This week, let’s consider how the last week of Jesus’ life affects us all year long. Take time, even if your Life Group doesn’t meet, to meditate on the events that changed everything.
What you will need: A Bible or your Bible app, a notebook, pen, and highlighter. The verses highlighted below are linked so that you can easily access them during your study time.
1. Gathering. Read Luke 22:14-20. What traditions or Communion practices are part of your spiritual tradition? In what way do you understand Jesus better because of the Lord’s Supper? Is there a special memory you have of Communion with someone you love or in a place that affected you profoundly? Why do you think Jesus asked us to remember Him in this way?
2. Garden. Read Matthew 26:36-46. Do you consider yourself a Jesus-follower, yet like the disciples in the garden, struggle to obey Him? Is it hard to avoid the temptation of sleep instead of prayer or having a quiet time? Or ease instead of sacrifice? Read Mark 14:40. Do you sometimes feel shame for failing Jesus, or have no words to approach Him in prayer? Jesus used these three sleepy, weak-willed disciples to change the world. And He will use you!
3. Golgotha. Read Matthew 27:32-37 and 45-50. Read also Psalm 22. List any similarities and / or prophesies fulfilled at Golgotha. Imagine what Jesus’ words would have meant to those around Him at the cross. If you can, put yourself in the shoes of His friends, His mother, the centurion, the other Roman soldiers, and the religious elite. How would His quoting of Psalm 22 have hit differently to each of those audiences? How do His words affect you today?
4. Glory. Read Matthew 28:1-10. Can you imagine (or do you know) the pain and disorientation of deep grief? Have you noticed that the women were the last to leave the foot of the cross and the first at the grave? Have you personally experienced the Risen Lord? If you wish, share one such experience with your group, whether that’s your salvation story or a more recent encounter with Jesus. Also read Romans 6:4. How have you experienced death and spiritual rebirth that leads to new life?