Study Catechism Discussion Suggestions for Questions 37 through 48

37. Was the covenant with Israel and everlasting covenant?

One widely held belief (but suhject to debate) is that the covenant remained the same throughout history—including its ultimate expression in Jesus—and has simply been restated in different ways suitable for different times.

Personal reflections to share: What covenants have made that have been most meaningful? And what form did those covenants take? (Induction into military, marriage vows, personal oath, etc.) Were they spoken? Did two parties agree, or did you act unilaterally? For that matter, can it be a covenant if it is not entered into by two parties?

Explore last two sentences of the response. What is Christianity’s proper relationship with Jews? With the national state of Israel?

38. Why was the title ‘Christ,’ which means ‘anointed one,’ applied to Jesus?

See the scripture passage sources listed in the back of the booklet and consider: how did they get the response out of these scriptural sources?

39. How did Jesus Christ fulfill the office of prophet?

The response given refers to both “Jesus” (incarnate human being) and “Christ” (transcendent—he “enters our hearts”). To which do you relate more easily?

Consider the sentence, “His life, death and resurrection became the great Yes that continues to be spoken despite how often we have said No.”

a. How are each of these—his life, his death, and his resurrection—a “Yes”?

b. In what ways do you find yourself saying No? No to what?

c. Is the ‘yes and no’ between you and God encouragement? An argument? A breaking and mending of the covenant? A dialogue among friends, or among opponents, or between a student and a teacher? Or what?

40. How did Jesus Christ fulfill the office of priest?

What is a priest? In what way is the pastor’s role a priestly role in the congregation?

In what way(s) are we, or are we meant to be, “a kingdom of priests”?

“Lamb of God:” have someone look up the history of “scapegoat”—is that what Jesus was/is?

Are we really “hopeless” in sin and death without Jesus? How so (or how not so)?

41. How did Jesus Christ fulfill the office of king?

A. “No power but the power of love”—what is true vulnerability?

What is true power?

When, or in what ways, have you experienced each?

B. In what ways do you relate to Jesus/God/the Holy Spirit as

Lord?

Sovereign?

Master?

The African American church tradition honors matriarchy—how might this potentially influence your view, image, or relationship to God?

C. “Christ defeated sin, evil, and death by reigning from the cross.”

Do you agree? What sense of Jesus’ kingship do you feel, as a ‘royal subject’ of the king,

when he is crucified?

What do you (personally, in private thought and meditation) find more powerful, the crucifix, or the empty cross?

Be sure to read ahead through the next several items, so that what may come up as a tangential question on one day doesn’t throw off the lesson for an upcoming Sunday.

42. He suffered under Pontius Pilate—

How is he crucified today?

What makes him suffer?

How does God react when we suffer?

43. What do you affirm when you say he was “crucified, dead, and buried”?

The whole class might be asked to share their reflections on their earliest images or understandings of this passage, and how their images and understanding have grown or changed since then.

44. “He descended into Hell”

(We have discussed this already in class but it can be revisited.)

Tillich described sin as that which separates us from God,

And Hell as ultimate, final separation.

In that description, Jesus was fully removed from LIFE and fully removed from GOD.

Reflect.

45. Why did Jesus have to suffer as he did?

A. “Grace is more abundant than we suppose”—how so? Where, when, and how have you experienced it?

B. Explore any possible alternatives to the cross by considering:

1. What exactly is being accomplished (make a list), and

2. is there any other way these things could be, or could have been, accomplished?

Whatever possible alternatives we come up with, we still have the reality of the cross.

So, even if we have devised ideas that would seem satisfactory in place of Jesus having to suffer as he did on the cross, the fact remains that God chose the cross. Why?

C. See the lyric to the David Wilcox song, “Show the Way.”

The pastor likes David Wilcox and thinks this is a nice song, but thinks it’s fair to accuse Wilcox of putting a convenient smiley-face on evil and suffering. What do you think?

46. “On the third day he rose again from the dead”

“He appeared to his followers in a new, exalted kind of life.”

If the Church is the body of Christ, how DO we, and how SHOULD we,

demonstrate this “new, exalted” kind of life?

List philosophical ways but then discuss particulars of how you get there.

One way to do this would be to ask each class member to say what their IDEAL church would be like: how would it be evident, in your ideal church, that we are living a new, exalted kind of life?

What does Jesus’ triumph over death mean for your life (specifically)?

How is this meaning evident to you? How is this meaning for you evident to others?

47. “He ascended into heaven”

What is heaven?

Think about your earliest mental picture of heaven. Has your image of it changed as you’ve grown?

In what way has Jesus entered it? Will you find him there someday?

48. “He will come again to judge the living and the dead”

A. What is your first, emotional reaction to the prospect of God’s judgment?

Fear? Relief? A sense that wrongs will be righted, but hopefully not as powerfully against you as against those who have wronged you?

B. See the scripture references in the back of the booklet.

How do these give you confidence in the response provided?