. Proclaiming the forgiveness of sins (and claiming that promise for ourselves), opening to God’s new life in baptism on a daily basis, setting free those still in their tombs of darkness are a few ways. A full Christian life that celebrates God and serves the neighbor in the fullness of grace proclaims the Easter victory in a beautiful way.

7. Luther meant that Easter marked God’s victory and announced that the days were numbers for the devil and his powers. This victory is certain, but its fulfillment has not yet arrived. So, we live in a now-not yet tension. We have a taste of God’s victory (baptismal new life, eternal life, forgiveness of sins) but the devil still roams (we are at the same time, in this world, sinners and saints). We see this victory in our lives as we focus on possibilities and renewal, with a sense of living hope grounded in God’s promises.

8. “Above” places heaven spatially and so we think of it as not of this world. But Paul means for us to focus on the ascended Christ whose victory is ours in this world. We don’t take our marching orders from this world, but we do bring the blessings of our ascended Lord into everyday life in this world.

9. Responses will vary. That we can have a personal relationship with Christ and meet him in the bread and wine of the Eucharist results directly from his resurrection and his ascension. Once he was limited to a single place on earth; now our Lord is everywhere.

10. Responses will vary. Look for indications that participants appreciate that God’s forgiveness can cleanse guilt.

IV Into the Week

Share experiences with “Into the Week” from last session.