Each meeting covers one lesson. The passage, questions and notes are all on the lesson page, and group members can print their own copy.
Leaders need only this guide: first the flow that is the same every time, then the focus points and tips for each lesson.
A lesson takes about an hour. Meet weekly or every other week — whatever fits your group.
Each Meetingabout 55 min
Snacks and catching up
10 min
Read together
10 min
Discussion
25 min
This week
5 min
Close (prayer optional)
5 min
Opening: Start with last time’s ‘This week’: ‘Did you do it? How did it go?’ For the first lesson, ask everyone to say in one sentence why they want to read about this person. The leader goes first.
Read together: Take turns reading the passage, a few verses each. The leader reads the short notes between sections.
Discussion: You don’t need to discuss every question in ‘Think It Through.’ Pick one or two from each group, add this lesson’s focus points, and that is plenty.
This week: Read it together, and ask each person to decide on the one small thing they will do this week.
Close: You can pray using a verse from the lesson. If some aren’t used to praying aloud, a minute of silence together is fine too.
Focus 1 (vv. 40–41, 47): They were those who, “when he was in Galilee, followed him and served him”; that day they were ‘watching from afar’; and when evening came, they “saw where he was laid.” Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read Luke 8:1-2 and verse 46 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of someone who serves quietly, and goes to thank them this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: The passage does not say that she was the woman in Luke 7, nor that she had been a prostitute; this lesson reads only the passage. Read “from whom seven demons had gone out” (Luke 8:2) as the passage gives it; there is no need to explain what illness or sin it was, or to guess what kind of person she had been. Someone in the group may live with mental illness, or have a family member who does; don’t speak of mental illness as demon possession. Read “served them from their possessions” (Luke 8:3) as the passage gives it; there is no need to turn it into teaching on giving, or to guess how much they had. In verse 40 Mark says ‘watching from afar’, and John says “standing by Jesus’ cross” (John 19:25); read each as it stands, with no need to reconcile them. There is no need to work out who all the women in verse 40 were, or who James the less was. Read verses 44–45 as the passage gives them; there is no need to develop them into an argument that ‘Jesus really died’. Someone in the group may have recently lost someone; there is no need to describe the details of the burial in verses 46–47. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to. ‘I’m in such a time now’ is also an answer to question 10.
Lesson 2 · They Have Taken Away the LordJohn 20:1-10
Focus 1 (vv. 1–2): “While it was still dark” she came; when she saw the stone taken away, she ran and said, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!” Ask the group: reading these two verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verse 7 and verse 9 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of one thing that worries them and that they don’t understand, tells someone they trust this week, and prays about it with them once. This does not need to be shared in the group.
Leader tip: Read her words in verse 2 as the passage gives them; there is no need to say she ‘feared the worst’ or ‘lacked faith’. Who else is in the ‘we’ of “we don’t know where they have laid him” (v. 2) the passage does not say; there is no need to guess. Read “while it was still dark” (v. 1) as the passage gives it; there is no need to compare it with the times the other Gospels give. The passage does not name ‘the other disciple whom Jesus loved’; there is no need to say who he was. Read “he saw and believed” (v. 8) and “as yet they didn’t know the Scripture” (v. 9) as the passage gives them; there is no need to compare who believed sooner, or to discuss what he believed. Read the linen cloths and the cloth for his head in verses 5–7 as the passage gives them; there is no need to develop them into ‘evidence for the resurrection’, and no need to list here which passages ‘the Scripture’ in verse 9 refers to. The weight of this lesson is on verses 1–2; read verses 3–10 as they stand, without turning this into a lesson about Peter and the other disciple. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 11–16): The disciples went home, “But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping”; she supposed him to be the gardener; “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned.” Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 6–7): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verse 16 and verse 17 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone finds a quiet time this week to tell Jesus, just as it is, what they are weeping over or looking for, and then reads verse 16 again. This does not need to be shared in the group.
Leader tip: Someone in the group may be grieving, or may have recently lost someone. Read her weeping in verse 11 as the passage gives it; there is no need to describe her feelings, and don’t ask the group to imagine being Mary. Why she did not recognise Jesus in verse 15 the passage does not say; there is no need to guess. Read the two angels in verse 12 as the passage gives them; there is no need to compare the number of angels with the other Gospels. Read “Don’t hold me” (v. 17) as the passage gives it; there is no need to explain why, or to compare it with “took hold of his feet” in Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 28:9). Read “my Father and your Father” (v. 17) as the passage gives it; there is no need to develop it into doctrine. There is no need to call her ‘the first to see the risen Lord’, or to give her any other title; this lesson does not discuss whether women may preach in the church. Don’t press on questions 8 and 9; only those who want to share need to. Question 10 looks back over the three lessons; allow ten minutes for it.
Principles
The leader is not a teacher, but someone walking alongside everyone else.
Give everyone a chance to speak. If some talk a lot, you can gently say, ‘Let’s hear from those who haven’t spoken yet.’
Don’t rush to give answers. If there is silence, wait a few more seconds.
If you can’t answer a question, it’s fine to say, ‘I don’t know — let’s look into it together,’ and come back to it next time.
What is said in the group stays in the group.
At the start, the leader can share their own answer first. Keep it simple and honest.
In the lessons, words in double quotes with a reference are scripture. What the passage does not say, we can only guess; guessing is fine, as long as we say we are guessing.
Don’t press on painful things. If someone becomes upset, stay with them after the meeting; if needed, involve a pastor from their church or a professional counselor.