Witness at the Cross Leader Guide: A Beginner's Guide to Holy Friday

By Prof. Amy-Jill Levine

Place yourself as a witness of the cross and determine what your own testimony will be!

Experience Holy Friday from the perspective of those who watched Jesus die: Mary his mother; the Beloved Disciple from the Gospel of John; Mary Magdalene and the other women from Galilee; the two men, usually identified as thieves, crucified with Jesus; the centurion and the soldiers; Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Jews and Romans, friends and strangers, the powerful and the powerless, the hopeful and the despairing.

The story of Jesus’s death is not something we just read: we think about it, and we experience it; we hear the taunts of the soldiers, the priests, and the passersby even as we hear the famous “seven last words” from the cross.
In Witness at the Cross, Amy-Jill Levine shows how the people at the cross each have distinct roles to play. Each Evangelist presents a distinct picture of the death of Jesus. Each portrays different individuals and groups of people at the cross, each offers different images and dialogues, and so from each, we learn how those meanings and messages cross the centuries to any who would come to the cross today.

Each Gospel has its own story to tell, all the witnesses have their own memories, and every reader comes away with a new insight. The witnesses at the Crucifixion watch Jesus die, and we watch with them, and we watch them. And we come away transformed.

The Leader Guide includes session outline for each group meeting with Scripture, prayer, opening activity, discussion questions, activity, and ending call to action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Release date: Dec 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781791021153

Prof. Amy-Jill Levine

Amy-Jill Levine (“AJ”) is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. An internationally renowned scholar and teacher, she is the author of numerous books including The Difficult Words of Jesus: A Beginner's Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Week, Light of the World: A Beginner’s Guide to Advent, Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven, and Signs and Wonders: A Beginner’s Guide to the Miracles of Jesus. She is also the coeditor of the Jewish Annotated New Testament. AJ is the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute. In 2021 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. AJ describes herself as an unorthodox member of an Orthodox synagogue and a Yankee Jewish feminist who until 2021 taught New Testament in a Christian divinity school in the buckle of the Bible Belt.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

In Witness at the Cross, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine (she prefers to be called AJ) offers readers an uncommon and fascinating approach to studying the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion.

Rather than focusing immediately and directly on Jesus—as much Christian preaching, liturgy, and devotion do—AJ invites readers to see the Crucifixion and consider anew its significance through the eyes and ears of those who watched it happen and heard what was said by Jesus and those around him, according to the four New Testament Gospels.

When we consider Jesus’s death from these people’s unique and diverse points of view, we may well discover it means not less but even more than Christians often consider. AJ’s approach allows readers to experience in fresh and frequently surprising ways the Crucifixion’s power to shake preconceptions about who we are, who God is, and the shape our life in God’s presence takes.

This Leader Guide is designed to help people involved in adult education programs in a congregational setting to facilitate a six-session study of AJ’s book. While this guide includes substantial quotations from Witness at the Cross, it doesn’t cover everything the book does and presupposes (as AJ would point out, perhaps optimistically) participants will be reading the book as part of their study.

Here is a sneak peek at topics covered in these session plans:

Session 1 lets participants listen in on the derision those standing by the cross, including some of Jerusalem’s political leaders, the chief priests and scribes, hurled at Jesus as he died. What do their words show us about the nature of blasphemy, and how does their presence force us to confront our own complicity: Can bystanders be innocent?

Session 2 brings participants closer to the closest witnesses of Jesus’s death: the two men crucified alongside him. How do their deaths at the hands of Rome’s judicial system both challenge our views of criminal justice today and move us to live as good neighbors to our fellow human beings?

Session 3 introduces participants to the Roman soldiers at the cross and the centurion who commanded them. To what extent does those soldiers’ apparent indifference to Jesus’s death indict us as we go about our business while innocents die—and, in contrast, to what extent can we make the centurion’s profession of respect and awe as Jesus dies our own?

Session 4 considers the role of the Beloved Disciple in the Fourth Gospel’s story of Jesus’s ministry and death. What can this anonymous but important figure teach participants about Jesus’s new command to love each other and about observing all our time as sacred time?

Session 5 examines the place of the women who followed Jesus, served as his patrons, and supported him at his cross; by extension, the chapter therefore examines the place and role of women in churches today. AJ points out not only the different roles the women at the cross play, she asks what roles women and men can play in bearing witness to God and Jesus in powerful ways.

Session 6 asks how Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus related to Jesus before he died and why their actions in burying his body provide a model for modern sympathizers of Jesus. It also asks participants how their encounters with the witnesses at the cross have influenced their own faith and practice.

You probably will not have time to address all the questions this guide suggests. Regard the contents as prompts to help your discussion flow and to dive deeper into topics participants find interesting or compelling.

Leading Virtual Small-Group Sessions

Meeting online is a great option for a number of situations. During the time of a public-health hazard, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, online meetings are a welcome opportunity for people to converse while seeing each other’s faces. Online meetings can also expand the neighborhood of possible group members, because people can log in from just about anywhere in the world. This online gathering also gives those who do not have access to transportation or who prefer not to travel at certain times of day the chance to participate.

The guidelines below will help you lead an effective and enriching group study using an online video conferencing platform such as Zoom, Webex, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or other virtual meeting platform of your choice.

Basic Features for Virtual Meetings

There are many choices for videoconferencing platforms. You may have personal experience and comfort using a particular service, or your church may have a subscription that will influence your choice. Whichever option you choose, it is recommended that you use a platform that supports the following features:

Synchronous video and audio: Your participants can see and speak to