COURAGE ENDURANCE HOPE HUMILIATION FRIENDSHIP EASTER INJUSTICE DESPAIR

COURAGE ENDURANCE HOPE HUMILIATION FRIENDSHIP EASTER INJUSTICE DESPAIR DUTY BETRAYAL

The Last Supper - Friendship

Meals and Friendship The Last Supper At the beginning of the Jewish Passover, Jesus gathered his twelve disciples together so that they could share a meal. While they were together, Jesus predicted that one of them would soon betray him. He would soon be arrested. But although this was the last meal Jesus and the disciples would eat together on earth, they would be able to remember him by sharing wine and eating bread, blessing it just as he had done. People like to eat together. Why? Does it matter that recent statistics show 50% of children and young people do not sit down regularly to a meal with their families?

Duty - Gethsemane

Duty 'Father, take this cup of suffering from me. Yet not my will but yours be done. . ' After their meal, Jesus went with three of his friends to the Garden of Gethsemane, a rocky place in Jerusalem. Jesus, sick with tiredness, asked his friends to stay awake and pray then went on higher up the mountain to pray by himself. There he asked God to lift the burden of suffering from him - but at the same time he knew God's will was more important than his own. When he returned to his disciples, they had all fallen asleep. He woke Simon Peter 'Could you not watch with me one hour? '. Again he went away, again they were asleep on his return. Three times this happened until at last Jesus saw soldiers approaching them through the garden. How would you have reacted if you had been Jesus and come back to find your friends asleep?

Judas - Betrayal

The Betrayal • 'The man I kiss is the one you want'. Judas, one of the twelve disciples, came into the Garden of Gethsemane. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, ready to move when they were given the signal. Judas had already arranged that the person he kissed would be the one to arrest so he walked up to Jesus. 'Teacher', he said, and kissed him. The crowd was ready to fight, and one of the disciples cut the ear of the High Priest's slave. But Jesus allowed himself to be arrested without violence. As he said, 'Why do you have to come after me with clubs and spears? Day after day I was teaching in the temple and you did not arrest me. . . ' • How do you react if one of your friends is threatened? Can non-violence ever work? Think of some examples.

Courage – Jesus & The High Priest

Courage before Caiphas 'Many witnesses told lies against Jesus but their stories did not agree'. At the High Priest's house, a rough sort of court hearing was going on. Some men stood up and told lies about Jesus, misinterpreting - accidentally or on purpose - things he had said. The crunch came when Jesus was asked if he was the Messiah, the Son of God. 'Yes', he said, opening himself to a charge of blasphemy. The crowd were furious. Meanwhile outside, Peter, overcome with nerves, had told several people that he did not know Jesus. And so he fulfilled the prophecy Jesus had made at the last supper, that Peter would deny knowing him three times that very night. Why do you think Peter denied knowing Jesus? Have you ever had a close friend not stand up for you when you were in trouble? How did it feel?

Injustice – Pilate Washes his hands

Injustice • 'But what crime has he committed? ' Sure enough, the people had voted for Jesus's death and early next morning the religious officials hurriedly decided to send Jesus to the Roman authorities for sentence. Jesus was led to Pilate, the Roman governor, who questioned him as to whether Jesus was King of the Jews. Pilate was aware that there seemed to be a plot against Jesus. As it was the custom to release a prisoner at Passover, he asked the crowd whether they would like Jesus or another prisoner set free. 'Barabbas!', they shouted in a frenzy. 'What should I do with Jesus then? ' asked Pilate. 'CRUCIFY HIM!' the crowd screamed back. Pilate wanted to please the crowd. . . • What examples can you think of which show injustice today? At home, at school, in your country, in the world?

Humiliation – Jesus Carries his cross

Humiliation • 'They made a crown of thorny branches and put it on his head' Jesus had been whipped after he was condemned by Pilate. Now he was mocked by the soldiers, who put him in fake royal robes, with a crown made of thorns. They beat him, spat on him and bowed down before him mockingly before they put his own clothes back on him and led him out to his death. Then Jesus was made to carry the cross on which he would be crucified. The procession moved off to Golgotha, 'the Place of the Skull'. The only relief for Jesus was a short time when a bystander, Simon of Cyrene, was forced to carry the cross. It was a far cry from Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusalem only a week earlier. Humiliating someone is a form of bullying. If you humiliate someone, what do you feel like immediately afterwards?

Endurance – Jesus on the Cross

Endurance 'He saved others, but he cannot save himself!' At Golgotha, the soldiers tried to make Jesus drink wine mixed with myrrh, to dull the pain, but Jesus would not do it. So they stripped him and crucified him with a notice over his head saying 'The King of the Jews'. Then they settled down to play dice with Jesus's clothes as the prize. Two other men were crucified, one on either side of Jesus; even in their agony they mocked him as well, joining in with the jeering, taunting crowd that had gathered: 'Come down from the cross, and we will believe you!' Others, including Jesus' friends and his mother, stood watching and desolate. "I was just powerless". . . "I couldn't do a thing". . . "It's nothing to do with me" Think of some situations which make you feel really powerless - when someone is ill, when you hear about refugees, when you are frightened, for example. What helps you get through those times?

Despair – Jesus dies

Despair 'It is finished' Three long hours later, the whole country was suddenly covered in darkness for another three hours. Then Jesus cried out, 'My God, my God, why did you abandon me!' Shortly afterwards, he breathed his last. Just at that moment, there was an earthquake and the curtain in the Temple down in the city of Jerusalem was ripped in two. . . . A Centurion who had been standing by the cross and seen Jesus die said, wonderingly, 'This man really was the Son of God. ' How do you think the Centurion Felt?

Hope – The Resurrection

Hope ‘ He is not here, he has been raised. . . ' After the Sabbath Mary Magdalene and two other of Jesus's friends went to the tomb with precious spices. They wanted to show their love and respect by anointing the body of Jesus. As they walked through the early morning sunlight, they wondered how they could move the enormous stone from the entrance to the grave. Then they saw, to their astonishment, that the stone had already been moved away. A young man in white was sitting there 'Do not be alarmed, I know you are looking for Jesus. . he is not here. . . he has been raised. Go and tell the disciples that you will see him again in Galilee'. Do you think Jesus did rise from the dead? What do you think the message of Easter is all about?