Flipping Things
Children's sermon
Object:
A spatula, or another kitchen utensil used to flip things.
They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. (v. 18)
Hello, everyone! Are you ready for today’s story? (Let them respond.) I’ll start with a question for you, but I think it’s an easy one. Who can tell me what this is? (Show the spatula and let them respond.) It is called a spatula. Have you ever seen someone use one of these? (Let them respond.) And what do we use it for? (Let them respond.) We use it when we’re cooking and want to turn pancakes over, or fried eggs, or things like that, don’t we? We use it to flip things that we want to flip, right? (Let them respond.)
Well, today I’m going to tell you a story about the time Jesus flipped things over. But he didn’t use a spatula. It happened like this.
One morning, a great big crowd of people came to see Jesus. Some of the people came to hear him teach, and some of the people were sick and wanted Jesus to help them get better. Some of them lived near there, and some were from different countries and had walked a very long way to be there.
And there were all kinds of people there, too. Let’s close our eyes for a minute and see if we can imagine what they all looked like in the crowd.
Some of them were very rich, and some of them were very poor. In your imagination, can you see them standing there in the crowd? In my imagination, the rich people were wearing really fancy clothes, and the poor people were wearing clothes that weren’t so fancy. Some of the people had very important jobs, and some of them didn’t have any job at all. Some of them were very strong, and some of them were very sick and weak. Some of them were very popular, and some of them were made fun of a lot and had bullies bothering them. Some of them had a big breakfast and were not hungry, and some of them hadn’t had anything to eat for several days and were very hungry. And some of the people in the crowd were laughing because they were very happy, and some of them were crying because they were very sad.
When Jesus got there, he saw the crowd waiting for him. The important, powerful, rich, and healthy people were standing up in the front of the group because they believed God liked them more than the other people who weren’t as important, or as powerful, or as rich, or as healthy as they were. They believed that if God loved you, God would make sure you always were important and had money, power, and good health. And if you weren’t important, didn’t have power, didn’t have lots of money, or if you were sick, it was because God did not love you.
Jesus looked at them and knew what they were thinking. And he said, “All of you who are very rich, it is nice to be rich and have your rewards now, but God is going to give an even greater reward to those of you who are poor.” Everyone was surprised. Jesus had just “flipped” things over. (Flip your spatula.)
Then Jesus said, “And those of you who have lots to eat and are full now, that’s nice. But those of you who are hungry, God is going to give you enough to make your hunger go away forever.” He flipped it again. (Flip your spatula.)
He said, “And those of you who are laughing and happy right now had better enjoy it because it isn’t going to last very long. But those of you who are sad and crying right now, God is going to make you very, very happy.” Flip! (Flip your spatula.)
And then he said, “And those of you who are very popular and have lots of people who say you are really important, just remember that a long time ago they used to say that about the old prophets but then changed their minds and attacked them. But those of you who are not popular and have bullies bothering you all the time, God is going to change things and show you just how much God loves you. Flip! (Flip your spatula.)
Everyone in the crowd was amazed because Jesus had just flipped things, just like we flip pancakes.
Sometimes we need to flip things too, don’t we? Sometimes we believe that people who have lots of money, or important jobs, or are strong and healthy, or who have lots of friends, are more important than people who don’t have money, or jobs, or health, or friends, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we see someone who has more than we have and we think they are better than us. Or maybe we see someone who has a lot less than we have and we think they aren’t as good as we are. We do that sometimes, don’t we?
I hope we will all remember our little pancake flipper here, and remember the day that Jesus told people how God really felt about people. God does not love some people more than others. No people are more important to God than any other people. God loves all of us…every one of us no matter who we are, what we have, or where we are from.
I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to love other people and help them know how much God loves them, too.
Let’s have our prayer 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.
Hello, everyone! Are you ready for today’s story? (Let them respond.) I’ll start with a question for you, but I think it’s an easy one. Who can tell me what this is? (Show the spatula and let them respond.) It is called a spatula. Have you ever seen someone use one of these? (Let them respond.) And what do we use it for? (Let them respond.) We use it when we’re cooking and want to turn pancakes over, or fried eggs, or things like that, don’t we? We use it to flip things that we want to flip, right? (Let them respond.)
Well, today I’m going to tell you a story about the time Jesus flipped things over. But he didn’t use a spatula. It happened like this.
One morning, a great big crowd of people came to see Jesus. Some of the people came to hear him teach, and some of the people were sick and wanted Jesus to help them get better. Some of them lived near there, and some were from different countries and had walked a very long way to be there.
And there were all kinds of people there, too. Let’s close our eyes for a minute and see if we can imagine what they all looked like in the crowd.
Some of them were very rich, and some of them were very poor. In your imagination, can you see them standing there in the crowd? In my imagination, the rich people were wearing really fancy clothes, and the poor people were wearing clothes that weren’t so fancy. Some of the people had very important jobs, and some of them didn’t have any job at all. Some of them were very strong, and some of them were very sick and weak. Some of them were very popular, and some of them were made fun of a lot and had bullies bothering them. Some of them had a big breakfast and were not hungry, and some of them hadn’t had anything to eat for several days and were very hungry. And some of the people in the crowd were laughing because they were very happy, and some of them were crying because they were very sad.
When Jesus got there, he saw the crowd waiting for him. The important, powerful, rich, and healthy people were standing up in the front of the group because they believed God liked them more than the other people who weren’t as important, or as powerful, or as rich, or as healthy as they were. They believed that if God loved you, God would make sure you always were important and had money, power, and good health. And if you weren’t important, didn’t have power, didn’t have lots of money, or if you were sick, it was because God did not love you.
Jesus looked at them and knew what they were thinking. And he said, “All of you who are very rich, it is nice to be rich and have your rewards now, but God is going to give an even greater reward to those of you who are poor.” Everyone was surprised. Jesus had just “flipped” things over. (Flip your spatula.)
Then Jesus said, “And those of you who have lots to eat and are full now, that’s nice. But those of you who are hungry, God is going to give you enough to make your hunger go away forever.” He flipped it again. (Flip your spatula.)
He said, “And those of you who are laughing and happy right now had better enjoy it because it isn’t going to last very long. But those of you who are sad and crying right now, God is going to make you very, very happy.” Flip! (Flip your spatula.)
And then he said, “And those of you who are very popular and have lots of people who say you are really important, just remember that a long time ago they used to say that about the old prophets but then changed their minds and attacked them. But those of you who are not popular and have bullies bothering you all the time, God is going to change things and show you just how much God loves you. Flip! (Flip your spatula.)
Everyone in the crowd was amazed because Jesus had just flipped things, just like we flip pancakes.
Sometimes we need to flip things too, don’t we? Sometimes we believe that people who have lots of money, or important jobs, or are strong and healthy, or who have lots of friends, are more important than people who don’t have money, or jobs, or health, or friends, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we see someone who has more than we have and we think they are better than us. Or maybe we see someone who has a lot less than we have and we think they aren’t as good as we are. We do that sometimes, don’t we?
I hope we will all remember our little pancake flipper here, and remember the day that Jesus told people how God really felt about people. God does not love some people more than others. No people are more important to God than any other people. God loves all of us…every one of us no matter who we are, what we have, or where we are from.
I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to love other people and help them know how much God loves them, too.
Let’s have our prayer 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.
