Sunday School Lesson “The Death of a Friend” for Saint Paul’s United
Methodist Church of San Diego, California, United States for Sunday, 31 January
2016
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Bible Study Prayer by Claralice Wolf
Good Shepherd,
We are a small flock of Your disciples
meeting here in this little room. We come with our questions, our doubts and
suspicions, our fears and worries. We come with a hunger to know the truth.
Be in this place with us. Help us to hear
Your voice still ringing down through the centuries. Help us to discern what
You still have to say to us today.
O Shepherd and Lamb, come. Amen
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Devotional Reading: Isaiah 25: 6-8 But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will throw a feast for all
the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
a feast of seven courses, a
feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
the pall of doom hanging
over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
Yes, he’ll banish death
forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
He’ll remove every sign of
disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
Yes! God says so!
9-10 Also at that time, people will say,
“Look at what’s happened!
This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!
This God, the one we waited
for!
Let’s celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.
God’s hand rests on this
mountain!”
10-12 As for the Moabites, they’ll be treated like refuse,
waste shoveled into a
cesspool.
Thrash away as they will,
like swimmers trying to stay
afloat,
They’ll sink in the sewage.
Their pride will pull them
under.
Their famous fortifications will crumble to nothing,
those mighty walls reduced
to dust.[The Message].
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Background Scripture: John 11: The Death of Lazarus
1-3 A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her
sister Martha. This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord’s feet with
aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who
was sick. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Master, the one you love so very
much is sick.”
4 When Jesus got the message, he said, “This sickness is not fatal. It
will become an occasion to show God’s glory by glorifying God’s Son.”
5-7 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, but oddly, when he
heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days. After
the two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 They said, “Rabbi, you can’t do that. The Jews are out to kill you,
and you’re going back?”
9-10 Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone
who walks in daylight doesn’t stumble because there’s plenty of light from the
sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can’t see where
he’s going.”
11 He said these things, and then announced, “Our friend Lazarus has
fallen asleep. I’m going to wake him up.”
12-13 The disciples said, “Master, if he’s gone to sleep, he’ll get a
good rest and wake up feeling fine.” Jesus was talking about death, while his
disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.
14-15 Then Jesus became explicit: “Lazarus died. And I am glad for
your sakes that I wasn’t there. You’re about to be given new grounds for
believing. Now let’s go to him.”
16 That’s when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his
companions, “Come along. We might as well die with him.”
17-20 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days
dead. Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away, and many of the
Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother.
Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the
house.
21-22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t
have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”
23 Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the
resurrection at the end of time.”
25-26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now,
Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies,
will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at
all. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God who comes into the world.”
28 After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her
ear, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”
29-32 The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him.
Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had
met him. When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed
her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there. Mary came to where
Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, “Master, if only you had been
here, my brother would not have died.”
33-34 When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep
anger welled up within him. He said, “Where did you put him?”
34-35 “Master, come and see,” they said. Now Jesus wept.
36 The Jews said, “Look how deeply he loved him.”
37 Others among them said, “Well, if he loved him so much, why didn’t
he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a
blind man.”
38-39 Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at
the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid
against it. Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”
The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, “Master, by this time
there’s a stench. He’s been dead four days!”
40 Jesus looked her in the eye. “Didn’t I tell you that if you
believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41-42 Then, to the others, “Go ahead, take away the stone.”
They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed,
“Father, I’m grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do
listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I’ve spoken so that they
might believe that you sent me.”
43-44 Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a
cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.
Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.” [The Message]
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Key Verse: John 11: 43-44 Then he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And he came out, a
cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.
Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.” [The Message].
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Question:
How did Jesus use the death of Lazarus as
a teaching tool of who He is and what will happen to Him in a short period of
time?
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India Benediction:
May the Lord disturb you and trouble you,
May the Lord set an impossible task
before you,
And dare you to meet it.
May the Lord give you strength to do your
best,
And then, but only then,
May you be
granted the Lord’s peace. Amen.
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Heart’s of Christianity’s Benediction:
Go out into the world in peace;
Be of good courage;
Hold fast to that which is good;
Render to no one evil for evil;
Strengthen the faint hearted;
Support the weak; help the afflicted;
Honor all God’s children;
Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the
power of the Holy Spirit. Amen
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