The Empty Tomb and Resurrection of Jesus
"Magic, Science, and Miracle" Workshop
Summary:
In this unique lesson about the Resurrection of Jesus, students will explore the difference between magic tricks, scientific facts, and miracles. The teacher will show and teach them a magic trick, as well as, help them conduct a DIY lava lamp experiment to teach them about the all important ingredient they need in their life to believe and follow -- the "God ingredient."
Scripture Reference:
Luke 24:1-12 ("He is not here, he has risen.")
Luke 24:36-43 (Jesus appears to disciples in the locked room)
Key Verse:
“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Luke 24:5 NRSV
The "Point-O-Meter" for Discussion
Leader Preparation:
- Read the scripture for this lesson.
- Prepare a simple POINT-O- METER discussion prop (See image. Posterboard works great.)
- Select and practice a simple magic trick (see options below)
- Gather the materials.
- Key magic trick preparation: Rubber band the tin with the nuts and bolts to one arm, hidden by your sleeve. Have the book-marked Bible on the table with the empty tin.
Materials List:
- A "Point-O-Meter“ sign – see end of lesson for description.
- Supplies for your opening magic trick (including enough supplies for each student to do the trick)
- Supplies for science experiment (see description below) -- Baking soda, vegetable oil, food coloring, vinegar, funnel, spoon, small water bottles, eye dropper.
Lesson Plan
Opening:
Welcome students and explain what they'll be doing and what you hope they will learn today.
Perform a Magic Trick:
Visit wiki-how https://www.wikihow.com/Do-Magic-Tricks and choose one or more of these really easy-to-do magic tricks. Kids love magic tricks and they are great memory hooks. They'll also want you to show them "how it's done" which is another opportunity to make your point.
Open with a simple magic trick and ask students the following questions:
Do I really have superpowers or was this simply a magic trick?
- What is a "magic" trick?
"Magic" does not use superpowers. Instead, it uses visual and prop tricks and illusions to entertain you and make you wonder "how did they do that!" That said, some people DO believe in "magic" -- which is the power to make things happen by mysterious, unknown, or supernatural forces. Magicians do not have real "magic," they have tricks that LOOK like magic -- and we are entertained by that.
Display the Point-O-Meter and ask these questions:
As you introduce these ideas, point the pointer. At the end of this discussion, quiz them using the pointer.
1. What is the difference between science and magic?
"Science" seeks to explain how things work by careful observation and experimentation. (For example, in the pencil magic trick I just showed you (if that's the one you used), "magic" makes you think the pencil was really floating in the air, but when I show you how the trick is done, it reveals the science of how tension and leverage works against gravity to keep an object from falling. It only looks like its magic.
2. So what is a "miracle"?
(Accept any answer and example and then explain...) In general, a miracle is something dramatic that happens that cannot possibily be explained by science or trickery. A dead person coming back to life, for example, or a blind man suddenly being able to see.
A "miracle" is something that happens because God makes it happen. None of us has miraculous powers. I cannot make this pencil float against gravity simply by saying "float!" I can't make it float by praying all day either. Nobody other than God can make a dead body come back to life. Miracles are things GOD decides to do in our world. And God does them for his own special purposes, not to make us "amazed" but usually to teach us something important. Even when we read about a disciples of Jesus performing a miracle, it is God doing that miracle.
Throw the large object. Did you see it? Miracles are usually NOT BIG THINGS.
Throw the very small object. Did you see that? Miracles are often things we don't see, even if they are happening all around us. God's love, for example, is like sunshine, you know it's there, and you can feel it, but you can't really catch it, can you?
3. What would a "miracle of science" be?
(Accept any answer and example and then explain...) A "miracle of science" is a way of describing something that is truly amazing and unexpected but can be explained by science. For example, a very sick person becoming healthy again after being in the hospital, or a meteor hitting the earth and wiping out the dinosaurs. 200 years ago people would have called those miracles, but today, we know the science behind how and why many amazing and unexpected things happen. Babies are miraculous that they can be so small one day and become you! Falling off a cliff and surviving is miraculous. But we know the facts of how babies are made and grow, and how people can survive a fall off a cliff, and how bones heal.
Point-O-Meter Quiz
Decide whether the following could be "Magic," Science, Miracle of Science, or Miracle and explain your answer. (And yes, some of these could be magic tricks and science! Our point is to help them think about miracles.)
