Easter Week 4 - Joy Robbers

Scripture Reading

Matthew 28:11-15

*Tip: Before reading the text, give context: On resurrection Sunday, some women from among Jesus’ disciples went to the tomb where Jesus was buried. An extremely bright and powerful angel appeared and rolled back the stone. The guards were terrified. The angel said Jesus had risen. The women left “with fear and great joy” and then Jesus himself met them. Jesus then sent them to the other disciples.

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Big Idea (For Parents)

True, lasting joy comes only by resting in Christ’s once-for-all resurrection victory for us. We are tempted to miss this true joy by overly trusting counterfeit rivals which make big promises but never deliver.

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Family Reflection

(Read aloud or summarize)

There were two groups of people who first witnessed the reality of Jesus’ resurrection: the women and the guards. The women trusted in Jesus’ resurrection and received great joy. The guards, however, trusted other things and missed out.

What did the guards trust? They trusted the money that the chief priests gave them. They thought money would meet their needs and give them joy. We too are tempted to think like that anytime we try to meet our needs with purely material  things like money. This could be needs about health and wellness, our possessions, our homes, or our relationships. The guards also trusted in the Jewish rulers, or government, to protect them and meet their needs. The guards were wrong to put their highest trust in these other things—created things like money and government. We know they trusted those things too much, because their trust in those things led them to reject God’s words through the angel and to lead others to do the same.

Sadly, by trusting the wrong things, the guards missed the true Joy that rose from the dead right before them. Through their false story about the disciples robbing the grave, they robbed themselves of true joy.

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Discussion Questions

(Adjust for age)

1- Why do you think it is so easy for people to put their highest trust in things like money or government?

2- What happens to people when created things in which they’ve put their highest trust fail to give them true joy?

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Practice—Name and Disclaim Your Joy Robbers

Think about the things which, to obtain, you are tempted to disobey God. In those circumstances, those things become potential “joy robbers” for you.

-Name one “joy robber” for you, and pray to disclaim it:

Father, we know that _____ cannot give us true joy. Please keep us from disobeying you in an attempt to have _____. We ask this in the name of our true Joy, Jesus. Amen.

-Commit to one tangible way to celebrate resurrection joy this week despite the rival source of joy not being fully satisfied (money, health, relationships, government, etc.).