Housegroups 

The resurrection changes everything Week 2: Easter
Sermon Date: 12 April
Reading: John 20:1-18


Icebreaker
Q1 - What have been one or two events that have significantly changed your life? (Ideally look for examples that aren’t common to others like getting married or starting a new job)

Q2 - What events have significantly changed the world? Can you think of a few big things that have happened that changed history?
History looks like it is changing faster and faster every year. It seems like we might be in the middle of one of those big events at least from our perspective now.

Study
Happy Easter! This Easter we are looking at how Jesus’ resurrection changes everything. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the biggest event in history, it completely changed everything. It has given us the possibility of a relationship with God, eternal life and the beginning of the restoration of all things. Let’s have a look at our passage for today.

Please read John 20:1-18 together

Q3 - Who is the first person to see the empty tomb according to this gospel? Do you remember who she is? What message does this give to the original readers?
In verses 3 to 10 we see that the “other” disciple ran faster than Peter to get to the tomb. The “other” disciple is generally thought to be John, the disciple from whom we’re hearing the story. It’s interesting that John outran Peter, but he waited outside the tomb, while Peter quickly went in.

Q4 - What does this say about John and Peter? Who seems to be doing the right thing?
Verses 8 & 9 say “Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)”

Q5 – What did he see and what did He believe?
(Hint: remember that the Greek word for “believe” is not only thinking that something happened, but also putting our trust in that.)
Seeing is one of the big themes in John’s gospel, seeing comes up a lot and it’s not only physically seeing but also “seeing” in a metaphorical way.

Please read verses 11 to 18 again

The story is full of beautiful images, firstly Mary Magdalene a woman is the first person to see Jesus. This was revolutionary when it was written as women weren’t treated as men, then we have two angels who speak about Jesus before she understands that He is actually there with them. She then speaks to Jesus but can’t recognise Him until he calls her by her name, and then she “sees” Him. This has strong implications as to how Jesus knows and calls us by name. He knows us personally and is interested in us knowing this. Finally, she is sent by Jesus to be the bearer of good news to the disciples, the group that will lead the revolution through which Jesus will start to change everything.

Q6 – Why do you think God assigned this important role to Mary Magdalene?

Q7 – Mary shouts out “I have seen the Lord”, there is an implication that Jesus was there with her but she hadn’t been able to “see” Him. Do you feel we “see” God enough? In what ways do are we missing out on “seeing” Jesus?

Q8 - How can we improve the way we see the world to be able to see God at work in it?

Action
The passage is all about “seeing” and “believing”, they are able to see the resurrected Christ, but also trust in Him. The resurrection changed the course of history and of your story.

Q9 – How can we let the same power that brought Jesus back to life work in us?

Q10 – How can we partner with Him to see more of the world changed by the power of His resurrection?

Prayer
Let’s pray that God will open your eyes to see Him. Pray that God will help you open up to His power of transformation, pray that we might trust Him with the same passion as the first disciples and pray that we might be able to help others “see” that Jesus is standing next to them.
 
Nico Ohlsson
 
 
 
 
 
 


Nico Ohlsson, 23/03/2020