- Jesus coming back to life after being in the Empty Tomb
- Sawing a lady in half
- Feeling all warm and cozy listening to music in church
- Hearing God's voice in your heart
- Splitting an Atom
- Fall off a cliff and surviving
- Creation of the Universe (it's both a miracle and Miracle of Science)
- Jesus walking on water
- You walking across a swimming pool
- Believing Jesus is your Lord and Savior (tough one! We use our minds, which science can tell us how we make decisions, but the Bible says that faith comes from God like a gift)
By the way... when a miracle happens, does everybody believe it? No. Even Doubting Thomas the disciple said he had to "see it to believe it." Jesus said, blessed are those who do NOT see, but belief.
The Amazing Miracle at the Heart of Easter
Split your class into two groups and give them a few minutes to read their passage and figure out how to quickly act it out as one of their members reads it aloud.
Group 1: Luke 24:1-12 ("He is not here, he has risen.")
Group 2: Luke 24:36-43 (Jesus appears to disciples in the locked room)
Tell them that they must use the POINT-O-METER in their re-enactment.
Tell them that ONE of their members has to be a "skeptic" -- someone who doesn't believe what they are seeing or being told, someone who questions and tries to come up with some other explanation for:
- why the tomb is empty
- why there's only a piece of cloth inside the tomb
- how Jesus could have appeared in a locked room
- how Thomas could have explained the nail marks in Jesus' hands and mark where the spear went in his side
For follow-up:
- How did the disciples KNOW it really was Jesus?
- If they didn't believe they had met with the resurrected Jesus, why would they have made up such a story?
Wouldn't they have just gone home and been safe if Jesus had never really risen from the dead? (Instead, what did they start doing!)
SEGUE: What changed them was the presence of Jesus, who we believe was full of God's Spirit, and he breathed that spirit into their lives to believe and start building the community of believers.
The Invisible Spirit of God Makes All Things Possible ~ DIY Lava Lamp Experiment
In this experiment, students will work in pairs to make their own "lava lamp" -- oil droplets powered by carbon dioxide (the invisible gas released by the baking soda when it interacts with the vinegar).
The visual effect impressed upon us the fact that it was the miracle of God's Spirit that brought Jesus back to life. That his resurrection is a sign/proof from God that his message and Messiahship was true, that we are forgiven through him, and that like Jesus*, we too will be raised to new and eternal life by God. (*1 Cor 15:20, Jesus' resurrection is "first fruit" of the resurrection we will all take part in.)
Tip: The first time you do this experiment, DO NOT include the baking soda in the bottom of the bottle so that NOTHING happens (that begins your teaching point about God and miracles, without God nothing happens). Then add the "GOD INGREDIENT" which is baking soda that you FIRST put in the bottle (followed by the oil and colored vinegar which will produce bubbles).
There are many "lava lamp" DIY experiment videos on YouTube, here's an easy one to do with with a scientific explanation. To multiply this experiment so that it is more "hands-on" have multiple bottles and supplies.
Reflections on the metaphor of this experiment: (adjust for the age/understanding of your students)
- If the red vinegar represents Jesus' life, and the baking soda makes it "rise" -- what does the baking soda represent? (the miraculous power of God's Spirit)
Describe what makes the colored vinegar rise in the oil. It is the bubbles formed by the reaction between the vinegar and baking soda (releasing carbon dioxide in the soda). - Without the miraculous intervention of God, what would have happened to Jesus' body?
- Why did God want to bring Jesus back to life? -- to resurrect him? (to prove his identity as the one sent from God, the Messiah, that his message of forgiveness came from God, and to empower us to believe and spread the word)
- Is Jesus the only person who will ever be resurrected, brought back to life? (No, Jesus is the "first fruits" of all those who die or have "fallen asleep" as Paul puts it in 1 Cor 15:20). He is the first, which makes him a PROMISE that God makes to us all.
Do the experiment again, but this time turn it into a metaphor about how God makes our faith come alive -- resurrected and empowered.
Metaphorically speaking, there are three ingredients we need to have our faith come alive -- i.e. to believe in Jesus with such strength and energy that we make him the most important thing in our life.
- There's the colored vinegar which is your desire to be forgiven and to know God.
- There's the oil which can represent our daily life.
- And there's the baking soda (the presence and work of God's Spirit in your life).
- Where and How can a person "get" these ingredients? (through confession, prayer, scripture, service, worship)
- Try this: Turn on the flashlight on your cellphone or use a real flashlight, and place it UNDER the bottle when the mixture is active. Does it look better and more attractive now? (Sure does.) How can YOU be an example to others so that they want to know how to get their faith "bubbling"??
Close with a prayer asking Jesus to come into our lives and let us know he is alive. Pray that Jesus' Spirit, which is to say, God's Spirit, would get our faith bubbling with the presence of God, and become a shining light to others to also believe. Amen.
A lesson written by Carol Hulbert from First UMC Ann Arbor, MI
and updated by members of the Rotation.org Content Team
