Unit 8: Jesus’ Death and
Resurrection
Transfiguration
2
 Mark 9:2-13
 Transfiguration: At the Transfiguration Peter, James
and John see Jesus in his full glory accompanied by
Moses and Elijah.
 How much of the truth do we choose to see?
Transfiguration
Transfiguration
3
 Psalm 23
 Mountains and Valleys
Transfiguration
Jesus: Man of Peace and Source of Conflict
4
 The time of his public ministry was short: between
1 and 3 years.
 Jesus’ message was one of love and compassion but
. . . Jesus’ message caused conflict and tension.
Why?
The Road to the Cross
Jesus: Man of Peace and Source of Conflict
5
…Why Conflict & Tension?
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Because . . . Jesus’ teachings about marriage, authority, the
role and meaning of the Law, the Temple, and worship
conflicted with the teachings of people in positions of power.
Mt 21:12-13
Jesus made society’s outcasts the center of his message about
God’s Kingdom. Lk 19:1-10
Jesus claimed authority above that of the religious and
political powers of his day. Mk 2:1-12
The Road to the Cross
Jesus Enters Jerusalem
6
 Matthew 21-25 and Luke 19:28-21:38
 Events

Who would Jesus get in trouble with?
The Road to the Cross
The Last Supper
7
 Terms:
 Paschal Mystery –
Paschal is an adjective to indicate something is
related to Passover.
Sometimes Jesus is called the Paschal Lamb.
Paschal Mystery is a term that indicates that the
Passover is connected to the mystery of Jesus’
passion, death and resurrection.
The symbols of Passover can help us figure out what
Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection mean.
The Last Supper
The Last Supper
8
 More Terms…
 Seder - The feast commemorating the exodus of the Jews from
Egypt, celebrated on the first night or the first two nights of
Passover. The meal is full of symbols, the most important
being the Paschal Lamb. (See Exodus 12:1-28 for the description of the first
Seder.)
 Jesus’ last meal with his disciples before his passion & death -
the Last Supper- may have been a seder meal.
 Eucharist – The word literally means “thanksgiving.” The
sacrament that remembers and relives the Last Supper and
Jesus’ sacrifice of himself to redeem our sins. The word also
refers to Jesus’ body & blood under the appearance of bread
and wine.
The Last Supper
The Last Supper
9
 Luke 22 (and synoptics)
 Connected to feast of Passover.
 Began according to normal Jewish meal custom: giving
thanks (eucaristhsa )to God for the meal.
 “This is my body” and “this is my blood” are NOT part of
the Jewish ritual.
 Disciples do not understand that Jesus is connecting this
meal to his coming death.
 Read John 13-17. Make a notecard about
 The EVENTS that happen at the Last Supper (ch 13)
 What Jesus TEACHES at the Last Supper (ch 14-17)
The Last Supper
John’s Last Supper
10
Very different from the version in the synoptics
Not on the day of Passover, but on the day before
No mention of Eucharist
Instead Jesus washes the feet of the disciples to
teach that true leadership is about service
 Jesus gives long speeches that contain the
important parts of his entire ministry
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Love one another
 The Father and I are one
 “I am the vine, you are the branches . . .”
 The world may hate you
 The Spirit will come and guide you

