Holy Week
Do You Live a Life of Stress?
Welcome to Holy Week. This is the week we commemorate Jesus’ last week on earth before His crucifixion.
During Holy Week, Jesus was hard pressed by the Jewish religious authorities, under surveillance, and under a death warrant. Amazingly, He was a man who experienced inward peace while surrounded by outside “stressors.” How did He do that? We not only succumb to OUTSIDE stressors, but we add stress to our lives through our own INSIDE stressors!
DAY 1
1. What areas of your life are stressful for you?
___ Marriage
___ Kids
___ Your boss
___ Co-worker(s)
___ Employee(s)
___ Budget not working
___ Need more income
___ Personal battles
___ In-laws
___ Health
___ Growing sense of emptiness
___ Other:________________________________________
2. Most of these are OUTSIDE stressors. But stress is really driven by INSIDE stressors.
Stress involves (1) an “ISSUE” and (2) an “IDENTITY.” The ISSUE is what we normally think of: “How am I going to get my son’s grades up in school?” The IDENTITY is how the issue will REFLECT on me.
When we feel stress we THINK it’s because of the ISSUE. Not true! It’s because of IDENTITY. Somewhere, somehow, deep in the recesses of our heart we have set our IDENTITY on something “human” (faulty)! The culprit is usually, “How will this reflect on ME? What will someone else think of me? How will I think of me?”
Most people ignore IDENTITY because they don’t want to admit that self-centeredness is in play in the ISSUE. Instead they want to believe that they feel stress because they CARE so much about the ISSUE.
What strikes you about this?
Read Luke 19:28-44
3. Jesus needed transportation into Jerusalem in order to fulfill a messianic prophecy. Zechariah 9:9-10). He did not “own” a donkey, let alone one that had never been ridden.
How stressed out did He seem to be over this dilemma? Why?
DAY 2
Read Luke 19:35-44
1. Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we call, Palm Sunday. The adoring crowds of regular people cheered Him in. Why were they cheering? (vv. 37-38)
2. How was the assessment of the crowd toward Jesus? Were they cheering for the right things?
3. A smaller group grumbled and mumbled, harped and carped, huffed and puffed (v.39). They had been looking for ways to kill Him for about two years. What did they say during His triumphal entry?
4. When you receive criticism, what happens to you?
• Inwardly?
• Outwardly?
5. How did Jesus respond to this criticism?
What strikes you about His response? Did He seem to be under “stress?”
6. In just a few days He would be enduring a painful death for these very people. How do you do when you are criticized when something large is pending?
DAY 3
Read Luke 19:41-44
1. In contrast to the Pharisees who are critical, stressed out, on edge, Jesus offers up a different life that they could have had. What was it? (v. 42)
2. “What would bring you peace” is how He put it. What did He think would have brought the people peace?
3. What kept them from having this peace?
v. 42–
v. 44–
4. When we REFUSE to respond to God and His offers for peace, we NATURALLY experience the fruits of our desire for independence and autonomy. When our refusals last a long time, grave consequences will come our way. When grave consequences come our way, it’s “easy” to blame God. However, what do these verses (vv. 41-44) indicate as the true nature of things?
5. As Jesus viewed the spectacle in front of Him, what was His response? (v.41)
6. Why do you think He wept?
DAY 4
Read Luke 20:1-8
1. What was Jesus doing the next day, after “Palm Sunday?”
2. Who interrupts Him?
3. How is He interrupted?
4. When you get interrupted, what are your normal responses?
5. These Jewish leaders had a bounty out on His head. They MEANT Him harm. When they first approached Jesus in 20:1, how would you have responded?
6. When someone means you harm and they criticize you, what happens to your stress level?
7. How did Jesus respond?
8. Why did He respond as He did?
DAY 5
Friday is Good Friday, the day Jesus willingly died on a cross for you and me.
Read Luke 23:26-49
1. In v. 27 why were the women mourning and wailing?
2. Instead, Jesus sees a bigger problem. What did Jesus mean in vv. 28-30?
3. Why was Jesus able to forgive the very people who were crucifying Him? (v. 34)
4. How did each of the following groups of people treat Jesus?
* Rulers (v. 35)–
* Soldiers (v. 36)–
* Criminals (v. 39)–
5. What strikes you about Jesus in vv. 40-43?
6. All week we have been looking at “stressors” in Jesus’ life. All His “stressors” were OUTSIDE; none were INSIDE stressors! Why? (Read vv. 44-46)
7. Do you have some “committing” into the Father’s hands to do?