Easter Sunday - April 9,2023

Bible Study – Easter – April 9, 2023

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.

 

In these 50 days of Easter, celebrating what Jesus has done for us, we are invited to recognize Jesus standing beside us, as he did with Mary. What is he calling us to do?  Perhaps we can train our eyes to look in the direction of Jesus, who is standing beside us.  What might he be looking at?  Do we dare follow where he is leading?  Can we notice and honor the various ways Jesus “appears” to people?

First Mary Magdalene, then Peter and another disciple, peer into the tomb. The body is gone but not stolen. Remaining in the tomb were the clothes, just as the women had placed them around their Lord’s broken body. Jesus is now transformed into his resurrected body.  What transformation is Jesus calling us to in our time and place?

 

Opening Prayer:  Thank you, God, for the gift of Jesus whom we can trust. Amen.

 

Please open your Bibles to John 20:1-18 and read or read the scriptures below.

John 20:1-18

The Empty Tomb

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Questions (Answers at the bottom of the page):

  • Who do you believe was the first person to get to the tomb on Easter morning?
  • What did she find?
  • What did she do?
  • Who got there next and what did he do?
  • Who got there after John, and what did he do?
  • What did verse 7 mean to the disciples?
  • What does John figure out in verse 8-9?
  • What did the disciples do then and what do you suppose was the reason?
  • What happens for Mary as she stands there crying? (verse 13)
  • Why do you suppose that Mary did not recognize Jesus when she saw him standing there nor did she recognize his voice when he spoke to her?
  • What happens to Mary when Jesus obviously recognizes her?
  • How does Jesus respond to Mary when she calls him “Rabbouni” which means teacher?
  • Now what does Mary tell the others? (verse 18b)

 

Click here for the young learner’s lesson

 

Videos (Click on url)

Lumo-Gospel of John Chapter 20:1-18 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWDUpelqKhc

Gospel of John Summary: Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUfh_wOsauk

Song:  He Lives - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asYLOUGb8qI

 

Activities:

Journal:  Pretend you are one the disciples trying to piece together the story so that it makes sense to you.   You can pretend you are back in the room where you had supper with Jesus.  You can be Mary Magdalene, Peter, John etc.  Think of questions you would like to understand what they have encountered.  How did the stone get rolled away? (We don’t know).  Describe the way the cloths looked. (Not neatly folded as they would have been if Jesus had not really died.  Not tossed to one side, if someone had “stolen” Jesus. The cloths were just as they had been left.)  What did Jesus look like?  (Well, different, but hard to describe).   Write the story in your journal. 

 

Easter Cross – Click on Cross Art Easter Craft Template and print it on white cardstock.  Using scissors, cut out the cross and heart.  On black cardstock, add the cross to the middle of the paper with double-sided tape.  Use 6 color pastels following a patter and color each section in increments.  Stroke in a zig-zag type pattern with 2 inch sections on the cross.  Follow a pattern of colors if desired: Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple.  Repeat until the entire edge of the cross is complete.  Rub the pastel chalks with your index finger for a blurred appearance.  Gently remove the Cross Template.  Click on the following url and review 5th step to see what the cross looks like.  https://thecraftyclassroom.com/cross-easter-craft-for-kids/

 

Alleluia Easter banner:  Create a banner using a long sheet of paper and writing an Easter message (Alleluia, Christ is Risen or something you think up) and then decorate the banner with coloring, streamers, ribbons, etc.

 

The Resurrection - Crossword Puzzle: https://sermons4kids.com/easter_2006_crossword.htm

The Resurrection – Word Search – https://sermons4kids.com/easter_2006_wordsearch.htm

 

 

Prayer:  Thank you, God, that we can trust Jesus. Amen. 

 

 

  • Who do you believe was the first person to get to the tomb on Easter morning? (Mary Magdalene)
  • What did she find? (The stone rolled away)
  • What did she do? (She raced to get Peter and John)
  • Who got there next and what did he do? (John, who was younger than Peter and simply outran Peter and when he got there, he stood and looked into the tomb.)
  • Who got there after John, and what did he do? (Peter, who went into the tomb)
  • What did verse 7 mean to the disciples? (Jesus’ body had escaped without the linen cloths being unwound so Jesus clearly had not been stolen but had been transformed into the resurrected Christ.)
  • What does John figure out in verse 8-9? (He remembered that Jesus had promised he would rise from the dead, and now he could believe it.)
  • What did the disciples do then and what do you suppose was the reason? (They left. They went home. This was hard stuff to figure out. Maybe they needed time to figure out what they were going to do next.)
  • What happens for Mary as she stands there crying? (verse 13)
  • Why do you suppose that Mary did not recognize Jesus when she saw him standing there nor did she recognize his voice when he spoke to her? (His appearance was changed. We do not know exactly what this means, but he is recognized when people spend time with him.)
  • What happens to Mary when Jesus obviously recognizes her? (His recognition of her makes it possible for her to “see” Jesus.)
  • How does Jesus respond to Mary when she calls him “Rabbouni” which means teacher? (Don’t hang onto me. I will be with you in a different way than before.)
  • Now what does Mary tell the others? (verse 18b)