Feet
Children's sermon
Object:
a towel
Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." (v. 8)
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about feet. What can you tell me about your feet? (allow answers) Our feet have toes on them. We use our feet to walk on. We put shoes on our feet to protect ourselves from stepping on something painful.
But feet are also a symbol. What does it mean to kiss someone's feet? (allow answers) When we kiss someone's feet, we are humbling ourselves. Who can tell me what "humble" means? (allow answers) When we are humble, we don't think we are better than someone else. In fact, when we are humble, we treat everyone else well, as if they are all better than us! Have you ever been around someone who has more money or fancier clothes or a nicer house than you? (allow answers) How did that make you feel? (allow answers) Sometimes when we are around people who have nicer things than us, we feel small. We feel as if they are better than us. So we are very polite to them. We are very careful with their things. We treat them with a lot of respect and honor.
Now, have you ever been around someone who doesn't have very much money, or is dirty or rude, or lives in a bad part of town or a bad house? You might think that you are better than someone like that! When we feel like we are better than someone else, we treat them with less respect. We might be rude to them. We might call them names or ignore them. We are not careful with their things. We do not treat them with respect.
If you have a teacher that you like very much, do you treat that teacher as if the teacher is better than you or worse than you? (allow answers) When you like someone and have respect for them, you usually treat them like they are better than you. You are kind and helpful and considerate. What if this person who you respect and honor wanted to kneel on the ground and kiss your feet? What would you do? (allow answers) You probably would try to pull them up from the ground! You don't want to be honored by this person -- instead, you feel like they should be honored!
In our lesson today, Jesus is doing something that is similar to kissing feet: He is washing feet! Specifically, he is washing his disciples' feet. Imagine how his disciples felt: their honored and respected teacher is getting on his hands and knees to wash their dirty feet. Is this something Jesus should be doing? (allow answers) We would probably say "No way!" But Jesus tells us that washing others' feet -- showing humility, even to those who are not better than us -- is an important part of being a Christian. In order to be good leaders, we must first be good servants. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) Today we are going to talk about feet. What can you tell me about your feet? (allow answers) Our feet have toes on them. We use our feet to walk on. We put shoes on our feet to protect ourselves from stepping on something painful.
But feet are also a symbol. What does it mean to kiss someone's feet? (allow answers) When we kiss someone's feet, we are humbling ourselves. Who can tell me what "humble" means? (allow answers) When we are humble, we don't think we are better than someone else. In fact, when we are humble, we treat everyone else well, as if they are all better than us! Have you ever been around someone who has more money or fancier clothes or a nicer house than you? (allow answers) How did that make you feel? (allow answers) Sometimes when we are around people who have nicer things than us, we feel small. We feel as if they are better than us. So we are very polite to them. We are very careful with their things. We treat them with a lot of respect and honor.
Now, have you ever been around someone who doesn't have very much money, or is dirty or rude, or lives in a bad part of town or a bad house? You might think that you are better than someone like that! When we feel like we are better than someone else, we treat them with less respect. We might be rude to them. We might call them names or ignore them. We are not careful with their things. We do not treat them with respect.
If you have a teacher that you like very much, do you treat that teacher as if the teacher is better than you or worse than you? (allow answers) When you like someone and have respect for them, you usually treat them like they are better than you. You are kind and helpful and considerate. What if this person who you respect and honor wanted to kneel on the ground and kiss your feet? What would you do? (allow answers) You probably would try to pull them up from the ground! You don't want to be honored by this person -- instead, you feel like they should be honored!
In our lesson today, Jesus is doing something that is similar to kissing feet: He is washing feet! Specifically, he is washing his disciples' feet. Imagine how his disciples felt: their honored and respected teacher is getting on his hands and knees to wash their dirty feet. Is this something Jesus should be doing? (allow answers) We would probably say "No way!" But Jesus tells us that washing others' feet -- showing humility, even to those who are not better than us -- is an important part of being a Christian. In order to be good leaders, we must first be good servants. Amen.
