SS Curriculum – April 19th
“He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was on him, and by His Wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5, 700BC
We are going to walk through Jesus’ death together…
Teachers, you can find scripture reference in Matthew 27: 1-56, Mark 15, Luke 23, John
19
Think of Jesus before he was accused and crucified,
as He prayed but His closest disciples failed Him and fell asleep, (Mark 14:32-46)
as He was betrayed by one of His own disciples for some pieces of silver,
as He called out to God as His Abba Father, in the place of anguish because He knew
what was about to happen
and then as He called out to God for His will to be done – it was then that our Jesus
chose His love for us over His own life
Talk about what this means to you – what words come to mind? Unfathomable love,
amazing grace, overwhelming forgiveness, the true Messiah, our Emmanuel who is God with us
As He was arrested, He continued to choose us through every moment, at the moment of Judas’
kiss which betrayed Him; as His chose to heal one of the guards who was there to take Him to
His death. And then His beatings for us began; unimaginable abuse of the One who loves each
of us more than we could imagine. He was beaten until He was unrecognizable, can you even
understand someone choosing to go through this for you??? Can you imagine being beaten to
the point that your closest loved ones couldn’t tell who you were???
As you think about what Jesus did for you, talk about what this shows about who you
are …
Think of the reasons He was accused and sentenced to die, it was because of who He is. Talk
about this – He was accused because He was a teacher of the Word, because He healed the
sick and raised the dead, because He spoke truth as the King of the Jews, the Son of God, the
Messiah. And as He spoke the truth of who He is, He was sentenced to death.
Think of Mary, Jesus’ mother being there and seeing her son this way, beaten, scorned, abused,
in horrific pain and anguish, laughed at, spit on… think of Mary and the others who walked
alongside Jesus through His abuse, what unbelievable grief. The beating He received would
have nearly killed Him, that’s how bad this was. If you’ve seen The Passion of the Christ, then
you know it’s too painful to even watch. As I write this lesson, I have that movie on and I turn
my head as tears flow because I know He chose to go through this for me. It leaves me without
words – I just watch and wish the beating would stop but I know His love for me is what got Him
through it, so I and so you could know Him as your Savior.
Think of Jesus, having the crown of thorns shoved onto His head, into his skull and then being
forced to carry his cross to the place where He would be crucified, despite his overwhelming
pain, He somehow found strength to continue on the road for you and for me. Think of Jesus
finally collapsing, think of yourself in the crowd of people, being told to carry Jesus’ cross for
Him… what does this make you feel, being that close to His pain that He is taking for you?
Think of the soldier who pounded the nails through his wrists, through his feet. Think of what it
sounded like, the crowd yelling, the soldiers talking to each other as they did their terrible work,
the sound of the hammer on the nails, the cries from those who loved Jesus, and His own
sounds of pain. Think of Jesus on the cross asking God to forgive those very soldiers who nailed
Him to that cross – can you grasp that forgiveness? Do you see that the very first words that
Jesus managed to say were ones asking God to forgive the soldiers…
After Jesus was nailed to the cross, He would have been hoisted to a standing position so that
gravity would cause His body to come apart completely until He could no longer even lift
Himself to breathe. And still in this place, Jesus gave forgiveness to the thief; He showed love to
His mother by asking John to take her as his own. And then three hours of darkness until that
final moment when Jesus asked God why He had forsaken him and then He said, “It is finished.”
As Jesus breathed His final breath on the cross, even God Himself turned from the pain that His
son was suffering through for us, the earth shook and then nothing, his death was truly finished.
Please take time to pray with your students, that they will see how Jesus loves them