The Last Supper
The Passion Narratives
11
 The Passion Narratives are the written accounts of
Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, and crucifixion in the
4 gospels. “Passion” refers to Jesus’ suffering.
 Other sources besides the Bible report the
execution of Jesus by crucifixion.
 Jesus did not “stand out” in the way he died. The
Romans crucified many people.
 The events of Jesus’ last days are the most
“historical” that we know about his life.
Passion
The Passion Narratives
12
 Terms:
 Sanhedrin – The highest court over the Jews in
Judea. The Romans gave them free reign. The one
exception was that the Roman governor had to
approve death sentences.
 Pontius Pilate – The Roman Governor of the Holy
Land at the time of Jesus. He approves Jesus’ death
sentence.
 Golgotha – The Place of the Skull. The site of Jesus’
crucifixion. Also called Calvary.
Passion
Passion
13
The Tomb Is Sealed
14
At this point we know the following about Jesus:
 Jesus was a rabbi, but there were MANY rabbis in
Israel at the time.
 Jesus was a healer, but there were other healers
too.
 Jesus was crucified, but so were many people
convicted of crimes by Rome.
 Jesus was laid in a stone tomb, but so was
everyone who died.
Resurrection
15
We know the following about those who encountered
him:
 Most people never even heard of him.
 Some were angered by his teachings
 Some felt their power was threatened by who
people believed him to be
 Some had faith that he was a man of God
 A few believed him to be the Messiah, but even
these reacted to his crucifixion with doubt, anxiety,
fear, confusion and guilt.
Resurrection
But then, RESURRECTION!
16
 Easter Sunday!
 Jesus was dead, and now is alive -- but in a new way!
 There were NO EYEWITNESSES to the resurrection.
 All 4 Gospels report THAT it happened.
 Each Gospel has a different version of what
happened AFTER Jesus rose:
Resurrection
But then, RESURRECTION!
17
The earliest version of Mark reports Jesus’
resurrection, but ends without Jesus appearing to
anyone.
 In Matthew, Jesus appears to the women as they run to
tell the disciples the message from the angel that Jesus
is risen. Jesus appears to the disciples in Galilee and
sends them out to make disciples of all nations.
 In Luke, Jesus appears to two disciples on the road to
Emmaus, then to the disciples in Jerusalem, then he
ascends to heaven.

Resurrection
But then, RESURRECTION!
18
In John, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene as she weeps
outside the tomb, then to the disciples (except Thomas),
then to all of the disciples again, then to 7 disciples on the
Sea of Tiberias, and the Gospel reports that Jesus
appeared many more times.
 In the longer ending of Mark he appears to Mary
Magdalene, the 2 disciples, then the 11 before he ascends.

Resurrection
What was the risen Jesus like?
20
 New Life
 Jesus did not just “wake up”, he was transformed.
 He was the same Jesus, yet somehow different.
 Radiant life
 Jesus was no longer limited by time and space.
 He appears and disappears, walks though walls, etc.
 Bodily life
 Jesus had a body the disciples could not only see but
touch as well.
Even though the events reported in the gospels are
different, the description of the risen Jesus is
consistent!
Post-Resurrection
The Ascension
21
 Only described by Luke (at the end of his Gospel
and at the beginning of Acts). Mentioned in the
longer (late) ending of Mark.
 The idea of it being 40 days after the resurrection
comes from Acts
 We need to understand the Ascension (“going
up,” Jesus’ going to the Father)
NOT as Jesus leaving earth, but
 as Jesus being freed to be everywhere at all times

Post-Resurrection
Reactions to the Risen Jesus
22
 Some believed that his disciples stole his body and
said that he was risen.
 His closest followers were COMPLETELY
tranformed
from the confused “never-quite-get-it” doubting apostles
to men of deep conviction
 from fearful men hiding from their fellow Jews to men
willing to die to give testimony to Jesus and his message
 from men anxious about their own well-being to men
whose only concern was to spread the Good News

Post-Resurrection
Pulling it all together
23
 Jesus challenged his followers during his public
ministry to rethink their ideas about
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the King (God)
the Kingdom (reign of God)
and the people of the Kingdom (Israel/us)
 So to bring forth the Kingdom of God, WE must
 love, serve, and forgive in order to allow
 God’s power to defeat sin, death and evil.
 Commission: The authority to do something in
someone else’s name.
(The Great Commission: Matthew 28:16-20)
Post-Resurrection
Pulling it all together
24
 Jesus’ ascension freed him from being present to
only
those disciples (the 12 and the other followers)
 in that place (Israel)
 at that point in history (30 C.E.)

to challenge THEM to bring forth the Kingdom . . .
 . . . and allows him to be present to
all people
 in all places
 at all times
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and thus to call us ALL to bring forth the Kingdom!
Post-Resurrection