Bible Study – Palm Sunday “The Crucifixion”
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.
Lent invites us to step off our mental treadmills, take a breath, and look around. Lent invites us to ask: Where are we demanding solutions? Where can we risk staying in tension? Where are we blind just not noticing? What do we thirst for? Where are we bound or stuck? What will we risk doing during these 40 days of Lent to clear a space in which Easter can break through?
As we hear the story of Christ’s passion today, how do we hear it anew? Where is this story hitting us differently this year? I wonder what questions you bring to the story and how it relates to your life today.
Opening Prayer: Thank you, God, for this time and be with us as we learn about Palm Sunday and your crucifixion. Also help us to become closer to you. Amen.
The Story: Matthew (26:36-75), 27:1-54 (55-66): Following is an outline of the story:
- Jesus enters Jerusalem for Passover on the back of a donkey. He is greeted as the long awaited Messiah.
- During the week he throws out the Moneychangers in the Temple who are selling animals and birds for guilt offerings. This annoys the Pharisees and other high officials of the Temple.
- On Thursday night he celebrates a meal with his friends telling them that the bread and wine is like his body and blood and in the future, whenever they eat and drink together, to remember this...that he will be with them in the substance of bread and wine.
- After the meal, going out to pray, Jesus is confronted by soldiers, betrayed by Judas and arrested. He is condemned by the Sanhedran (Jewish leaders) and turned over to Pilate, the Roman Governor.
- Pilate is hesitant to condemn him for lack of evidence but doesn't want to start a riot among the Jews who are calling for Jesus' death. Jesus provides no defense. The people choose to have Pilate release a murderer called Barabbas, and call for Jesus' death.
- Jesus is whipped and condemned to death by crucifixion. His charge is blasphemy.
- Jesus is crucified between two thieves.
Now please open your Bibles to Matthew 27:33-54 and read or read the scriptures below.
Matthew 27:33-54
33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
The Death of Jesus
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[a] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).[b]
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[c] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Questions:
- As you hear this story, what strikes you, moves you, raises questions for you?
- Take a look at the central figures in the story: Judas, Disciples, Pharisees and temple leaders, Pilate, Barabbas, soldiers. What do you imagine was going through their minds as the events proceed from Palm Sunday to the Crucifixion?
- What do you think their thoughts and feelings were at each point of the story.
- Who do you think you can identify with and why?
- If you had been standing at the foot of the cross, what questions would you have wanted to ask God?
- What questions still linger for you today?
Memory Verse: Matthew 27:54 - When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Click here for the young learner’s lesson.
Videos (Click on url)
Matthew 26: 36-75 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXg9SaCwD3M
The Gospel of Matthew 27:1-54, The Crucifixion of Jesus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmutd8rZ5o4
Book of Matthew Summary: A Complete Animated Overview (Part 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGCF3OPWN14
Song: Hallelu, Hallelu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq3oIE_XkFk&list=RDCq3oIE_XkFk&start_radio=1 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f50UKvfhku4&list=RDCq3oIE_XkFk&index=2
Activities:
Express of the Holy Week events: response to the questions below with paint or markers, or poetry or some abstract design. How do you understand the Holy Week events? What is the meaning for you personally? (You can use …watercolors, chalk, markers, colored pencils, bits of colored paper and glue sticks, clay.)
Palm Branches Art: you will need 3 palm branches (draw your own or click on the following website for a palm branch - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/370491506867121484/) and a poster board. Glue the palms to the poster and then write or glue on typed words to each on the palm branches using these three phrases: 1. HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID; 2. BLESSED IS JE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; 3. HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST HEAVEN.
Palm Cross: Make a cross with the Palm you receive at church on Palm Sunday. Following is a video to help you https://www.pinterest.com/pin/563018698654815/
The Triumphal Entry – Word Search: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/the-triumphal-entry-10
The Triumphal Entry – Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/the-triumphal-entry-8
The Triumphal Entry – Multiple Choice: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/the-triumphal-entry-4
The Triumphal Entry – Jumble: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/the-triumphal-entry-9
Prayer: Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen
