Childrens Sermon Service

Object: A hearing aid.

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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Let’s go!

But before I tell you the story, I have something I want to show you. (Hold up the hearing aid.) Can anyone tell us what this is? (Let them respond.) It’s a hearing aid, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) And what is a hearing aid for? (Let them respond.) We use it to help us hear better, don’t we? (Let them respond.) If someone has a hard time hearing things clearly, they can put this in their ear and it will help them hear better. (Hold it to your ear like you would wear it.) You know, I wonder if anyone in our congregation here uses a hearing aid? (Look at the congregation and see if anyone will show they do wear one.) That’s pretty cool, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) A hearing aid helps us hear better so we don’t miss anything that might be really important.

Now, let me tell you our story. One day, Jesus was walking around the temple in Jerusalem when he saw a man who was blind. Jesus went over to him, put a little bit of mud on his hand, and put it on the man’s eyes. Then he told the man to go and wash the mud off. And when the man washed the mud off, he wasn’t blind anymore and could see as well as everyone else. I’ll bet everyone was excited about that, don’t you? (Let them respond.) They were! And when the Pharisees heard about it they were excited, too. The Pharisees were some of the people who didn’t like Jesus and they got really mad when they heard that Jesus healed the blind man on the Sabbath day, which the Pharisees said was the day that no one was supposed to do any work. They said that healing someone was work. They made the man and his parents come to them and they treated them really mean because of what Jesus had done for the man.

When Jesus heard what the Pharisees had done, he told the man and his family about shepherds. (Pause.) Shepherds are people who take care of sheep, aren’t they? (Let them respond.) Does anyone know why Jesus told them about shepherds? (Let them respond.) Jesus told them that there were two kinds of shepherds. There were shepherds who went out with sheep, but if a wolf or something attacked the sheep, the shepherds ran away to someplace where they were safe. They didn’t stay to take care of their sheep. (Let them respond.) There were other shepherds who, if a wolf or something attacked their sheep, would pick up rocks or sticks and chase the wolf away so their sheep were safe. Now, which of those shepherds do you think was the good shepherd? (Let them respond.) The good shepherd was the one who took care of their sheep, weren’t they? (Let them respond.) Now, listen to what Jesus told the man and his friends. He said:

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

Did you notice anything kind of strange about what Jesus said to them? (Let them respond.) Did you hear how many times he said that he laid down his life for his sheep? (Let them respond.) He said it five times, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) Does anyone know why he said that so many times? (Let them respond.) Let me ask you this. Has anyone ever said something to you like this?

“I want you to go clean your room. Your room is a mess and you need to clean your room today. Before you do anything else, you need to make sure you clean your room. I’m going to come back in a little bit and I want to see that you have cleaned your room.”

Have you ever had someone say something like that to you? (Let them respond.) I sure have. Why do you think they said, “Clean your room!” so many times? (Let them respond.) To make sure we know it is important and remember it, right? (Let them respond.) Right. It is kind of like they are using a hearing aid, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) They repeat the same thing to help us hear something that is important for us to remember, don’t they? (Let them respond.) And I think that’s what Jesus was doing when he told the people about laying down his life. He was telling them that he wasn’t afraid of people like the Pharisees who wouldn’t help the blind man when he needed help. Jesus was the good shepherd who would help the blind man, even if it meant the Pharisees might get mad at Jesus and try to hurt him. He said it five times to make sure they heard what he said so they would remember it.

He wanted them to remember that if they ever saw someone who needed help, they wouldn’t be like the bad shepherd and just ignore them or not help them because they were afraid, but would be like the good shepherd and help the person even if was kind of scary.

It can be hard to help other people sometimes, can’t it? (Let them respond.) Maybe everyone else is ignoring them, or laughing at them, and if we help the person everyone might laugh at us, too. That is scary, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) It can be hard to be a good shepherd and take care of others and that is why Jesus said it five times so we would remember it. That was Jesus’ hearing aid. (Hold up the hearing aid.)

Let’s pray and ask God to help us remember that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to be good shepherds 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.