Matt Zainea Rockford Campus December 4, 2022
FINISHED AT THE CROSS
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
REMINDERS
- Christmas Candlelight is being hosted at our campuses the weekend of Dec. 18. For more details and info about how you can help serve, go to: https://magnifychurch.org/event/christmas/
- End of Year Giving. This week, Pastor Matt Zainea laid out our stated goal for year-end giving to reach $1.6 million. Please be in prayer as to how you and your group can contribute to this goal. For questions, feel free to reach out to me ([email protected]) or Executive Pastor Andrew Bauer ([email protected]).
TOGETHER IN LIFE
** This Sunday, Matt began with a conversation about babies and the life we imagine them growing up to live: what they will grow up to become and do.
When you were little, what did you want to be? What did you hope to do? Did you end up becoming or doing the things you thought you would?
TOGETHER IN THE WORD
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” The he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had received the sour win, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. (John 19:25-30)
TWO THEMES
TRUTH AND AUTHORITY
** Two major themes of John’s account of Jesus’ conversation with Pilate and his trial emerge:
QUESTION: What was Jesus’ mission? (See John 18:37)
QUESTION: Where did Jesus get his authority? (See John 19:8-11)
QUESTION: What did Jesus do across his entire life? What sorts of things did Jesus accomplish,
perform or act on?
QUESTION: Connect these questions: What does Jesus’ beliefs, teachings and actions tell us about
God? How is this inseparable to his life’s mission and authority? What was most
important to Jesus in his time here on earth? How did he prioritize his life?
3 PHRASES OF JESUS
“WOMAN, BEHOLD, YOUR SON”…”BEHOLD, YOUR MOTHER”
**Jesus cares deeply for people in their time of need. He also used his time here on earth to accomplish his mission. He connects with his Mother’s heart, as well as addressing a deep theological truth. Matt connects this passage in John 19 to the one from John 2:3-4 where Jesus turns the water into wine. Knowing he will be the purification water, that his blood will be poured out like wine, he invites his mother – a 1st century widowed woman (the “least of these”) to take a center-stage role in his glorifying death.
QUESTION: Think about Mary’s history with Jesus. What memories do you think she might have been processing while she was watching her son die? (see Matthew 1-3, Luke 1-2)
QUESTION: How does Mary serve as an example for us as we consider the weightiness of her experience? How did this help her to trust God more?
“I THIRST”
** We all have thirsts. Thirst is our bodies signal to us that we need hydration, we need to be filled with the right thing in order for us to be healthy. The same goes for our body, as it does for our souls. Like drinking salt water, if we are seeking to fill our thirsts and hungers with earthly things, we will both not be filled AND our thirst will only grow worse.
PRAY, THINK AND ANSWER: What do you thirst for? What does your heart really say, “I need…”
QUESTION: What would it look like for you to turn to Jesus to be filled up?
“IT IS FINISHED”
** Jesus’ life mission was coming to a close. Immanuel, God with Us, was about to be no more. But this humiliating and horrifying death was to his glory – it proclaimed his goodness, rather than to shame him, as his murderers had hoped. God uses this moment, which we in our human terms would see as the lowest of lows, to raise us to the highest of heights! Jesus accomplished his mission of testifying to the truth of God. Read John 3:16, John 6:35, John 8:12, John 10:7-9, John 10:11-15, John 11:25-26, John 14:6-7 and John 15:1-5 to see what truth Jesus testifies to…
QUESTION: What truth(s) does Jesus testify to? Try to find a Scripture reference to back up your answer.
QUESTION: What do you think it would’ve felt like to be his disciple in that moment?
QUESTION: How can we be reminded of God’s love for us as we consider this part of Jesus’ story?
TOGETHER IN PRAYER
As a group, discuss how Jesus’ shame was our glory. Pray in worship to him for his sacrifice for us. Consider how the impact of his love – the lengths at which he would go to demonstrate his love – can motive us to love those in our lives (especially those who are hardest to love).
TOGETHER IN ACTION
It’s Christmas season! We are now in Week 2 of Advent where we celebrate the Peace of Christ. Consider how you are a living example of Jesus’ peace to the world. Text with your group this week to talk about how you can be a peacemaker and provide an environment of peace for others.
