Notes for each box:

Wild Places  

• Judea has become like Egypt. Their king doesn’t rule with God’s wisdom. Instead he rules with his own desires.
• They have a beautiful new temple, but it isn’t a hot-spot of God’s presence. Instead, many people are crying out for God’s presence to return. They knew the Messiah would pave the way for God’s presence.

Through the Waters

• God brought the Israelites through the Sea of Reeds (a.k.a. The Red Sea) and the Jordan River. When John baptized people in the Jordan River, it was a way of inviting people to reenact this. It was their way of saying they wanted to do things God’s way. They wanted to live with God in His garden.
• This was one way Jesus intentionally relived Israel’s story (and the stories that came before Israel).

Blessing

• When the high priest blessed the Israelites, he “put God’s name on them”. They were to “carry God’s name”. (The priest literally carried God’s name by wearing God’s name, “YHVH”, on his forehead.) Here, the Father blesses Jesus by naming him as His son. In other words, Jesus was carrying God’s name, even more than the priests and the Israelites carried God’s name.

Covenant

• As a member of the family of Israel, Jesus was already in covenant with God. However, Jesus was also in the family of David. God had another covenant with David that the Messiah would come from David’s family to an “anointed one”. The Spirit coming on Jesus like a dove was a sign of that anointing.

Garden

• Remember that the tabernacle and temple were designed to look like the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was the place where heaven met earth. God’s space overlapped with humanity’s space. Also remember that God made humans out of the earth. When Jesus said he was the new temple, he was making a huge claim: His body was the new patch of earth – the new garden – that was home to the hot-spot of God’s presence. (This is a lot to wrap our minds around.)
• Jesus then blessed people with gifts of Eden: life, generosity, healing, wisdom. (Once again, this is a lot to wrap our minds around.)

Part B: Jesus Changes the Story

While we can follow this big story pattern through Jesus’ life, almost every part of Jesus’ life also echoes scenes of Israel’s story. The first time Jesus lives through the choice scene is right after his baptism. Like Israel, he spends 40 marks of time in the Wilderness. Like Israel and Abraham and Noah and Adam and Eve, he is tested. He later walks on stormy seas and even calms them. All of these stories echo these scenes.

He also invites his followers into how he acts out this story. But for now, we want to keep focusing on how the big story of Jesus retells the  Story of God, Humanity, and Creation
… and how he changes the ending.

As we watch the video on the second half of the Gospel of Matthew, pay attention to how Jesus changes the story at the “choice” scene. Hint: it takes place in a garden.

Practice

• Guide your family in illustrating the remaining boxes (see notes below).

Notes for each box:

Choice

• This scene takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus is surrounded by trees. But Jesus doesn’t give into his desires. Instead Jesus tells the Father that he wants to do what the Father desires (or wills). 
• Everything that happens next involves a lot of physical pain. None of us desire physical pain – but Jesus had already decided not to give into his desires. He knew he had to pass through death (which is another way of talking about a baptism scene.) This eventually leads him to the cross.

Reveal

• The soldier at the cross watches everything that happens. After the choice scene in every story, this is the scene where people can be seen for who are they. (Note to parents: we didn’t always point this out, but it often always involves nakedness. It is no coincidence that crucifixion also revealed people in this way.) When Matthew tells us that the soldier recognizes Jesus as the Son of God, he is telling us about who Jesus truly is.

Promise

• Jesus fulfills the promise of the “seed of woman” who crushes the head of the serpent. But remember, the serpent also strikes the “seed of the woman.” 
  

Garden

• Every other story ends with God’s partners leaving a garden. However, this story ends with Jesus being mistaken for a gardener (John 20: 15).
• The Bible talks about Jesus being the “firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18). God is renewing creation – not just our bodies, but the skies and the land, too. That all started with Jesus. And Jesus starts renewing our hearts and minds as soon as we “remain in him” like branches remain part of their vine. 

Note: The boxes for each scene are well-suited for Instagram stories and reels. We’d love to see your students’ illustrations! If you’d like to share them, use the hashtag #onestorybible. You can find us on Instagram at @onestory.bibleJesus