The Jesus I Never Knew

				Opening and Warm-up Activity: How much do we know about Jewish Culture? Brainstorming Activity: We discovered that we know a few things about Jewish culture. We knew a few of the religious holidays, the names of a few traditional foods and religious objects, like the torah. We had experienced the Seder supper at St. David's during Easter. We know that as a people they have been persecuted throughout history. We learned even more though one study member whose family has ties to the Jewish faith and this has built bridges between our faith and theirs. The Videos: We watched a series of clips which explored Jesus as a child and young man and his Jewish upbringing. King of Kings (version 2) Intro to Jewish History Yancey's Companion Video, The Jesus I Never Knew, which in he explores how very Jewish Jesus was and yet he did not measure up to Messiah Expectations.Included were clips from Gospel Road, a film by Johnny Cash where Jesus is rejected by his Hometown and the Cotton Patch Gospel, which retells the Good Samaratin Story as if it were set in rural Georgia. Jesus of Nazareth a clip of Jesus boyhood with Mary and Joseph and his bar mitzvah. Finally we viewed a clip from the video series on the Book of Matthew, called. Matthew, which gave us a powerful scene depicting Jesus baptism by John the Baptist.
				Small Group discussion: Questions: 1. What do we know about the political climate in Jesus boyhood? How did that affect his upbringing? - Unrest, Violent times, Jews under Roman rule, Jesus family were refugees to Egypt and came back only when they felt it was safe. Jewish people were feeling very persecuted and waited and begged for God to send them the promised Messiah. 2. If we were Jewish and living in that time in history, how do you think we would have responded to Jesus claim that he was the Messiah. - much the same as the Jewish people did. Disbelief, questioning validity, treted him like a cult leader of today. - Probably would have gone to hear him speak and try to judge for oneself if he was the true Messiah.