Bullies
Children's sermon
Object: The object for today is a motion you will ask the children to make with you. You begin with a clenched fist, and slowly open it into an open hand you would use to reach out and help someone who needs help. My version is to hold my hand out, palm up, like I am offering to help someone stand up who has fallen down.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have a really great story for you today. Are you ready to hear it? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
I need to warn you that this is kind of a confusing story. It sounds like Jesus is doing something very strange. So, let me tell the story, and let’s see if you can find out when Jesus does that strange thing, okay? (Let them respond.) Great. Let’s go!
Today, Jesus and his friends went across the sea with his friends, and when they got to the other side a woman came running to see him. When she got to Jesus, she started following Jesus and his friends saying, “Please help my daughter because she is suffering terribly!” Jesus’ friends looked at her and then said, “Jesus, you need to send this woman away. She won’t stop following us and crying that she wants you to help her.”
They didn’t like the woman because she wasn’t like them. She wasn’t Jewish but was called a Canaanite, because a long time ago her family came from a place called Canaan. Canaanites talked differently and dressed differently, ate different things, and had different religions. So, when Jesus’ friends saw who she was, they didn’t want to help her.
After his friends asked him to tell her to leave, Jesus looks at the woman and said, “I was only sent to take care of the lost people of Israel.”
But she didn’t go away. She just said, “Please help me!”
Jesus looked at her again and said, “I should be taking care of my people and not taking care of dogs.”
Did Jesus just call that woman a dog? (Let them respond.) He did, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) That is the confusing thing I mentioned. Jesus was always helping people, wasn’t he? (Let them respond.) But when this woman came for help, he told her to go away and he called her a dog, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) Why do you think he did that? (Let them respond.)
Some people think it means that Jesus did not like the Canaanites and did not want to help them. But that would mean that God does not love everyone and that we shouldn’t love everyone either. But that’s not what Jesus had been telling everyone, is it? (Let them respond.) It is kind of confusing, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant at all. Let me tell you what I think happened.
Jesus had been traveling and helping people for a while and had even done some miracles to show them how much God loved them. Well, some of the people who didn’t like Jesus, like the Pharisees, heard about what he was doing and started following him around. The Pharisees did not like Canaanites or anyone else that was not Jewish like they were. They believed that God only cared about people just like them, and they wanted to stop Jesus from telling people that God loved everyone. So, when the Canaanite woman came to see Jesus, there were a bunch of Pharisees there too, trying to scare Jesus and stop him from talking about God.
So, when Jesus looked at the woman, he saw the Pharisees standing there looking mean and trying to bully him so he wouldn’t help the woman. In my imagination, they were standing there like this. (Put a mean look on your face, clench your fists, and hold them up like you are threatening someone, and have the children do the same.) They were trying to bully Jesus and scare him. Jesus looked at the Pharisees, then looked at the woman and told her to go away. I think the Pharisees smiled and laughed at how easy it had been to scare Jesus.
When the woman asked again, the Pharisees did the same thing. (Show the mean face and clenched fists.) Jesus knew that the Pharisees sometimes called people dogs if they didn’t like them, so Jesus looked at the woman and called her a dog, too. I think the Pharisees really liked that and probably laughed out loud at how afraid Jesus was of them.
But the woman still didn’t go away but got on her knees again and asked Jesus again to help her daughter. This time, Jesus looked at the Pharisees and smiled. They grinned back at him, knowing he was afraid of them. Then Jesus looked at the woman, and in my imagination, he raised his hand to the woman and clenched his fist. (Show your clenched fist and mean face.) Then he said, “Woman, your faith is great! I will do what you want me to do.” And he opened his hand and reached out to help her stand up. (Smile, show your clenched fists and slowly open them like you are helping the woman get up.) Then he healed the woman’s daughter right there in front of the Pharisees and everyone.
I think that when Jesus called the Canaanite woman a dog, he wasn’t trying to be mean to her. He just wanted to show the Pharisees that they weren’t going to bully him to make him do what they wanted him to do. (Show the clenched fists.) He was going to do what God wanted him to do and help everyone. (Slowly open your fist and reach out like you are helping someone get up.)
Sometimes other people have rules they want us to follow that we know are not God’s rules. Sometimes there are people they don’t want us to talk to, or sit with, or do anything at all to help them. (Show your clenched fists.) And they watch us and try to bully us to make sure we do what they want us to do instead of what we know God wants us to do. (Unclench your fists.)
