Eight Days That Changed the World

In one paragraph

Easter Sunday is always hard to preach, Pastor Mark admitted at the outset, because the story never changes and yet it has to be entered fresh every year. This year he walked the congregation through Holy Week day by day, from the raising of Lazarus eight days before resurrection Sunday all the way to the empty tomb, letting the paintings, the prophecies, and the people along the road carry the...

Read together

1. John 11:43-44 Jesus calling Lazarus forth from the grave, still bound in grave clothes
2. Matthew 21:9-11 crowds shouting Hosanna at the triumphal entry, city asking who is this
3. Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus driving out buyers and sellers, overturning tables in the temple
4. Isaiah 56 my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, even outsiders brought to the holy mountain
5. Matthew 21:14 the blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple and he healed them
6. Isaiah 35 eyes of the blind opened, lame leaping like a deer, spoken of Messiah seven hundred years before Christ
7. Matthew 21:15-16 chief priests and scribes indignant at children shouting Hosanna, Jesus quoting from Psalm 8
8. Psalm 8 out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise, quoted by Jesus to the indignant chief priests
9. Mark 14:12-16 disciples sent into the city to follow a man with a pitcher of water and prepare the Passover
10. Luke 22:24-27 dispute among disciples over who is greatest, Jesus saying he is among them as one who serves
11. John 13:1-5 Jesus knowing his hour had come, loving his own to the end, rising to wash the disciples feet
12. John 13:21-30 Jesus troubled in spirit, identifying Judas as betrayer by the dipped morsel, Judas going out into the night
13. John 17 high priestly prayer in the garden, Jesus praying for unity among all believers throughout the ages
14. John 18:1-3 Jesus and disciples crossing the Kidron ravine to the garden where Judas led the Roman cohort
15. John 18:13-14 Jesus led to Annas, father-in-law of Caiaphas who had said it was expedient for one man to die
16. John 19 the cross, the crucifixion, and Jesus saying it is finished
17. Isaiah 53 written seven hundred years before Christ describing the suffering servant, pierced for transgressions, scourged, led like a lamb, buried with a rich man
18. Psalm 22 my god my god why have you forsaken me, they pierced my hands and feet, they divided my garments and cast lots, quoted and fulfilled at the crucifixion
19. John 3:16-17 god so loved the world, spoken privately to Nicodemus, recalled when Nicodemus helps take down Jesus body
20. Romans 1 Jesus declared son of god with power by the resurrection from the dead
21. Romans 4 delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification
22. Romans 6 believers walk in newness of life identified with Christ in death and resurrection
23. Romans 8 the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies
24. 1 Corinthians 15 Paul states Jesus was raised and seen by many witnesses
25. Philippians 3 Paul desires to know Christ and the power of his resurrection

Talk about it

1. The pastor talked about Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb but then telling the people standing there to unbind him and let him go. What does it say to you that Jesus entrusted that work to the people around Lazarus rather than doing it himself?
2. Walking through Holy Week day by day, which moment or scene stood out most to you, and why did that particular one land the way it did?
3. The pastor read from Isaiah 53, written seven hundred years before the crucifixion, and pointed out that crucifixion was not even a known form of punishment when it was written. How does that kind of fulfilled prophecy affect the way you think about the trustworthiness of scripture?
4. Eric Anderson, who has ALS and knows he is losing his voice, said that 'Tetelestai' is not the last thing he will say but the start of almost every conversation he has now. How does that reframe what 'it is finished' means for someone who is still living?
5. The pastor quoted Jesus's prayer in John 17 that all believers would be one, then noted that some of the earliest church splits were over things like which day to celebrate Easter. Where do you see that same tension between unity and division playing out today, and what do you think we are called to do about it?