Being Foolish!
Children's sermon
Object: A teddy bear or other stuffed animal, and a big stick for a sword.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for today’s story? (Let them respond.) Great!
One day, Jesus and his friends were in the big city of Jerusalem, and they were walking in the Temple where Jesus had been talking to people and teaching them about what God wanted them to do. While they were walking around the Temple, Jesus’ friends were all looking around and saying this like, “Wow! This place is awesome!”.
The Temple really was a big place. Do you know how big a football field is? (Let them respond.) Well, the temple was as big as five football fields! And all around the sides were big walls that were sixteen feet thick. And all around those walls there were more than three hundred great tall columns of stone all lined up. The columns were fifty feet tall, and they were so big around it took three men holding hands to reach all the way around one of them. The temple building was over a hundred feet tall, and the big Roman fort next to it was even taller. It really was an awesome place.
Jesus’ friends were excited as they looked around, but they were also starting to get nervous. The leaders who ran the temple didn’t like what Jesus was saying and they were all standing around staring at Jesus and his friends as they walked by. And it wasn’t a friendly stare either. That would probably make us nervous too, don’t you think? (Let them respond.)
Does anyone remember how many columns I said there were around the temple? (Let them respond.) Over three hundred of them. Well, there were Roman Soldiers with their sword and shield standing in front of every column around the temple. And the Romans didn’t like Jesus even more than the temple leaders did. NOW I’ll bet all those soldiers would REALLY make us nervous, wouldn’t it? (Let them respond.) Jesus’ friends were getting pretty scared as they looked around.
Now, I have a question. What do you do when you see or hear something that starts to scare you? (Let them respond.) Sometimes when we get scared,we just want to curl up and hide someplace, don’t we? (Bring out the Teddy Bear and hold it as they respond.) I think some of Jesus’ friends felt like that. Don’t you? (Let them respond.) They just wanted Jesus to hurry up and get them out of there so they could go somewhere and be safe again.
But one of Jesus’ friends was called Simon, and he didn’t want to hide. Simon belonged to a group called the Zealots. The Zealots hated the Romans so much they all carried little swords with them so they could fight if they had to (Show the stick/sword.) So, Simon stuck his hand inside his coat to grab his sword and be ready to fight. Sometimes when we get scared we kind of do that too, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We choose sides and want to fight each other because we don’t agree with them, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
Jesus knew what they were feeling so he stopped and said, “Hey, chill-ax!” Well, he probably didn’t actually say that, but he did say, “Don’t worry.” He told them to relax and not be afraid, even if things did look scary right now. He said that a lot of things are going to happen that look scary, and people are going to tell them some scary things, but they just don’t need to worry about them. Instead of hiding or fighting, all they need to do is just keep doing what God has asked them to do.
And they all remembered the day the man had asked Jesus what God wanted them all to do, and Jesus said, “Just take care of each other. That’s what God wants you to do.”
Sometimes we hear things that kind of scares us, don’t we? Sometimes we hear things on TV, or the Internet, or we hear people talking or arguing about things they think are going to happen. It can get pretty scary, can’t it? (Let them respond.) But Jesus said we shouldn’t get all afraid and hide, and we shouldn’t get all angry and be mean to other people. No matter what we see or hear, we just need to keep doing what God asked us to do and take care of each other.
That sounds a little silly, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) But if we believe Jesus is God’s son, and Jesus told us to just take care of each other, I’m not going to call him silly, are you?
Let’s all pray together and ask God to help us remember how much God loves every one of us no matter who we are, and ask God to help us remember to always take care of each other just like God asked us to.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for today’s story? (Let them respond.) Great!
One day, Jesus and his friends were in the big city of Jerusalem, and they were walking in the Temple where Jesus had been talking to people and teaching them about what God wanted them to do. While they were walking around the Temple, Jesus’ friends were all looking around and saying this like, “Wow! This place is awesome!”.
The Temple really was a big place. Do you know how big a football field is? (Let them respond.) Well, the temple was as big as five football fields! And all around the sides were big walls that were sixteen feet thick. And all around those walls there were more than three hundred great tall columns of stone all lined up. The columns were fifty feet tall, and they were so big around it took three men holding hands to reach all the way around one of them. The temple building was over a hundred feet tall, and the big Roman fort next to it was even taller. It really was an awesome place.
Jesus’ friends were excited as they looked around, but they were also starting to get nervous. The leaders who ran the temple didn’t like what Jesus was saying and they were all standing around staring at Jesus and his friends as they walked by. And it wasn’t a friendly stare either. That would probably make us nervous too, don’t you think? (Let them respond.)
Does anyone remember how many columns I said there were around the temple? (Let them respond.) Over three hundred of them. Well, there were Roman Soldiers with their sword and shield standing in front of every column around the temple. And the Romans didn’t like Jesus even more than the temple leaders did. NOW I’ll bet all those soldiers would REALLY make us nervous, wouldn’t it? (Let them respond.) Jesus’ friends were getting pretty scared as they looked around.
Now, I have a question. What do you do when you see or hear something that starts to scare you? (Let them respond.) Sometimes when we get scared,we just want to curl up and hide someplace, don’t we? (Bring out the Teddy Bear and hold it as they respond.) I think some of Jesus’ friends felt like that. Don’t you? (Let them respond.) They just wanted Jesus to hurry up and get them out of there so they could go somewhere and be safe again.
But one of Jesus’ friends was called Simon, and he didn’t want to hide. Simon belonged to a group called the Zealots. The Zealots hated the Romans so much they all carried little swords with them so they could fight if they had to (Show the stick/sword.) So, Simon stuck his hand inside his coat to grab his sword and be ready to fight. Sometimes when we get scared we kind of do that too, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We choose sides and want to fight each other because we don’t agree with them, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
Jesus knew what they were feeling so he stopped and said, “Hey, chill-ax!” Well, he probably didn’t actually say that, but he did say, “Don’t worry.” He told them to relax and not be afraid, even if things did look scary right now. He said that a lot of things are going to happen that look scary, and people are going to tell them some scary things, but they just don’t need to worry about them. Instead of hiding or fighting, all they need to do is just keep doing what God has asked them to do.
And they all remembered the day the man had asked Jesus what God wanted them all to do, and Jesus said, “Just take care of each other. That’s what God wants you to do.”
Sometimes we hear things that kind of scares us, don’t we? Sometimes we hear things on TV, or the Internet, or we hear people talking or arguing about things they think are going to happen. It can get pretty scary, can’t it? (Let them respond.) But Jesus said we shouldn’t get all afraid and hide, and we shouldn’t get all angry and be mean to other people. No matter what we see or hear, we just need to keep doing what God asked us to do and take care of each other.
That sounds a little silly, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) But if we believe Jesus is God’s son, and Jesus told us to just take care of each other, I’m not going to call him silly, are you?
Let’s all pray together and ask God to help us remember how much God loves every one of us no matter who we are, and ask God to help us remember to always take care of each other just like God asked us to.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
