Day 2 - Christ Healed All Our Sin

Begin with the game “Disaster.” This game is based on a deadly disaster that has taken place. People are hurt and there is little hope for survival. However, there is one safe place, and only one person knows where it is and how to safely get there.

Before the game starts, you need to designate who that person is by pulling them aside and showing them how to get to the safe place. Their only handicap is that they cannot speak.

After you have designated this person, assign everyone else a number between 1 and 4. Use the following criteria for each number:

              1.           Number ones cannot see or use their arms.

              2.           Number twos cannot talk or use their arms.

              3.           Number threes cannot use their legs or talk.

              4.           Number fours cannot use their legs or see.

Designate one person in the group to be number 5. This person cannot see, speak, use their arms, or legs. In essence, they are completely paralysed.

Designate one person in the group to be number 6. They have no disabilities and/or handicaps.

The group has exactly 10 minutes to get to the safe place before they all die in the disaster. These are the only instructions you give to the group. They are then instructed that they are on their honor to keep their handicaps for the game.

After the game is completed, here are some follow up questions.

•            What did you realize by being paralysed?

•            To the person who was completely paralysed, what did you conclude by being helpless? To rely on other people completely?

•            To the person who was fine, what sort of responsibility did you feel in the role you played? Were you up to the challenge?

•            To the person who knew where the safe spot was, what frustrations were there in knowing the way to the safe place, yet being unable to speak?

Now let’s move on to a real “disaster” story. One where we are the paralysed people - paralysed by sin. The one who knew the way was healing us - through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Matthew 27:1-10 - The Betrayal of Jesus

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

              When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."

              "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility."

              So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

              The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."

•            Who was Judas? What was his connection with Jesus?

•            What does it mean to betray someone? Have you ever betrayed someone? (Just for thought)

Read on to find out the result of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus.

Matthew 27:11-50 - The Death of Jesus

              Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

              "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.

              When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge-- to the great amazement of the governor.

              Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

              While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."

              But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

              "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor.

              "Barabbas," they answered.

              "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.

              They all answered, "Crucify him!"

              "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.

              But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"

              All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

              Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

              As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 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!"

              In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "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. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

              From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

              When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."

              Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."

              And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

•            Who was Pilate?

•            How was Jesus mocked when He was on the cross?

•            Who’s fault was it that this story took place?

•            What APPEARS to be the outcome of this story - the outcome of the person who was born in a manger in Bethlehem?

The best news that you’re ever going to hear in your entire life is that the story does NOT end here. There is more. Let’s read on...

Matthew 28:1-10 - The Resurrection of Jesus

              After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

              There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

              The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

               So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Jesus did not stay dead. He rose triumphant over sin, death, and the devil.

•            What did Jesus do between the time he died and the time he rose?

•            How would you feel if you saw someone who had died raised back to life? What do you think Mary Magdalene and the other Mary felt?

•            What were they instructed to do? Why were they instructed to do this?

•            What do you receive from Jesus’ resurrection?

•            What does the resurrection confirm to the Christian believer?