The Passion Stories
Resources for Lent and Easter
Looking for a creative and engaging way to experience Lent and Easter this year? If so, The Passion Stories may be your answer.
During the first lockdown in March 2020, isolating in their own homes, the cast of the LAMPS Passion recorded six speeches from the show on their mobile phones.
In The Passion Stories, the characters of Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and a young centurion called Marcus speak direct to camera. Vivid, immediate, personal and compelling, the stories recall the events of Holy Week in accessible contemporary language.
Themed studies accompany each video. They include material for reflection or discussion, questions to ponder and a related prayer. Ideal for small groups, individuals, or for church services.
I live in Bermuda and wanted to reach out and say a huge ‘Thank You’ for compiling such powerful portrayals and studies for The Passion.
The Passion Stories preview
Suggestions for use
Each of the six videos tells a story from the point of view of a key character which you might like to use as your starting point. Each of the accompanying studies highlights one or more of the themes raised.
In each study there is a passage from scripture to read on which the story (or parts of it) will have been based, followed by some ideas and questions to consider and a related prayer.
Individuals might enjoy reflecting on these alone as a way to mark the passage through Lent or perhaps one a day throughout Holy Week.
Small groups might like to watch a film at the start of a session at an agreed time, then meet by Zoom or similar to share impressions and discuss the material.
Churches might find it useful to share one of the films during a service, perhaps as a creative starting point for a sermon or a focal point for reflection on a particular theme or aspect of the Easter story.
However you choose to use the resource, we hope you find it an enjoyable, useful and thought-provoking way in which to engage/help others to engage with the Easter story.
God bless
The LAMPS team
About the writer: Chris Matthewman is a co-writer of The Passion (LAMPS) and a Baptist minister
Video 1: Entry into Jerusalem
Deployed on the Jericho Road, a young centurion named Marcus prepares his men for trouble – which doesn’t come in a form he recognises.
The Passion Stories – Day 1 – Jesus rides into Jerusalem
Hope and disappointment
Read Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 19 28-40
There is a genre of films that I quite enjoy known as Survival Drama.
These movies depict people battling against the odds to stay alive despite desperate conditions, aggressive threats, unknown terrain, and dwindling resources. (Perhaps one day they will make a survival film set in the year 2020!)
An example of this is Everest, based on the events of an ill-fated 1996 attempt at the summit, it includes the remarkable story of Dr. Beck Weathers, an American pathologist, left for dead on the mountain on (a somewhat discouraging) three separate occasions.
Exposed to severe ice, cold and wind and having spent 15 hours in a hypothermic coma, Beck says at one point he saw his wife and children calling out to him, and with this in his mind, he was somehow able to get to his feet, drag himself back down the mountain and back into basecamp.
When life is difficult, hope is powerful.
Hope that our present problems will be temporary.
Hope that our struggles may teach us something.
Hope that better days are ahead.
When Jesus arrived into Jerusalem, it was at a difficult time for its people. Under Roman occupation, they enjoyed a degree of freedom, but life was tense, and under a shadow; the secular historian Josephus portrays their Roman governor Pilate as a harsh and ruthless leader. There was some social, political, and religious unrest, BUT there was also a sense of expectancy and hope amongst some that a real God-ordained change might soon be brought about by the arrival of their long awaited Messiah.
The Jews believed that various Old Testament scriptures foretold a time when God’s anointed leader, a descendant of David, their greatest king, would arrive and take up immediate rule.
The Lord says to my Lord:
‘Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.’
The Lord will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion, saying,
‘Rule in the midst of your enemies!’
Psalm 110:1-2
This brought the Jews hope, and it is in this context that Jesus of Nazareth enters the scene. We can see why emotions might have run high.
Questions to ponder
- Can you think of a time when you were able to hang on to hope during a difficult season of life?
- Does ‘hanging on to hope’ describe how you feel about life right now? What do you hope for?
- What gives you hope in this current season and how might you share this with others?
You could argue of course that because hope is powerful, it can also be dangerous.
One the writers of the book of Proverbs stated; ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.’ Proverbs 13:12
There is a theory, which I think holds some weight, that the primary reason why some of the crowd who were shouting ‘hosanna’ and hailing his arrival into Jerusalem turned on Jesus so quickly, was due to their hope being disappointed.
And as the young centurion Marcus observes in his monologue, ‘As it so often does, disappointment led to anger.’
Throughout the gospels, Jesus consistently refuses to live up to people’s expectations of a Rabbi, let alone The Messiah. And so it is in this final week.
The crowds that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem may have heard of some of the miraculous works that he was said to have done whilst in Galilee and the following that he was able to attract. They may have taken a particular understanding from some of their scriptures
From this they may have built up a picture of who Jesus is and what Jesus would do for them, that was not entirely correct.
I wonder if I do the same.
I wonder if because of this, I also experience the kind of disappointment that results from false or unfulfilled hopes.
Jesus came on a donkey, not a warhorse.
He would not violently expel the Roman occupying force and free Israel from military oppression
This was not the Messiah they were looking for.
He was not that kind of saviour.
Professor NT Wright in his book Luke For Everyone writes;
As we arrive at Jerusalem with Jesus, the question presses upon us. Are going along for the trip in the hope that Jesus will fulfil some of our hopes and desires? Are we ready to sing a Psalm of praise, but only as long as Jesus seems to be doing what we want?
Questions to ponder
- Can you think of times in your life when ‘hope deferred’ made your heart sick? What if anything was helpful in dealing with this?
- Have you ever got to the point when, if you were really honest, you felt disappointed with Jesus, or where you feel that God did not do what you hoped or expected Him to? Did you feel able to talk to God about this?
- Where in scripture might we find encouragement for when we feel like this?
Scriptures of hope
One hope that Christians may have and may draw from the Easter story is that our death on this earth is not the final chapter.
The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the church in Thessalonica, in Greece.
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Another verse full of hope from the Old Testament is this:
‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’ Jeremiah 29: 11-13
A prayer
Dear Lord,
We thank you for the hope that is given to us in Jesus – the hope that we are loved and we matter to you – the hope of our salvation. Help us to learn how best to respond when earthly hopes are disappointed. Give us courage to be honest with ourselves and to bring our disappointment to you, confident in your love and understanding of our human nature. Help us never to lose hope in You.
Amen