During this year’s Lent observance, we, along with several other area UM Churches, are participating in a series titled Who Dunnit? The people who wanted Jesus dead (see article). The series begins after Ash Wednesday on Sunday, March 9.
In Sunday school, when we asked our teachers, “Why did Jesus have to die?” they usually answered, “Jesus died to save us.” This is a really confusing, although truthful answer.
Perhaps they gave us that simplistic answer because it seemed safer than saying, “Jesus died because he challenged the powers of this world.”
In Who Dunnit?, we focus on people who attempted to shorten Jesus’s ministry. After all, they represent, in one way or another, the spiritual powers of this world that Jesus encountered in the wilderness.
Let me explain. After His baptism, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, where Satan attempted to exploit His human weaknesses. During Lent, we are asked to reflect on our temptations and how God may call us to respond.
The people who tried to kill Jesus were consumed by selfish desires. The desire for comfort, desire for power, and desire glory. Many believed Jesus had to die because He refused to play the game, and in doing so, he exposed the hypocrisy of those who claimed to know God and live accordingly.
In this series, we will learn about the people who wanted Jesus dead, and we will discover that God is calling us still to resist the powers that conspired to put Jesus on the cross.
We’ll use The Friends and Foes of Jesus for a companion book by Dr. Peter DeHaan. Our author says he often makes religious people squirm, but spiritual seekers cheer. He’s not trying to be provocative, he says, but he seeks truth. And the truth makes some people uncomfortable.
Reading from our companion book is divided into mostly equal pages each week. Since our companion book is a whirlwind tour of dozens of names, our series won’t connect directly. However, we’ll have an opportunity to consider how the messages each week inform our understanding of each person’s view of Jesus.
Here is the outline of our series:
| Title | Sunday | Scripture | Guest Speaker |
|---|---|---|---|
| The king | March 9 | Matthew 2:16-18 | |
| The religious folk | March 16 | Mark 3:1-6 | Ruth VanderSande |
| The clergy | March 23 | Luke 21:37-22:2 | |
| The neighbors | March 30 | Luke 4:20-23 | Vince Slocum |
| The disciple | April 6 | Luke 22:3-6 | |
| The governor | April 13 | John 19:16b-22 | Palm Sunday |
| The revelation | April 20 | John 20:1-25 | Easter Sunday |
I pray that you will join us each Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. We share our weekly episodes on Facebook and our YouTube channel, and we go live at 10:30 a.m. You can find these links, along with more information about us, or join our live broadcast on our website, FlintAsburyChurch.org.
Pastor Tommy
Peter DeHaan. The Friends and Foes of Jesus: Discover How People in the New Testament React to God’s Good News. MI: Rock Rooster Books, 2019.