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Jesus at the Passover - part 3

The risen Jesus appears to His disciples.
Contributed by Lars-Goran Ronnberg
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese
1
The priests and Jewish leaders knew Jesus had said He would come alive again after He had been dead for 3 days. They were very worried. ‘What if Jesus' disciples remove the dead body and try to deceive people into thinking He had risen? We need soldiers guarding the grave so that no one comes and steals the body!’ – Slide 1
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They quickly ran to Pilate and asked if soldiers could guard the tomb. Pilate decided that some of his soldiers would guard it. – Slide 2
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The Jewish leaders and priests were now very happy that the tomb was guarded. – Slide 3
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The soldiers tensed their muscles and thought this would be a very easy job. No one would be allowed to roll away the big stone and remove that dead body. – Slide 4
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Jesus' disciples were now very afraid that they too would be killed. They locked the doors and no-one dared to go out. – Slide 5
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The soldiers stood guarding the grave. They had to keep watch both day and night and were not allowed to fall asleep. If they fell asleep, they would receive very harsh punishments. – Slide 6
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But suddenly, early on Sunday morning, a mighty angel of God came down from heaven and removed the heavy stone in front of the entrance. There was a great earthquake and all the soldiers fell to the ground in absolute terror. – Slide 7
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They quickly fled from the grave. They could see that the dead body was gone and that the angel was now sitting on the large stone. – Slide 8
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The soldiers quickly ran to the priests and Jewish leaders to tell them what happened. The priests were both surprised and alarmed. What would they do now? – Slide 9
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They decided to bribe the soldiers with a lot of money to say that the disciples had removed Jesus' body while they were asleep. The soldiers were happy to tell lies and keep the money. – Slide 10
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Mary Magdalene had been weeping all the time since Jesus was crucified. Early that morning she wanted to go to the grave with expensive perfumes and spices to wrap around Jesus’ body so it would smell good inside the tomb. But she wondered how would she get inside the tomb as there was large heavy stone covering the entrance and soldiers guarding it. – Slide 11
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When she got close to the tomb, she saw, to her great surprise, that the large stone had been rolled away from the entrance and that the soldiers were gone. – Slide 12
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When she then looked into the tomb, she saw that Jesus' dead body was gone too. Only the bandages that Jesus’ body was wrapped in were there along with the cloth for Jesus' face which was neatly folded. Mary quickly ran to tell Peter and John. – Slide 13
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When Peter and John heard what Mary said, they ran to the tomb. They went into the tomb and were very surprised. What had happened to Jesus? – Slide 14
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Then Peter and John went outside, but Mary remained. – Slide 15
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Mary Magdalene continued to cry and mourn then suddenly … – Slide 16
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… an angel stood in the tomb and told her. ‘Mary! I know you're looking for Jesus, the crucified One. He's not here! He has risen from the dead. Go immediately and tell His disciples about this!’ – Slide 17
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Now Jesus came and stood behind Mary. Mary thought it was the gardener and asked, without turning around, if He knew where Jesus' dead body had been placed. – Slide 18
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Jesus only needed to say one word for Mary to her understand who was standing there. Jesus said her name, ‘Mary’. <br/>Mary quickly turned around and fell down before Jesus. The most amazing thing had happened! Jesus had risen from the dead! – Slide 19
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Mary quickly went to the disciples and told them what she had experienced. But they did not believe her and thought she must be imagining things. – Slide 20
21
In the evening, two disciples who had been on their way home to the town of Emmaus, arrived back in Jerusalem. They said that that Jesus had joined them on the way to Emmaus. They had talked with Him but not understood who He was at first. But when they stopped and broke bread together, they suddenly knew it was Jesus, but He had then disappeared from sight. They had quickly returned to let the disciples know Jesus was alive. But the other disciples would not believe them. – Slide 21
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Then suddenly, even though the doors were locked, Jesus stood in the midst of the disciples. Jesus showed His wounds in His hands and feet from the nails on the cross. He was alive! – Slide 22
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Now one of Jesus’ disciples, Thomas, had not been in the room when Jesus appeared. When he heard from the other disciples that Jesus had risen he just laughed. – Slide 23
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‘If I do not get to put my fingers in the wounds caused by the nails in his hands, I will never believe He is alive,’ said Thomas. – Slide 24
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A week later, when Thomas was with the disciples, Jesus appeared again. He beckoned Thomas to come forward and put his fingers in the wounds in His hands. Thomas was completely shaken and uttered, ‘Jesus, my Lord and my God!’ – Slide 25
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(There is an optional additional resources of a soundtrack of waves and seabirds you can download and play at this point.) A few days later, the disciples were in Galilee and Peter wanted to go fishing. Six other disciples joined him. But even though they fished all night, they did not catch any fish. They were both tired and disappointed. – Slide 26
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Then they saw someone on the shore who shouted that they should cast the nets out again on the right side of the boat. – Slide 27
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They obeyed. When they then threw out the net on the right side of the boat, it immediately became full of big fish. Oh, how happy they were. – Slide 28
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One of the disciples then realised it must be Jesus on the beach. When Peter heard this, he quickly jumped into the water and swam to Jesus on the beach. – Slide 29
30
There Jesus talked with Peter and asked him three times if he loved Him. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Peter replied three times that he loved Jesus. He knew that Jesus loved him and that everything was forgiven. – Slide 30
31
After the Passover, Jesus was with His disciples for 40 days. At one point, Jesus appeared to five hundred disciples and talked with them. Jesus gave them His commands to go out into all the world and preach His message good news. After the 40 days, Jesus was lifted up to heaven in the presence of the disciples. – Slide 31
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The disciples did exactly as Jesus said. Fifty days after Easter, on the day of Pentecost, they received the power of the Holy Ghost and started telling others about Jesus. Later, Thomas, for example, went to India and preached about Jesus. – Slide 32
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Peter preached in Jerusalem that Jesus had taken on all sin and guilt when He died on the cross and that He had now risen from the dead. Three thousand people believed that Jesus was alive and received God's grace and love. They trusted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. All three thousand people were baptised and began a new life obeying Jesus. – Slide 33
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John went to the great city of Ephesus in Turkey. There he preached that people should turn to God to receive Jesus as their Saviour. When John grew old, he was condemned for not praying to the emperor of Rome as his God then imprisoned on the island of Patmos. Here he had a vision of Jesus in heaven. Jesus told him not to be afraid because He lives forever. He has triumphed over death and has the keys to the realm of the dead. – Slide 34
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John wrote in his gospel ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (Jesus), that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life!’ – Slide 35
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