Aware of my own limitations and the age of my audience, I decided to focus on one particular discussion from the day -- the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:35-40) -- then talk through Judas' betrayal of Jesus (Matthew 26:1-5, 14-16)
I didn't find any cute activities for Tuesday, so we just chatted through the passages as we read them.
1 - Who did Jesus silence? (Sadducees)
2 - Who asked about the greatest commandment? (a Pharisee)
At which point Charlie asked what Sadducees and Pharisees were, so we discussed the difference between religion and faith a bit.
3 - What is a commandment? ("a rule we have to obey")
4 - Who do we love first? ("the Lord your God with all your soul and all your mind")
At which point Charlie asked what our soul is. I went out on a bit of a limb here and said our heart beats, our brain thinks and our soul believes...??? Then he asked if our soul is where we feel happy, and we agreed that it is quite possible that our soul is where we feel our emotions.
5 - Who do we love second? (our neighbor)
6 - What did the chief priests plan to do to Jesus? (kill him)
7 - When did they plan to kill him? ("after the dinner")
8 - Who offered to help the priests? (Judas)
9 - What did they pay him? (30 silver coins)
10 - To do what to Jesus? ("find him for the priests")
And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. And being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."
And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received hem, and they shall be granted you. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions. [But if you do not forgive neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.]
And they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and scribes, and elders came to Him, and began saying to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?"
And Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer Me."
And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?' But shall we say, 'From men'?" -- they were afraid of the multitude, for all considered John to have been a prophet indeed. And answering Jesus, they said, "We do not know."
And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."
And He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard, and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. And at harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. And they took him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others.
He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
"But those vine-growers said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!'
"And they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
"What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read the Scripture: 'The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
And they were seeking to seize Him; and yet they feared the multitude; for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him and went away.
And they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him, in order to trap Him in a statement. And they came and said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay?"
But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at."
And they brought one. And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"
And they said to Him, "Caesar's."
And Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."
And they were amazed at Him.
And some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Him and began questioning Him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaved no child, his brother should take the wife and raise up offspring to his brother. There were seven brothers; and the first took a wifeand died, leaving no offspring. And the second one took her and died, leaving behind no offspring; and the third likewise; and so all seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife."
Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?' He is not theGod of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken."
And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"
Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
And the scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher, You have truly stated that He is one; and there is no one else beside Him; and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.
And Jesus answering began to say, as He taught in the temple "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself said in the Holy Spirit, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, until I put Thine enemies beneath Thy feet.'" David himself calls Him 'Lord'; and so in what sense is He his son?"
And the great crowd enjoyed listening to Him.
And in His teaching He was saying: "Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like respectful greetings in the market places and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation."
And He sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the multitude were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. And calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on."
And as He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!"
And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another which will not be torn down."
And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?"
And Jesus began to say to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He!' and will mislead many. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. For nation will arise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
"But be on your guard for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. And when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.
"And brother will deliver brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.
"But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And let him who is on the housetop not go down or enter in to get anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days! But pray that it may not happen in the winter. For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created, until now and never shall. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened those days.
"And then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ'; or, 'Behold, He is there'; do not believe him; for false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders, in order, if possible, to lead the elect astray.
"But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance."
"But in those days, after the tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send forth the angels and will gather together His elect from the four winds, form the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.
"Now learn the parable from the fig tree; when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. But of the day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in the heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone.
"Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is. It is like a man, away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert -- for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cock-crowing or in the morning -- lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all, 'Be on the alert!'"
Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread was two days off; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth, and kill Him; for they were saying, "Not during the festival, lest there be a riot of the people."
And Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them. And they were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray Him at an opportune time.
Mark 11:20 - 14:2,10,11
Other References
Isaiah 5:1-2
Psalm 118:22-23
Deuteronomy 25:5
Exodus 3:6
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Leviticus 19:18
Deuteronomy 4:35
Deuteronomy 6:5
I Samuel 15:22
Hosea 6:6
Micah 6:6-8
Psalm 110:1
Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11
Daniel 12:1
Isaiah 13:10
Ezekiel 32:7
Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15
Isaiah 34:4
Daniel 7:13
Deuteronomy 30:4
Zechariah 2:6
Exodus 12:1-27
Matthew 21:20 - 26:5,14-16
Luke 20:1 - 22:6
John 12:20 - 17:26
