Pass it on
Resources to share for DIY discipleship
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To the leader: this page offers extracts from the ROOTS weekly resources to share with others in your church community to help them explore the Bible and grow as disciples.
Highlight and copy the text to print, email, or put it on your church website – pass it on! Please include the copyright acknowledgement to ROOTS that appears with the extracts.
When and where? ROOTS resources can be used all week. We’ve included some notes below to suggest when and where you might share them. Don’t forget house groups, youth groups, the housebound, care homes, toddler groups and school assemblies. See also: A guide to using Pass it on.
23-29 April 2017
Trust the story - John 20.19-31
Lectionary Bible readings RCL Easter 2 Year A
Acts 2.14a,22-32
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1.3-9
John 20.19-31
We explore:
a questioning faith; believing without seeing;
shalom (peace be with you).
Resources to share
To help the listener
To the leader: these brief notes help to set the scene for the readings.
When & where? Read out the notes before hearing the readings in worship; share on a weekly bulletin, church website, etc. with Bible references so that people can get more out of reading the passages for themselves.
The reader could use these words to provide context.
In the reading from Acts, Peter brings the hopes of the prophet David to life in the trustworthy message of Jesus’ resurrection. And in the Gospel, Jesus’ promise of peace turns the disciples’ fear and confusion into joy and faith.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
Bible notes
To the leader: we offer two sets of Bible notes each week. The short version comes from the Children & Young People resources and the long version is from the Adult & All Age resources. You could share a version to help people learn more about the reading.
When & where? Before or after we hear the reading in worship; in a Bible study group; distributed to people who can’t get to the service; in a youth group.
Short version
John 20.19-31
- The disciples have heard that the tomb is empty and that Jesus has appeared to the women, but they are afraid of the Jews and have locked themselves away in a house rented for the festival. John’s Gospel was written for a fearful community who felt Jesus’ absence in the face of hostility from the local synagogue. Jesus’ appearance reassures both groups. In his repeated ‘Peace be with you’, the traditional Hebrew greeting ‘Shalom’ is given new meaning as the peace that overcomes death, guilt and despair with life, reassurance and hope.
- After showing them his crucifixion wounds, Jesus breathes God’s renewing Holy Spirit upon them. Thomas is not present and refuses to believe their account unless he is able to physically touch the Lord. The following Sunday, Jesus appears again to the disciples, and this time Thomas is with them. Jesus repeats his greeting and invites Thomas to test his identity by touching his wounds. Thomas’ doubts are dispelled as he exclaims, ‘My Lord and my God!’
- Thomas represents those who were not there to witness Christ’s post-mortem appearances, and have their own doubts and questions to work through. Jesus praises those who take the story of his resurrection on trust, and believe the witnesses without seeing or touching him. The story is clearly not meant to remain behind locked doors. Peter, imbued with a new missionary zeal at Pentecost, makes a speech that bears witness to its trustworthiness (Acts 2.32).
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
Long version
New Testament Acts 2.14a,22-32
This extract from Peter’s Pentecost speech shows him speaking at two levels. First, he refers to human activity: what Jesus did in his ministry, and how others responded. But he also speaks of divine activity: how God was at work in what Jesus did and what others did to him, notably in reversing the verdict of the Jewish and Roman authorities that he deserved to be executed. But the resurrection is not simply a one-off divine decision. It flows from God’s hidden purposes, about which the Scriptures provide the clues. Many Jews at the time believed that the message of the Scriptures was not locked up in the past, but waiting to be disclosed when the Messiah (anointed one) came and the Holy Spirit revealed God’s ancient purposes. So, Peter reads David (the assumed author of Psalm 16) as a prophet who spoke of the Messiah and his resurrection (v.31). On this understanding, the resurrection of Jesus confirms his divine authority as God’s anointed one. And now, ‘having freed him from death’ (v.24), God has opened up a new age of freedom, beginning in Judea before extending to the ends of the earth.
Peter’s speech weaves together trustworthy stories: the Hebrew Scriptures’ promise of God’s blessing, and the story of Jesus that takes shape after Pentecost, as God’s promises are realised. By holding these two strands together in the story of the trustworthy God, the Bible proves to be indispensable for Christians in all ages.
Gospel John 20.19-31
As does John’s Gospel as a whole, this extract from what was probably the original ending of his Gospel (verses 30-31 read like a conclusion) has Jesus speaking to two audiences: the first disciples in Jerusalem, and the Christ-followers for whom John writes. The evangelist has the disciples remaining in Jerusalem after Passover. They are behind locked doors in the house they had rented for the festival, afraid that the authorities will come after them too. They are ashamed by the humiliation of Jesus and their own failure to show their loyalty to him.
