Holy Week—Resurrection Sunday

Holy Week—Resurrection Sunday

God proved his love for us on Friday, when Jesus stood in our place, dying the death we deserved so we could live the life only he deserved—life with God forever! Today God proved that nothing will stand in the way of his love—not religious leaders, not secular governments, not death, not sealed tombs—nothing! 

Resurrection Sunday Reading

• John 20:1-31

Resurrection Sunday Discussion

• God has a funny way of turning things on their head...of doing the unexpected...of making things happen that just shouldn't happen. And he's been doing it since the very beginning! Speaking things into existence out of nothing. Keeping promises to his people even when they hate and ignore him. Delivering his people from the worst situations and the meanest rulers. But what God did on Resurrection Sunday is the ultimate example of him doing the impossible...that shouldn't surprise us, of course, because with God, all things are possible!
• Jesus was dead. The tomb was sealed and guarded. The disciples were in hiding and scared for their lives. In the midst of all that, God busts back on the scene and shows up in the most unexpected way—in person, alive! Jesus really died, but God's power is stronger than the power of death, and so Jesus came back alive to show that nothing can stop God's love.
• Life is full of surprises...some of them are good and some of them are bad. Disappointments, tough circumstances, and hard times are part of life in our sin-cursed world. That won't change until God completes the work of restoring all things to himself. Until then, we can face everything with hope because we know—now that we've seen Jesus die for us and come back to life—that God loves us and nothing can stop his love. 
• Whatever is going on in your life today, God loves you. Whatever happens tomorrow, God loves you. Moment by moment, day by day, in the midst of your greatest failures and greatest successes, God loves you. Not because we deserve to be loved, but because he is faithful to his promises, and he has promised to love everyone whose hope for salvation is in Jesus. That is good news indeed!

Resurrection Sunday Questions

• How does the resurrection help you know God loves you? How does it make you feel to know God's love for you is unstoppable (even your worst mistake can't stop it!)?
• How can you remember God's love for you tomorrow? the day after that? Talk about some ways to remind yourself of the good news that God loves you!

Resurrection Sunday Resources

• The Final Days of Jesus: Resurrection Sunday (video) - https://vimeo.com/89509380
• Holy Week Timeline Visualization - http://tiny.cc/g38cay
• Tim Keller on the Resurrection - http://tiny.cc/x38cay

We hope your family has enjoyed waking together with God this Holy Week! For more ideas about family worship and devotions, check out the following resources:

• Family Worship by Don Whitney
• https://www.crossway.org/books/family-worship-tpb/
• A Guide to Family Worship (written for Christmas time but applies year-round) 
• http://tiny.cc/368cay
• Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing (devotion book for kids)
• http://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-Make-Your-Heart-Sing/dp/0310721636

Holy Week—Saturday

Holy Week—Saturday

Saturday Reading

• Matthew 27:62-66

Saturday Discussion

• Today is a rather quiet day in the Scriptures, but it wouldn't have been a quiet day in the hearts of those involved in Jesus' life and death. The religious leaders would have been triumphant after finally ending Jesus and his ministry among the people. The disciples would have been despairing after seeing their teacher and friend killed the day before.
• The religious leaders wanted to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Good Friday had been the end of Jesus. So they sealed his tomb and set a guard to protect against any mischief from the disciples. With that final step complete, they thought they were writing the end of Jesus' story.

Saturday Questions

• The religious leaders sealed Jesus' tomb and put guards there to make sure he never escaped...but we know the rest of the story! How does it make you feel to know that nothing...not a tomb, not a guard, not a powerful ruler...can stop God's plans and God's love for you?
• Are you excited for tomorrow? Are you excited to celebrate Jesus' resurrection? Are you excited to celebrate God's power and God's love?

Saturday Resources

• The Final Days of Jesus: Saturday (video): https://vimeo.com/89436644

We hope these devotions have helped your family worship God together this Holy Week. Take some time tonight to pray in expectation for the great celebration we will share together tomorrow as believers in the resurrected Jesus!

Calvary Discipleship Team

Holy Week — Friday

Holy Week — Friday

Arrested, charged in secret, unjustly convicted, beaten, mocked, and killed. Certainly not what we would consider a "good" Friday, and yet since the man upon whom all this fell is Jesus, it was a very good Friday indeed!

Good Friday Reading

• The Jewish Trials
• Matthew 26:57-68; 27:1-2
• The Roman Trials & Sentencing
• Luke 23:1-25 
• Jesus Beaten & Crucifixion
• Luke 23:26-43
•  Jesus' Death
• Matthew 27:45-55
• Jesus' Burial  
• John 19:38-42

Good Friday Discussion 

• The Jewish Trials
• In the middle of the night after his arrest, Jesus is brought before a secret gathering of the religious leaders. When he refers to himself as the Son of Man, they explode with rage, accuse him of blasphemy, and decide that he must die. The decision to send Jesus to the Romans for a death sentence is confirmed in the morning by a full gathering of the religious leaders.
• The Roman Trials & Sentencing
• While the Jewish leaders could sentence Jesus to death for blasphemy, they couldn't actually carry out the sentence. That power belonged to the Romans alone. During their trials of Jesus, neither Pilate nor Herod Antipas found just cause to execute him. The religious leaders, however, could not let that decision stand and eventually convinced the Romans to sentence Jesus to death.
  
• Jesus Beaten & Crucified
• Mark's account tells us that Pilate was seeking to "satisfy the crowd" and so he handed Jesus over for crucifixion. Jesus was mocked, beaten, and led away to die as a common convicted criminal. People jeered that Jesus should just save himself and come down from the cross...they didn't understand that he held himself there precisely so he could save them instead of himself!
  
• Jesus' Death
• Sin leads to death...always, without fail. Though we hated God and rebelled against him, he so loved us that he gave up Jesus as a sacrifice. Because Jesus (who was sinless and therefore innocent) died, when we trust in him, we can live (though we are sinful and guilty). Our sin goes to him, and his righteousness comes to us. This is the great exchange that is accomplished by Jesus' death on the cross.   
• Jesus' Burial
• Jesus' death is verified, he is taken down from the cross, prepared for burial, and sealed in a tomb. It would seem the religious leaders got what they wanted...but things aren't always as they seem, are they?

Good Friday Questions 

• The Jewish Trials
• How do you think the religious leaders must have felt now that they finally arrested Jesus? Why do you think they hated Jesus so much?
• The Roman Trials & Sentencing
• Why didn't the Roman rulers want to kill Jesus at first? Why did they change their minds and sentence him to be crucified?
• Jesus Beaten & Crucified
• Why did people make fun of Jesus? How does it make you feel to know Jesus went through all that so he could save you?
• Jesus' Death
• Why is it such good news that Jesus died? Why would it have seemed like such bad news to Jesus' disciples at the time?
• Jesus' Burial 
• Once Jesus was shut in the tomb, the religious leaders thought they had won and the disciples thought they had lost...what do you think? 

Additional Resources  

• The Final Days of Jesus: Friday 
• Video: https://vimeo.com/89429101
• Holy Week Timeline visualization: http://goo.gl/aZ8WZG 

Though death is a bleak topic for family discussion, this death—Jesus' death—brings joy to the hearts of all who believe! May God bless your time together as you reflect on and give thanks for the death of Jesus. 

Calvary Discipleship Team