Before the Session
- Have the Bible Background Video ready to view.
- Review today’s scripture text and the session activities to help better facilitate the discussion.
- Encourage your group to listen to the Faithelement podcast ahead of the next session (Share the link via email or social media).
Context
Play the Where is the Body? video clip and ask questions like:
- What are your Easter Sunday rituals and why do you usually do those things?
- What do you think it would have really been like on that first Easter Sunday morning (from more than one perspective) to discover that Jesus is no longer in the tomb?
- How did the people in that clip react to the news of the Jesus’ body being gone and in why might such reactions be expected?
- Some people were very happy to get the news of Jesus’ resurrection, some disbelieved, and some were less than pleased. Who might react to that news in similar ways today and why?
Content
Read Luke 24:1-12, then watch the Bible Background Video.
Ask questions like these:
- Why did the women come on Sunday to attempt to properly bury Jesus?
- Why do we often overlook that the ladies of that time/culture were the first to see the empty tomb?
- Why is it significant for us to remember that the ladies of that culture were the first to tell the “good news”?
- Why did the disciples not believe them, and why did the writer of the story feel it important to emphasize this?
- As Nikki mentioned, this text can make you wonder if we are often looking for the living among the dead. In what ways do you or the groups to which you belong do that and why?
Closure
Play the you do not know what is coming movie clip and continue by asking:
- What things that are dead should we stop pretending are alive?
- What things that should be alive do we tend to pretend are dead?
- In what ways does facing death help us see such things more clearly??
- In the video clip, how was Stephen handling being told he would die?
- How did Jane handle it and which is a better way to approach death?
- What does Jesus’ death and resurrection teach us about our approach to something that so many see as inevitable?
- In what ways might our faith help others who seek hope in the face of hopelessness?
Close in a prayer of thanksgiving…
Writer: Jon Self