Bible Study “Christ The King Sunday”
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
This Sunday we celebrate Christ the King. We also close the third year of the three-year lectionary cycle. Today we hear a portion of the passion story in which Jesus is hanging on the cross in between two criminals. One is encouraging him to save himself. The other names that Jesus has done nothing wrong and asks that Jesus remember him. Jesus tells him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus’ life on earth challenged those in power because it created a new way of life as Jesus talks about liberation from what we normally know as power. Jesus came to “to spread a revolution of love and grace, which entailed identifying and embodying a new kind of power and priority.”
Opening Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for all you that teach us and all that you have given us. Be with us today as we celebrate the love and grace you have given us. Amen.
Name a word that you think of when you hear the word, “Jesus.” Today we are talking about Christ Jesus our King and all we have learned over the last year.
Please open your Bibles to Luke 23:33-43 and read or read the scriptures below.
Luke 23:33-43
33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[b]”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Reflection Questions:
- What did you like about this story today?
- What did you find difficult?
- As Jesus hangs on the cross, he asks for God’s forgiveness for those who had crucified him. What does that tells us about Jesus’ love for us, for all?
- What does this tells us about the magnitude of forgiveness?
- As Jesus is being mocked, one criminal is encouraging Jesus to save himself. What would it have been like to be this man next to Jesus?
- What would it have been like to be the other criminal who understood what Jesus was about, and to simply ask Jesus to “remember him” today?
- What was the man’s response when Jesus told him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise?”
- What would your response be?
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click on url)
Overview: Luke 10–24 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26z_KhwNdD8&t=109s
Discover Jesus – Jesus Christ’s Crucifixion at Golgotha – Luke 23:26-43 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fITRFh_1UWg
Song
Rejoice, the Lord Is King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ__jB98IrQ or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6by5eux1rMs
King of Kings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmPyPIyoxhA
Activities:
Today we celebrate "Christ the King." Since it is the last day in the church year, it seems appropriate to remember who our year is all about. What comes to mind, immediately, when you hear the word King. A king meant more when most Christians lived in countries ruled by kings or queens, so the idea of someone who was wiser than the one ruling them made the title fit Jesus.
Journal: (Try and keep a journal for each Sunday for a year) write or draw in your journals: compose, a closing prayer for this year and for this day or create an illustrations of the story,
Christ the King Crossword: https://sermons4kids.com/christ_king_crossword.htm?fromSermonId=239
Christ the King Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/christ_king_decoder.htm?fromSermonId=239
Word Search: https://thewordsearch.com/puzzle/4328010/christ-the-king-sunday/
Prayer: Loving God, we thank you for all you have given to us, especially for the stories that tell us more about you, for your servants from whom we learn, and especially for your Son, Jesus. Amen.
