First Thoughts: The passage assigned for Good Friday is vast and full of many possible emphases. I've picked the encounter with Pilate because it illumines the vast difference between the way the world looks at power and the way Jesus wields it. Pilate's questioning shows us again and again he just doesn't understand where Jesus is coming from. He asks him about his power structure, his loyalty, his kingdom. Jesus explains to Pilate that his kingdom is different than that. He's not trying to establish an earthly authority challenging or replacing Rome. His purpose is only to spread the truth and to convert others to following that same truth: God's love is present, abundant, and free. Even this truth is confusing to Pilate. It's not a truth that is sold to the public for a profit, used to feed a guru's ego in collecting disciples, or to elevate the leader to a position of power and authority. It's a truth that has at its center one motivation: that others will be healed and loved in the light of God's compassion. Here is a question to consider: Is this the truth that still motivates our churches today? That God's love is free for the asking to anyone who comes? Or do we attach strings to it -- you must join the church, attend worship weekly, pay your tithe, be "respectable"? (Because the second model is one that Pilate would have understood: use truth to grow an institution.) Even when Jesus loses everything, when he stands betrayed, denied, and abandoned, when he stands before the man he knows will condemn him, he stands steady in his truth. Somehow God is with him even in this darkest hour, just as God is with us in every hour. This belief, this certainty, this faith, is the greatest power of all.
Teaching On Your Own: Does anyone here know what today is? It's Good Friday. What's special about this day? It's the day that Jesus was killed on the cross. Today is a hard day for us, isn't it? It's kind of sad and even a bit confusing. Do you know what confuses me about it? If Jesus is God's Son then he should be the most powerful person in the world, right? Then why do bad things keep happening to him? First his friend Judas betrays them, his friends run away when he's arrested, and finally he's condemned by Pilate to die. Jesus doesn't seem very powerful, does he? Who do you think looks like the most powerful person in the story? Maybe Pilate, since he's the one making the decision about whether Jesus will die. Now if we read the story, it tells us Pilate is scared. He's scared of the crowd turning against him, of the emperor thinking he's disloyal, and of looking weak. So even though he seems powerful, inside he feels weak and uncertain. Jesus is a different story. During the trial he seems calm. Why do you think he's calm and not scared? Maybe because even though Jesus knows this bad thing is going to happen to him, he still believes God is with him. Jesus knows there's nothing anybody can do to change God's love for him, so during this really hard time he knows he's still going to be okay. Even though Pilate has armies behind him, he's afraid. Even though Jesus has been left by all his friends, he's not afraid. I guess knowing that God loves us makes all the difference, doesn't it? So now who do we think is the most powerful person in the story? I think it is Jesus. His faith makes him so strong that nothing can shake him. But you know what the best news is? God is growing that same power in our own lives -- the power of deepening faith. That's good to know, isn't it?
Teaching As A Team:
(Leader 2 reads Bible, looks worried)
Leader 1: What's wrong, (name)? You look upset.
Leader 2: I was reading over our lesson for today, and I don't like it at all.
Leader 1: Yes, today is a hard one.
Leader 2: First Jesus' friend Judas turned him over to the authorities. Then his friends ran away when he was arrested. Then he had to go before Pilate, the Roman governor, to be condemned. It's sad and it's confusing.
Leader 1: What's confusing you?
Leader 2: I thought Jesus was supposed to be God's Son. Shouldn't he be the most powerful person in the world? Then why do bad things keep happening to him?
Leader 1: He is powerful but maybe not in the way we sometimes think. Let's look at the story. Who do you think is the most powerful person?
Leader 2: Pilate, I guess. I mean, he's the one making the decision about whether Jesus will die.
Leader 1: But if you read the story, it tells us Pilate is scared. He's scared of the crowd turning against him, of the emperor thinking he's disloyal, and of looking weak. So even though he seems powerful on the outside, inside he feels weak and uncertain. What do you notice about Jesus?
Leader 2: He seems calm. But how can that be?
Leader 1: Because even though Jesus knows this bad thing is going to happen to him, he still believes God is with him. Jesus knows there's nothing anybody can do to change God's love for him, so even during this really hard time he knows he's going to be okay.
Leader 2: So even though Pilate has armies behind him, he's afraid. Even though Jesus has been left by all his friends, he's not afraid.
Leader 1: Knowing God loves us makes the difference.
Leader 2: Maybe Jesus is the most powerful person in the story then.
Leader 1: Yeah. And the best news? God is growing that same power in our own lives -- the power of deepening faith.
Leader 2: Yeah, that is good news.
Closing Prayer: God, be with us on this dark day of Good Friday. As you reassured Jesus of your love and presence when he faced his death, help us to face life with the same faith that you are always near us, loving us, and working for our good no matter how dark things get. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Follow-Up Lesson: To reinforce this lesson in a home or classroom environment, invite the children first to express their feelings as they encounter the story. Encourage them to be as broad as possible: fear, anger, confusion, sadness. Invite the children to share how they feel these feelings in their bodies -- in their hearts, stomachs, throats, and so forth. Is the feeling hot, tight, heavy? Invite the children to join you in a time of prayer, as you invite God's light into those places in our bodies. You might offer a brief visualization here, describing the light of God coming down from the sky, washing slowly down their heads to the troubled areas in their bodies, gently swirling around the troubled areas and cleaning out the debris of that negative feeling. After you're done with the visualization, ask the children what it was like for them. Now share the earlier story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (found in Luke 22 and Matthew 26). Share how Jesus told God he was afraid, he didn't want to do this, and how he cried and prayed for God to change the plan. Help them to see that Jesus struggled with the same feelings we have, but he brought those feelings to God -- just like they did with their bad feelings during the visualization. Knowing God loves us doesn't mean that we're never afraid; it means that when we feel afraid we can always bring it to God.
As a craft idea, provide each child with a piece of cardboard or sturdy poster board cut in the shape of a shield. Invite the children to color or paint on the shield the ways they can bring their fears to God. Practices included might be prayer, Bible study, attending worship, talking to someone they trust, going on a prayer walk. You might even invite them to draw a picture of themselves surrounded by light -- reminiscent of the visualization earlier. Tell the children that this craft represents their shield of faith, which will protect them during hard times. When fear seems to be overcoming them, they can look to this shield and remember the ways they can bring their fear to God. The best part is that the more they use this shield, the stronger their faith will grow. Close with a time of prayer.
