Sharing Our Faith Together

Holiday Club 2022: Wednesday - What happened to Jesus?

by Rev Jacky Quarmby 27 July 2022

Luke 22 – Luke 24

When something tragic happens to someone we love – the temptation is to look back and think … if only.  If only they had gone to the doctor sooner … if only they hadn’t taken that route in the car and ended up in that pile-up … if only they had done something differently – maybe it would have been alright.  

I wonder if that’s what the disciples thought …

… if only Jesus hadn’t criticised the religious leaders

… if only Jesus hadn’t gone to Jerusalem for the Passover festival

… if only Jesus had tried to stop Judas from betraying him

… if only Jesus had run away in the garden of Gethsemane, when he saw the soldiers approaching …

… if only Jesus had done things differently – he would still be alive today …

Then he could take up carpentry again in a quiet village a long way from Jerusalem … get married … have children … go fishing with Peter, James and John … sit around the fire … and say, “Do you remember when …” And life would be very different, wouldn’t it?  If only …

And yes – life would be very different, if Jesus had not been crucified … 

If Jesus had not been crucified … we would never know the depth of God’s love for us … 

If Jesus had not been crucified … our sins, our selfishness … would always keep us separate from God …

If Jesus had not been crucified … he would not have been raised from the dead … and thrown open a door to God’s heavenly kingdom for all who trust in him …

And if Jesus had not been crucified … then we would never know the power and presence of God in our lives in the Holy Spirit.

What happened to Jesus was terrible …  but if Jesus had returned to his carpenter’s shop and grown old and grey making tables … we would not know the healing power of God’s forgiveness … or have the hope of everlasting life … or experience the joy of God’s Holy Spirit living within us.

And so we thank God that Jesus did not run away … but gave his life … so that we could have hope and healing and life in all its fullness … and it is that hope and joy that we want to share with the children in Holiday Club today as we hear this story together. And we pray that this story touches their hearts and changes their lives just as it has changed ours.

Song:  Jesus is the King

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Let us pray,
Loving God, we thank you for your Son Jesus
Who lived a life of love and service
And did not hold back from death itself.
We thank you that because of his sacrifice
We can know forgiveness and the promise of a new life.
We thank you that because Jesus rose again, conquering death
we now have nothing to fear – not even death itself.
And we thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit
Through whom we can know the power and presence of Christ.

Loving God, 
may your Holy Spirit so fill our lives today
That something of Christ’s loving and giving, may be seen in us. 
And may the children that hear Jesus’ story today
Be encouraged to know Jesus for themselves 
And accept him as their Saviour and their friend.
For we ask this in Jesus’ name,
Amen