Questions you may wish to consider (Or you may choose to totally ignore these questions and make up a new set that suits you and your context. Be brave.) • We live in a violent world. Even in Australia, where overt violence is not part of everyday life for many, we know the impact of violence when it breaks into our lives. Port Arthur, Bondi, domestic abuse, gang warfare, family violence, racism, workplace and school bullying. There is a deeply violent edge running through our community. The world in which Jesus lived and ministered was brutal, as it is in this story. How do you respond to the depiction of violence that is so much part of the story of Easter? Do you want to turn away? Do you feel it viscerally? Discuss. • Some Christians feel a little resentful of last-minute conversions, but it seems that Jesus had no issue with the thief on the cross turning to him. Are there rules about when and how a person can meet Jesus or discover God? If so, what do you think they are? Who makes and sets those rules? • The young men in this story are caught up in events that play out in ways they could never have imagined. A wrong choice, made in a moment of madness, can often lead us into a real mess. The binary of good and bad people is challenged when we think about the circumstances and situations that lead many people into conflict. It could be us. Have you experienced the impulse to turn towards violence as an answer? Does it give you compassion for others who make that mistake? How does your faith help you resist the urge to violence and condemnation? • “Today you will be with me in paradise,” is a wonderfully comforting statement and promise. What do you think Jesus meant? • How do you approach the knowledge that Jesus died? Really died. Are you tempted to skip to the Resurrection, knowing that it’s all going to be ok? Or are you willing to let the mystery of death take Jesus for those days and experience the sorrow of loss? Jesus chose to embody and inhabit our suffering. Are we able to stand with the women at the cross as he dies, or do we wish to turn away? • Why does it matter that Jesus really died? 110
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