Adult
• 5 Sessions of Learner’s Materials
• 5 Sessions of Teaching Materials
• 6 Handouts
1. Matthew 8:28-34
2. Matthew 22:23-33
3. Matthew 9:27-38
4. Matthew 27:32-66
5. Matthew 28:1-15
This series of sessions offers five different answers to the question, "Who Is this Jesus?" We meet Jesus and try to understand him more clearly as Son of God, as Teacher, as Healer, as Suffering Servant, and as Resurrected Lord. Each of these identifying titles is but a partial answer to the unit's central question. Yet, even with all of them combined, we still cannot give the full and final answer.
Rather than focusing on Jesus'preaching and teaching, these sessions focus primarily on his interaction with the people, including how Jesus reached out to others in word and action and how others reacted to him. Most frequently we see Jesus reaching out to those excluded by the community. Often we read of the reaction of religious authorities who challenge, deride, and reject Jesus. As we look at Jesus and his interaction with people in his day, we are asked to examine ourselves. Is our response to Jesus more like that of the outcasts or the religious authorities?
As we encounter Jesus, our task is to know and experience him as Son of God, as Teacher, as Healer, as Suffering Servant, and as a resurrected presence among us. The Jesus we meet claims us all as brothers and sisters. The Jesus we meet is forgiving, offering forgiveness even before we ask. His challenging call to us is to walk with him down the same paths he has walked.
This is the season of Lent, a time for reflection and introspection, a time to get close to Jesus as he journeys to the cross and beyond. A fundamental question we must ask ourselves is whether we really want to know the answer to the unit's question. Are we open to the answers we may find as we examine the Gospel of Matthew to learn who Jesus really is? What we encounter may unsettle what we think we know about Jesus and what we think following him means.
If we desire to learn more about who Jesus is, we need to overcome our familiarity with the Jesus stories, which can blind us to new insight. We are challenged in this unit to look at Jesus with fresh eyes and open hearts, trusting that he will give us the courage and strength to go where he calls us to go and to be whom he calls us to be.
by Mary Jane Gorman
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