(5–8 minutes, easy set-up)
Learners will discuss what believers and non-believers might think about Jesus.
Provide a dry erase board and a marker.
On a dry erase board, write the following quote from Philip Schaff: “What do ye think of the Son of Man? This is the religious question of the age.”
Draw attention to the statement you’ve written on the board. Ask: How would you respond to this statement? After responses, point out that all people have to determine who Jesus is.
Divide learners into two groups. Assign the first group to suggest how believers see Jesus, and the second group to suggest how non-believers see Jesus. After two minutes, call for responses from each group and list these in two columns on the board. (Possible answers: Believers see Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior, the Messiah, King; Non-believers see Jesus as a good man, a teacher, a rabbi, a prophet, a hoax.) Ask: Why do people see Jesus differently? (Possible answers: those who know Him personally see Him for who He is; those who don’t know Him personally interpret what they hear through their own preferences and experiences.)
Share that in today’s study, learners will have the opportunity to examine how people who witnessed Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem identified who Jesus was.