Lesson 7 – The Resurrection of Jesus

The resurrection reveals that the Father has accepted the Son’s sacrifice for our sins, and it fills us with confident hope that, as Christ has been raised from the dead, we too, will rise to eternal life.

Opening

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

This lesson will use the Bible and the Lesson 7 Leaflet from the Student Pack. The front cover shows how the artist sees the women meeting Jesus after the resurrection. Also paper and pencil or crayons will be needed.

Read the Faith Words on page 4 of the leaflet

Listen to the hymn "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" .

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, You have conquered sin and death and given to us eternal life. Fill our days with the wonderful joy of Your resurrection! Stay with us and with Your whole Church. May Your Word always be our strength and blessing. In Your name we pray. Amen.

God Speaks

In the week before Jesus rose from the dead, there were several significant events that the Church observes as annual festivals.

Can you name the three most important events of this week the Church calls Holy Week? Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.

On Palm Sunday, we sing "hosanna, which means "save now, we pray" to our Savior just as the crowds did when He entered Jerusalem.

Then, on Maundy Thursday, we celebrate the institution of the Lord's Supper.

What is special about Good Friday? That is the day Jesus was crucified.

Easter is the first day of the week following Holy Week; it is the day of the resurrection of our Lord. This lesson is about Matthew's Gospel account of the first Easter.

Read Matthew 28:1-10.

Who went to see Jesus' tomb? Mary Magdalene and the other Mary.

What natural phenomenon occurred? An earthquake.

What did the women see? An Angel, his appearance was like lightning, his clothing was white, and the guards were afraid of him.

 Whom did the women meet on their way to see the disciples? Jesus.

Solve An Easter Message on page 2 of the leaflet.

The correct answer for this activity is "He is not here, for He has risen, as He said' Matthew 28:6

The angels' message of Jesus' resurrection is important for us today.

Read the Bible Words on page 4 of the leaflet.

What does the first part of the passage mean for you as a believer in Jesus? Faith in Jesus would have no purpose, and our sins would not be removed from us. We would have no forgiveness and there would be no future hope for us. Even our loved ones who have died in Christ would not be in heaven with Him.

We confess in the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed that we believe in the resurrection of the dead because we believe that Jesus is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. In the Old Testament, the Israelites brought the sheaf of first fruits to the Lord after the Passover as a sign that the whole harvest belonged to Him. Christ's resurrection is the first fruits of the final resurrection. All who have fallen asleep in Jesus will be physically raised just as He was.

When will this happen? What will be resurrected? On the Last Day: our dead bodies will be restored in heaven when we are resurrected.

We Live

Because of sin, what do we deserve? Eternal death and separation from God.

The Good News is that the Father has accepted His Son's sacrifice for sin, making us heirs of eternal life. We no longer have to be separated from God. The resurrection of Jesus reveals that the Father has accepted the Son's sacrifice for our sins. The resurrection also fills us with hope;   we know that, just as Christ has been raised from the dead, we, too, will be raised to eternal life.

Read the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed and its explanation.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, we believe these things about Jesus. We believe that He was born of a virgin, suffered and died, and three days later rose again. Sometimes we are slow to believe and hesitant to tell others about our Savior, Jesus. In fact, we miss many opportunities to tell others about Jesus' resurrection and God's plan of salvation. However, the good news is that the Holy Spirit grants us faith and empowers us to tell others about our Lord and His resurrection; yet, we are forgiven even when we fail. We cannot believe on our own. Because of the Holy Spirit, though, we confess all these things about our Lord Jesus, and we can tell others about Him and His love too.

We were buried with Christ through Baptism into death, just like Jesus died, was buried, and was raised again. Because He was raised again, we are filled with confident hope that we, too, will be resurrected.

In this way, Jesus' resurrection is a guarantee of our own resurrection on the Last Day. We are so loved by God that we want to share the good news of Christ's salvation for us with others.

Complete   the Resurrection Word Play on page 3 of the leaflet.

Some of the more common ones with three letters are cut, net, nor,  not, nut, run, sin, sit, son, ten, tin, and ton.

Some four-letter words are cent, coin, cone, core, cost, cure, cute, nest, nose, note, rent, rest, rice, rise, rose, ruin, rust, sent, sore, sure, and tore. Some five-letter words are curse, erect, error, risen, score, snore, stone, and store; and some six-letter words are center, corner, cursor, entice, and renter.

Cut out the Match the Stones puzzle and solve. It has hidden words and Law and Gospel statements to match.

Completed words are Jesus, Easter, Risen, and Alleluia.

Matching Law/ Gospel statements:

Law – I am slow to believe …

Gospel – The Holy Spirit grants me faith …

Law – As a result of sin, I am filled with fear.

Gospel – As the Spirit works through the word …

Law – Because of sin, I deserve eternal death …

Gospel – The Father has accepted His Son’s sacrifice …

Closing

 

On page 4 of the leaflet:

• Review the Key Point of this lesson.
• Read the Bible Words.
• Read the Prayer.

Listen to the hymn “This is the Feast”.

Easter is a day of great celebration. We celebrate because Jesus has risen from the dead. We celebrate because Jesus has conquered death. We celebrate because we know and believe that we, too, will be resurrected from the dead.

Using the What Did Jesus Do? sheet at the end of the lesson, match the Bible verses to the statements.

• He is true God - John 1:1-2 ("The Word was God"); John 20:28 (Thomas's confession)
• He is true man - Luke 24:39 (Jesus had flesh and bones as a man); 1 Timothy 2:5 ("the man Christ Jesus")
• He has rescued us from death - 2 Timothy 1:10 (abolished death")
• He has rescued us from the power of the devil. He is victorious over hell - Colossians 2:15 (Jesus "disarmed the rulers and authorities... by triumphing over them in Him"); 1 John 3:8 (Jesus destroyed the devil's work)
• Jesus’ work of redemption is done--Isaiah 53:4-5 (Jesus' punishment brings us peace.)

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, our risen Lord, thank You for dying on the cross for our sins and rising again to declare Your victory over death. Please strengthen our faith and help us share this Good News with others. We pray that, by our own dying and rising in Baptism, we may go out with joy to share the news of Your death and resurrection for all. In Your name we pray. Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!