Week 7 - Christ the Victor

The angel said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He has been raised, he is not here." (Mark 16:6)

Frederick Buechner said "Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing." What does that mean in your life? I've been reading Sue Ellen Allen's book Slumber Party from Hell, and she says she leans on the quote "God makes everything all right in the end - so if it isn't all right, then it's not the end." I'm also reminded of the hymn "Because He Lives, I can face tomorrow."

Recall some of the site we have studied these last few weeks: Gethsemane, the pit beneath Caiaphas' house, the whipping post, the stone pavement, the Stone of Unction, the Garden Tomb. What new understanding do you have of Jesus? What does this mean for you? for the world?

In John's Gospel, the risen Christ appears in a garden and is mistaken for a gardener. If we are called to participate with Jesus, the Gardener, in restoring and bringing healing to the original garden of our world, what might that look like in your life?

Week 6 - The Crucifixion

We have come to the foot of the cross. Read Mark 15:25 - 39
"It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him...Those who passed by derided him...those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon...Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom."

We must spend some time thinking about the nails that pierced our Lord. The visions we have from Renaissance paintings are soft and romantic. Crucifixion was a horribly painful and lengthy way to die. The nails actually went through the wrists, an understandably stronger position than the fragile bones of the hand. Archeologists have found evidence that the feet were placed on the sides of the vertical beam, and nails went through the heels. As the body starts to sag, the natural impulse is to press down on those nails to keep the windpipe open and enable the victim to breather just a little longer. And Jesus did not have just a few drops of blood from those nails - He had been whipped and beaten the night before.
What feelings or thoughts come to mind as you think about the cruelty of crucifixion?

What does the cross mean to you? Author Adam Hamilton says that the cross is a reminder of many things: 1) we need saving, 2) God experiences suffering because of our brokenness, 3) God has chosen to be merciful and forgiving toward us, and 4) God loves us. How do you respond to those reminders?

Psalm 22: 1 - 5
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Psalm 22 can be described as a "lament psalm," one that complains because God seems far away. But nearly all of the lament psalms end with an affirmation of faith. Hamilton says "The very act of praying a complaint psalm is an affirmation of faith. When darkness seems to prevail in your life, it takes faith to even talk to God and complain to Him!"
When was the last time you complained to God out of an experience of despair or darkness and yet ended up affirming your trust in God? Describe how you moved from lament to trust.