International Sunday School Lesson
For Sunday April 8, 2012
Purpose: To examine our
feelings about death and resurrection
Scripture Text: John 20:1-10,
19-20 (NRSV)
John 20:1-10
(1) Early on the first day of the week, while it was
still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been
removed from the tomb. (2) So
she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus
loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we
do not know where they have laid him." (3) Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward
the tomb. (4) The two were
running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb
first. (5) He bent down to
look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. (6) Then Simon Peter came,
following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying
there, 7 and the cloth
that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up
in a place by itself. (8) Then
the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and
believed; (9) for as yet
they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. (10) Then the disciples returned to
their homes.
John 20: 19-20
(19) When it was evening on that day, the first day of
the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be
with you." (20) After
he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples
rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
My Thoughts by Burgess Walter
I think it is important that
you read the entire chapter of John 20 to get a sense of today's lesson. It is Sunday morning the day after the
Sabbath, and two days after the Friday of the Crucifixion, three days after
Passover. The three days in the tomb is calculated by a portion of Friday, Saturday and Sunday by
most bible scholars. However John's writing seems to indicate a different schedule
with the “last supper” happening on the night prior to Passover as was
mentioned in last week's lesson when the
Sanhedrin did not want to defile themselves in
preparation for the Passover. So Jesus is crucified on Passover, then
the Sabbath and then comes our lesson beginning with the first day of the week.
John has our Lord sacrificed as the Pascal Lamb in the tradition of Passover.
Mary Magdalene is often
thought of as a prostitute, I suppose because of the seven demons that Jesus
had cast out of her. However, there is nothing in scripture that indicates that
she was a prostitute; her name comes from the town she was from,
Magdalene. In our text Mary becomes the
Apostle to the Apostles, it is Mary that first tells the Apostles about Jesus'
resurrection. Mary becomes the very first to see Jesus in a new form and
recognizes him when He calls her by name.
Brash and bold Peter is the
first to run into the tomb, although John (the beloved) may have been a little
faster afoot, but not quite so bold. When John sees only the grave clothes laying
there he stops, but Peter goes further and sees also the turban that had been
wrapped around the head. The meaning of all of this takes a while to
comprehend. Unlike Lazarus who came out of his tomb still in the grave clothes,
Jesus seems to have passed through his grave clothes and he neatly removed the
wrappings from his head and rolled them up neatly and placed them separately.
Jesus completely conquers death leaving it behind, unlike Lazarus that had to
be freed from his burial shroud. Since the burial clothes were still in the
tomb it probably eliminates any sincere thoughts about someone stealing the
body. What John and Peter witnessed caused them to “believe.”
John writes this story so
that we all might believe the same as he and Peter.
Although it is not part of
our text, I think verse 12 should be noted, Mary who had been waiting outside
goes into the tomb after Peter and John and sees two angels setting on the slab
where Jesus had been laid, one at the head the other at the foot. Just as the
“Mercy Seat” in the Holy of Hollies, the place where the lamb’s blood was place
for the forgiveness of sins in the Temple
or Tabernacle, on that “Mercy Seat” was two Cherubim. (Exodus 25:18-19 & 2nd
Chronicles 3:10)
On that same evening when the
disciples and others gathered together Jesus appears, without using the door,
and announces “peace be with you” Certainly a lesson for us, when we are
overcome with fear and distraught with grief Jesus is there with us and brings
us peace. He also boosts our faith by revealing himself to us in those darkest
hours. Before departing, Jesus also breaths on them and gives them the
authority to forgive as well as to withhold forgiveness; they are empowered to
go and tell and also to go and forgive, that is the mission of the church
today. What are you doing to spread that
message as we celebrate Easter this week?
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