Joyful Moments in Christ

This Bible study lesson is for people who are learning English (ELL or ESL students). It is made for advanced beginner and intermediate English learners. Children who speak English or adults who prefer easy English may also enjoy it and learn from it.

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Lesson Icebreaker Question

Have you ever helped someone carry something heavy? What happened?

Lesson Highlight

In this lesson, we will learn how Jesus was treated before he died on the cross. We will see how different people acted around him, and what Jesus said to them. We will hear a promise that brings hope.

Vocabulary List (GNT)

1. Bore — Carried something or gave birth to a child.
2. Carry — To hold something and move with it.
3. Cheap — Not costing much money.
4. Clothes — The things people wear on their bodies.
5. Country — Land outside of the city.
6. Criminal — A person who breaks the law.
7. Cross — Two pieces of wood used to hang someone to die.
8. Crucify — To kill a person by hanging them on a cross.
9. Cyrene — A place in Africa, where Simon was from.
10. Deserve — To earn something because of what you did.
11. Dice — Small cubes with numbers used in games.
12. Divide — To separate something into parts.
13. Dry Wood — Old, dead wood from a tree.
14. Fear — To be very afraid.
15. Forgive — To stop being angry with someone who did wrong.
16. Green Wood — Fresh, living wood from a tree.
17. Hill — A small, high piece of land.
18. Insult — To say something mean to hurt someone.
19. King — A man who rules a country.
20. Led — Guided someone to a place.
21. Lucky — To have something good happen by chance.
22. Made Fun — To laugh at someone in a mean way.
23. Messiah — The special person God promised to send to save people.
24. Mountain — A very big, tall hill.
25. Nurse — To feed a baby with a mother’s milk.
26. Offer — To give something to someone.
27. Paradise — A very beautiful, happy place with God.
28. Promise — To say you will do something for sure.
29. Put To Death — To kill someone as punishment.
30. Receive — To get something.
31. Rebuke — To tell someone they are wrong.
32. Remember — To keep something in your mind.
33. Right — Good and fair.
34. Save — To rescue or protect from harm.
35. Seize — To grab something quickly and strongly.
36. Sentence — The punishment a judge gives to a person.
37. Skull — The bone inside the head.
38. Soldiers — People who fight for their country.
39. Throw — To send something through the air with your hand.
40. Wail — To cry out loudly.
41. Weep — To cry softly.
42. Wine — A drink made from grapes.
43. Wrong — Not right or good.

Summary of the Passage

This passage tells the story of what happened to Jesus before he died on the cross. Jesus was walking to the place where he would die. The soldiers made a man named Simon carry Jesus’ cross. A large crowd of people followed them. Some women were crying very much. Jesus told them to cry for themselves because hard times were coming.

Next, Jesus was taken to a place called “The Skull.” Two other criminals were also there. The soldiers nailed Jesus and the criminals to crosses. Jesus prayed to God, asking him to forgive the people. The soldiers divided his clothes and made fun of him. The leaders and one criminal also made fun of Jesus. They told him to save himself if he really was the Messiah.

But one of the other criminals spoke kindly to Jesus. He told the other man to be quiet because they deserved their punishment, but Jesus had done nothing wrong. Then this criminal asked Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. Jesus promised that the man would be with him in Paradise that very day.

This passage teaches us about Jesus’ kindness and forgiveness, even when people hurt him. It shows us that anyone who believes in Jesus, even at the last moment, can be saved and go to be with God.

Read The Passage

Jesus Is Crucified
26 The soldiers led Jesus away, and as they were going, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon who was coming into the city from the country. They seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.
27 A large crowd of people followed him; among them were some women who were weeping and wailing for him.
28 Jesus turned to them and said, “Women of Jerusalem! Don’t cry for me, but for yourselves and your children.
29 For the days are coming when people will say, ‘How lucky are the women who never had children, who never bore babies, who never nursed them!’
30 That will be the time when people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Hide us!’
31 For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus.
33 When they came to the place called “The Skull,” they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don’t know what they are doing.”
They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice.
35 The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders made fun of him: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!”
36-37 The soldiers also made fun of him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, and said, “Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!”
38 Above him were written these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God? You received the same sentence he did.
41 Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.”
42 And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!”
43 Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”

Luke 23:26-43 (GNT)

Most English learners should use the New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) or the Good News Translation (GNT) because they are easy to read. If you want to try something harder, you can read one of the other Bible versions:

• Very Easy: New International Reader’s Version: Luke 23:26-43 (NIRV)
• Easy: Good News Translation: Luke 23:26-43 (GNT)
• Medium: New Living Translation: Luke 23:26-43 (NLT)
• Hard: New International Version: Luke 23:26-43 (NIV)
• Very Hard: English Standard Version: Luke 23:26-43 (ESV)

Comprehension Questions

1. Who helped carry Jesus’ cross?
2. What were the women doing as they followed Jesus?
3. What did Jesus tell the women?
4. Who were the two other people taken with Jesus?
5. What did the soldiers do to Jesus?
6. What did Jesus ask God to do for the people?
7. What did the soldiers and leaders say to make fun of Jesus?
8. What did one of the criminals say to Jesus?
9. What promise did Jesus make to the kind criminal?

Application Questions

1. Have you ever seen someone treat another person unfairly? How did it feel?
2. Why do you think Jesus asked God to forgive the people who hurt him?
3. What can we learn from the kind criminal’s words to Jesus?
4. How does Jesus show love in this story?
5. How can we show love and forgiveness to others in our lives?

Theological Insights

1. Jesus chose to forgive the people hurting him.
2. Even when people laughed at Jesus, he showed love.
3. The kind criminal believed in Jesus and was saved.
4. Anyone who believes in Jesus can go to Paradise with him.
5. God’s love and forgiveness are bigger than any wrong we have done.

Closing Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for loving us and sending Jesus to forgive us. Help us to believe in him and show love to others. Amen.

ELL Resources for the Gospel of Luke

More ELL Resources

You can find more Bible lessons for English learners on the main ELL page.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.