
Telling A Better Story
Chris Allen
March 21th, 2021
John 20:1-7 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.
John 20:11-18 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, share the story ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
WHEN YOU DON’T TELL YOUR STORY, IT ENDS WITH YOU
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Ask 2-3 people in the group to share a once-in-a-lifetime experience or a great story that they’d be willing to describe in detail.
- Do you agree that great stories are something we naturally share? Think back to the last bizarre dream, great story, experience or tragedy you chose to share with someone. Did you feel inclined to hold it back or did you tell someone immediately? Who did you tell and why them?
- Telling our life stories and experiences tends to be intuitive. But for most of us, we shy away from and overthink telling our faith story. Why is that? What’s unnatural or uncomfortable about it?
- Read John 20:11-18. Mary’s faith story, her first encounter with a resurrected, eternal life giving Jesus was unrestrainable. She had to tell someone immediately. Is there a difference between her encounter and ours that maybe contributes to us resisting to tell our faith stories.
- Are there practical ways to recapture the awe and excitement of our coming to faith that make it irrisisteable to share?
- In 2021, how do we share our faith naturally to a post-Christian culture?