AY Honors/Crisis Intervention/Answer Key

This honor was developed in cooperation with Adventist Community Services.

This honor, or portions of it, is an option for GUIDES and FRONTIER GUIDES Serving Others requirements.

This is the North American version. There is also a General Conference version called Conflict Resolution.

1. Be at least in the 10th grade.

Pathfinders should be mature enough for this topic. The honor also includes Guide requirements, designed for Grade 10 students.

2. Explain how Christ encouraged people in crisis in at least two of the following Bible stories. Identify the nature of the crisis or human needs in each story that you explain.

a. John 8:1-11 (Mary Magdalene)

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
— John 8:1-11 (NKJV)

b. Matthew 18:1-6 (Disciples – Greatest Kingdom in Heaven)

¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

²He called a little child and had him stand among them. ³And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

⁵"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. ⁶But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
— Matthew 18:1-6 (NIV)

The people in crisis in this verse are the disciples, only they did not realize that they were in any danger. They were looking for Jesus to settle their disagreement over which of them was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Their arrogance and pride were threatening their very salvation!

Jesus clearly pointed their error out to them in a most non-threatening way. When we see someone we love on a course to destruction, it is our duty to try to set them straight as well. However, the way we do this is just as important as the decision to do it. Jesus did not jump up and down and scream, nor did He insult His disciples and tell them they were ruining their lives (even if they were). Rather, He gently pointed out the way they should have been acting and admonished them to follow the example He set before them.

References

• How to Help a Friend (second edition) by Paul Welter, Tyndale House, Wheaton, Illinois (1991)
• Christ-Centered Caring by Ronaele Whittington, AdventSource, Lincoln, Nebraska

(1990)