Childrens Sermon Service

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

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

One day, Jesus asked some of his friends to come and see him so he could talk with them. 72 people came to meet him. That’s a lot of friends, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) When they all got there, Jesus told them there was something very special he wanted them to do for him.

First, he told them he wanted them to get into groups of two. Why don’t we do that and see what it looks like? (Have the children sit with a partner in groups of two.) When they were all ready, Jesus told them he wanted them to go out and travel around to visit with other people. I wonder what he wanted them to do when he visited them? (Let them respond.) Do you think he wanted them to visit them so they could wash their cars? (Let them respond.) No, that wasn’t it. Maybe he wanted them to go and mow everyone’s yard? (Let them respond.) No, that wasn’t it. You know what he wanted them to do, don’t you? He wanted them to go and meet people and show them how much God loved them, and tell them about Jesus. That is what he wanted them to do, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.)

The 72 people left and started traveling around the country to meet people and show them how much God loved them. Some of them had a great time. When they came to a town the people there were happy to see them. The people invited them into their homes, gave them food to eat, and they gave them places to sleep at night. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.)

But some of the groups that went out didn’t have such a nice time. When they came to a town, they were not welcomed. Sometimes the people there just ignored them and wouldn’t even talk to them. They didn’t invite them into their homes, didn’t give them anything at all to eat, and didn’t give them a place to sleep at night. In fact, sometimes the people in town threw rocks at Jesus’ friends and chased them all the way out of town. That was pretty nasty, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.)

Has that ever happened to you? Maybe you were trying to be nice to someone but they didn’t like it? (Let them respond.) Maybe you were just wanting to say hello, or maybe you thought you could help them with something, or maybe you were just trying to be friendly, but when you tried they weren’t friendly at all. Has that ever happened to you? (Let them respond.)

Jesus asked us to love each other and take care of each other, but what do we do when someone doesn’t want us to care for them? What are we supposed to do when someone treats us like that and doesn’t welcome us? (Let them respond.)

Sometimes we get angry, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We were just trying to do what God wants us to do and be nice but they weren’t nice at all, so we get angry. Sometimes we might try to convince them to be nice and we end up having an argument with them, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we might call them names, and tell other people how bad these people are, don’t we? (Let them respond.)

We see that sometimes, don’t we? We see different groups arguing about God, calling each other names, sometimes yelling at each other, and saying some pretty mean things to each other. But Jesus said that is not what we are supposed to do.

Jesus told his 72 friends what to do if they meet someone who doesn’t welcome them and doesn’t treat them nicely. Jesus told them to not get angry with the people. If we get angry and argue with people or call them names, we aren’t doing what Jesus asked us to do, are we? (Let them respond.) Do you know what Jesus told them to do if someone didn’t welcome them and was mean to them? (Let them respond.)

(Show the broom and brush your shoes off as you explain.) Jesus told them that if they went to a place where they were treated badly, they should not get angry, or argue, but they should just go to the edge of town, brush the dust off of their feet, and go on to another place.

What does it mean if they brush the dirt off of their feet? (Let them respond.)

It means that we are moving on. We aren’t going to argue or get angry. We aren’t going to fight with people because they don’t believe what we believe. We are going to leave these people here, and we will even leave their dust here. Jesus asked us to try and care for them, and that is what we did. If these people don’t want us there, we know there are other people who do want and need us. We still care about these people, but we’ll just let God take care of them and we’ll move on.

So, the next time someone doesn’t welcome you or doesn’t treat you very well, instead of feeling hurt, or getting angry, or arguing with them, or calling them names, what does Jesus want us to do? (Show the broom and let them respond.) Jesus said that if someone treats us badly, we should just brush the dust off of our feet and do the good we can do someplace else. We tried to show them we care, and that is all that Jesus asked us to do; to try to take care of each other. God will take care of the rest.

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, what we have, or where we are from, and ask God to help us remember to do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.

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.