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After The Cross - Week Four

May 31, 2026 0 0

 

Week 4 — Leap

 

Context:

Sometimes coming face to face with the

cross leads to people leaping into life

following Jesus. It’s the start of an adventure that physically moves people, motivating them to catch up with where Jesus is working in the world. The cross is life-changing not because it draws us to stay there, but because it turns us to face back out to the world, to where Jesus is now, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is no longer on the cross, no longer in the tomb; while returning to the cross inspires and shapes our faith — we are not meant to spend our lives here — we have to look to where Jesus is calling us now... Discuss!

 

Introducing the readings:

We conclude our journey with the two disciples in Luke 24 as they leap up and return to Jerusalem! We are told, despite the day’s walking that they immediately turn back. There’s no time to delay! Then we read an extract from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as he urges them to grasp the enormous power of the hope that God is calling them to. Key themes in these readings are: enthusiasm, understanding and revelation.

 

Read Luke 24: 30-35 and Ephesians 1:18-23

 

Response:

In the Emmaus story the disciples go from

kneeling in adoration to leaping into action because a new adventure has been brought before them. Similarly as disciples today, we leap when the ground shifts beneath our feet. The old world order has gone. ‘It is finished’ is the cry of the cross — something new has come about! This was true 2,000 years ago and it’s true for each of us today as we come face to face with the cross.

Q: What is your response to the conclusion of the Emmaus story? What struck you about these final verses? Is there a particular phrase or moment that inspires you? What questions are you taking away from it?

Karl Barth the great 20th century theologian saw the cross and the resurrection as one great cosmic event. He called it a ‘cataclysmic interruption’. For Barth the change was that the Cross and Resurrection, the world itself has changed. The "adventure" isn't about simply finding yourself and a new identity; it's about being caught up in a new cosmic reality. You "leap" because the ground you were standing on (the old world of sin and death) has literally disappeared. We now live as citizens of a new creation. We are now modelling the Kingdom to come!

Q: What does Paul mean when he talks about using the eyes of our heart? What are the eyes of our heart? And do they change how we see the cross?

Q: Discuss the following quote. In Church Dogmatics IV/1, Barth uses a powerful metaphor:"The Church is not a museum of the past, but a school of the future.” For Barth, the Resurrection isn't just a past event we look back on. It is the future breaking into the present. The Church is the "school" where we learn how to live in that future right now. What does it mean to live in ‘a school for the future’? To practice for eternity? You may also want to read Romans 13: 8- 14 and 2 Corinthians 5: 16-22.