John’s readers are also afraid. The local synagogue is hostile towards them, and some at least have been expelled (see 15.18-20; 16.2). Though he has promised to be with them in the coming of the Advocate (14.16-17), it would be easy for them to feel that Jesus is absent when they need him the most. The coming of the risen Christ to those whose security depends on locked doors reassures both audiences. His wounds reveal that the mysterious figure in their midst, unconstrained by space and time, really is their master and friend who was crucified. His repeated ‘peace be with you’ (shalom) is the traditional Hebrew greeting. Jesus, though, invests it with new meaning, as the peace that he had earlier promised (14.27) overcomes the power of death, and remakes the world that God so loves. Little wonder that the disciples rejoice. Breathing on them is a reminder that their wounded Lord is the source of God’s renewing Spirit, like living waters flowing from his pierced heart (John 7.38-39; 19.34-37). Now they are commissioned to come out from behind locked doors and extend his ‘Lamb of God’ mission that refuses to allow anyone’s sins to have the last word (see John 1.29).
The story of Thomas says that even those who were not there at the beginning are given a share in Jesus’ victory and commission. It isn’t necessary to see or touch, only to take on trust the story that is captured in the witness of Mary Magdalene and the other disciples: ‘I/we have seen the Lord’ (20.18,25). Thomas’ ‘My Lord and my God’ comes as he works through his doubts and questions to make the story told by Mary and the other disciples his own. The witness of these unlikely apostles becomes the trustworthy story on which the Church’s faith has been founded ever since.
The links between the lectionary readings
Peter’s speech in Acts 2 uses Scripture to write a trustworthy story of Jesus’ resurrection. John’s story too can be trusted, because it rests on the reliable evidence of the first apostle of the resurrection, Mary Magdalene. 1 Peter echoes the message of the Gospel that trust in the Easter message brings love, joy and hope.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
PostScript: The Resurrection is everything!
To the leader: this reflection and comment on current news and events is written afresh each week and appears on the ROOTS website by Thursday morning.
When & where? Useful for sermon preparation; includes a prayer that can be used in worship and questions for young people. You could share it after the Sunday service or use in house/youth groups sessions.
Prayers
To the leader: these prayers support individual and family prayer life during the week.
When & where? Print/email them in a bulletin, post on your website.
A personal prayer
Jesus, give me:
faith to walk in your ways,
hope to follow you wholeheartedly,
love to echo your own love,
peace to fill me
and overflow to all those I meet.
Amen.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
A way into prayer
Write down a few words or images that represent any questions or doubts you may have about your faith (especially those you may not be prepared to raise with someone else). Cradle those questions in your hands as a sign of offering them to God, and say to yourself, ‘God can be trusted with these’. Ask God to help you be patient and accepting while you wait for – and as you seek – answers to your questions.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
A prayer for all ages together
Lord Jesus, we often have questions (raise one hand in air).
We don’t always find an answer (shake head),
but we know we can trust you with the worries inside us
(hand on heart).
Help us always to look to you when we are unsure (point to eyes).
In your name we ask.
Amen.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
A children’s prayer
Jesus, you came through a locked door.
You revealed yourself to your disciples.
Please unlock the doors of our hearts,
so we, too, may clearly see you.
Amen.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
Live in faith
To the leader: these are suggestions, linked to this week’s Bible reading, for putting faith into action.
When & where? Print/email them in a bulletin, post on your website.
For children
Encourage the children to greet people they meet this week with ‘Shalom’ or ‘Peace be with you’.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
For young people
If you encounter difficulties or challenges this week, remember Jesus’ word of peace: Shalom.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
For adults
Give out cards bearing all three symbols (see Prepare the space) and invite people to use them each day, as a reminder to think through questions, live out their faith and share Christ’s peace with someone else.
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd 2002-2017. Reproduced with permission. www.rootsontheweb.com
Children’s Sheet
To the leader: a question to ponder, a picture to colour, activities, a prayer, and a related book/film to share, aimed at 5–9 year olds.
When & where? Print it out for families to take away, email it to families each week.
This week's Children's sheets
Picture pointers
To the leader: a picture from this week’s resources with questions for reflection and discussion.
When & where? Use in a house group, project as people prepare to worship, share after the Sunday service.
This week's Picture pointers