It can be very hard, but I hope this story will remind us that Jesus wants us to follow God’s rules, and not somebody else’s rules they make up. I hope we can remember to try our best to take care of each other. Even when it is hard to do. God will be with us.
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And 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.) I have a really great story for you today. Are you ready to hear it? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
I need to warn you that this is kind of a confusing story. It sounds like Jesus is doing something very strange. So, let me tell the story, and let’s see if you can find out when Jesus does that strange thing, okay? (Let them respond.) Great. Let’s go!
Today, Jesus and his friends went across the sea with his friends, and when they got to the other side a woman came running to see him. When she got to Jesus, she started following Jesus and his friends saying, “Please help my daughter because she is suffering terribly!” Jesus’ friends looked at her and then said, “Jesus, you need to send this woman away. She won’t stop following us and crying that she wants you to help her.”
They didn’t like the woman because she wasn’t like them. She wasn’t Jewish but was called a Canaanite, because a long time ago her family came from a place called Canaan. Canaanites talked differently and dressed differently, ate different things, and had different religions. So, when Jesus’ friends saw who she was, they didn’t want to help her.
After his friends asked him to tell her to leave, Jesus looks at the woman and said, “I was only sent to take care of the lost people of Israel.”
But she didn’t go away. She just said, “Please help me!”
Jesus looked at her again and said, “I should be taking care of my people and not taking care of dogs.”
Did Jesus just call that woman a dog? (Let them respond.) He did, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) That is the confusing thing I mentioned. Jesus was always helping people, wasn’t he? (Let them respond.) But when this woman came for help, he told her to go away and he called her a dog, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) Why do you think he did that? (Let them respond.)
Some people think it means that Jesus did not like the Canaanites and did not want to help them. But that would mean that God does not love everyone and that we shouldn’t love everyone either. But that’s not what Jesus had been telling everyone, is it? (Let them respond.) It is kind of confusing, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant at all. Let me tell you what I think happened.
Jesus had been traveling and helping people for a while and had even done some miracles to show them how much God loved them. Well, some of the people who didn’t like Jesus, like the Pharisees, heard about what he was doing and started following him around. The Pharisees did not like Canaanites or anyone else that was not Jewish like they were. They believed that God only cared about people just like them, and they wanted to stop Jesus from telling people that God loved everyone. So, when the Canaanite woman came to see Jesus, there were a bunch of Pharisees there too, trying to scare Jesus and stop him from talking about God.
So, when Jesus looked at the woman, he saw the Pharisees standing there looking mean and trying to bully him so he wouldn’t help the woman. In my imagination, they were standing there like this. (Put a mean look on your face, clench your fists, and hold them up like you are threatening someone, and have the children do the same.) They were trying to bully Jesus and scare him. Jesus looked at the Pharisees, then looked at the woman and told her to go away. I think the Pharisees smiled and laughed at how easy it had been to scare Jesus.
When the woman asked again, the Pharisees did the same thing. (Show the mean face and clenched fists.) Jesus knew that the Pharisees sometimes called people dogs if they didn’t like them, so Jesus looked at the woman and called her a dog, too. I think the Pharisees really liked that and probably laughed out loud at how afraid Jesus was of them.
But the woman still didn’t go away but got on her knees again and asked Jesus again to help her daughter. This time, Jesus looked at the Pharisees and smiled. They grinned back at him, knowing he was afraid of them. Then Jesus looked at the woman, and in my imagination, he raised his hand to the woman and clenched his fist. (Show your clenched fist and mean face.) Then he said, “Woman, your faith is great! I will do what you want me to do.” And he opened his hand and reached out to help her stand up. (Smile, show your clenched fists and slowly open them like you are helping the woman get up.) Then he healed the woman’s daughter right there in front of the Pharisees and everyone.
I think that when Jesus called the Canaanite woman a dog, he wasn’t trying to be mean to her. He just wanted to show the Pharisees that they weren’t going to bully him to make him do what they wanted him to do. (Show the clenched fists.) He was going to do what God wanted him to do and help everyone. (Slowly open your fist and reach out like you are helping someone get up.)
Sometimes other people have rules they want us to follow that we know are not God’s rules. Sometimes there are people they don’t want us to talk to, or sit with, or do anything at all to help them. (Show your clenched fists.) And they watch us and try to bully us to make sure we do what they want us to do instead of what we know God wants us to do. (Unclench your fists.)
It can be very hard, but I hope this story will remind us that Jesus wants us to follow God’s rules, and not somebody else’s rules they make up. I hope we can remember to try our best to take care of each other. Even when it is hard to do. God will be with us.
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And 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.
