NOTES: 1] LK is not an eye-witness to the events of Jesus' Passion & Resurrection. 2] There are a lot of inconsistencies between the Easter stories in the Gospels. With them we need to 'read' our own experience of the Raised Christ. 3] The miracle of the resurrection isn't just that Jesus' body is raised, but what that raising signifies & guarantees: that Love wins out.
4] v.12 (a brief summary of JN 20:3-10?) doesn't appear in all versions of LK, & may be an early insertion.

WARMING UP: Can we think of any totally unexpected event that changed our life?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Afterthoughts from, follow-up to last week’s Group, or since?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

1-3        How much does it matter what the women, the men, we ourselves may have seen if we'd got there in time to 'see it happen'? See what happen? Are we still a bit inclined to sneak a peep inside just to make sure he's not there? How come the symbol of our faith is the cross than the empty tomb? Is it just that the one is more tangible, the other hard to portray? If we want to see Jesus raised from death, where do we need to look? What, if anything, does his Resurrection prove about Jesus?

4-8        Are we ourselves still a bit inclined to be 'perplexed' about what happened that morning? Is 'perplexity' a barrier to faith / an excuse for un-faith? Can it become a stepping stone to move further into the mystery of God? Does today's church downplay mystery too much in the (supposed) interests of 'making faith relevant to modern people'? Don't people have a yearning for a bit of mystery today? If we can't / won't supply it, should we be surprised when others do?
             How much mystery can we bear to live with? Or, is any mystery too much mystery?  Is there any sense in which we are still, like the women, 'looking for the living among the dead'? Might it be better if we spent more time looking for the living among the living? Who need raising more - the dead, or the living? Which are we among? How sure are we of that? When we were 'resurrected' in this life, who noticed? Or, haven't we been? If no-one notices now, what does that augur for the future?

9-12     How good are we at telling about the Easter Event to others? How important is that Event to us? If people can't see that Jesus' Resurrection has made an identifiable difference in us, are they likely to be convinced by anything we say about it? Are we hesitant to 'spread the story' because we're afraid people will still think it 'an idle tale' & 'not believe' us? How did we first come to hear the story ourselves? When did it really 'grab' us? Or hasn't it, yet?
            If, like Peter, we need to see things for ourselves, how much have we seen? Enough? How? What? When? Where? In whom? When will we know we've seen enough? Or will there never be 'enough'? Is that a good thing, or bad?
            If the bit about the linen grave cloths lying by themselves is prima facie evidence that no-one had 'snatched' Jesus' body as some claim, is this a useful bit of spiritual 'forensic pathology' (all the rage on TV at the moment!) or not? Is 'spiritual forensics' as important as living the raised life? Is the one more convincing proof of the resurrection than the other?