Great expectations
Children's sermon
Object:
a whole kiwi
"Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection." (v. 36)
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) I found something at the grocery store yesterday and wanted to bring it to show you. Look at this! (show kiwi) What do you see? (have children describe it) What do you think it is? (allow answers) It sure doesn't look like much. Small, furry, brown. Does it look like it would be good to eat? (allow answers) I don't think so! It looks more like a furry mouse than it does a piece of fruit!
Let's take a look inside. (cut open fruit) Now what do you see? (have children describe it) Look at this beautiful green! It is as bright as a jewel. Wow, it's pretty. I never would have expected to see such beautiful color -- the outside is so plain and boring! Do you know what this is? (allow answers) It is called a kiwi. How many of you have had kiwi before? (allow answers) Do you like kiwi? (allow answers)
Kiwi is not the only thing that can give us surprises. Can you think of anything else that has turned out to be different from what you expected? (allow answers) Maybe it was a food that tasted better than it looked -- or maybe it was a person who looked mean but turned out to be very kind. There are lots of things in life that surprise us by not being what we expect.
Our gospel lesson talks about expectations. Jewish teachers ask Jesus about life after we die. They expect eternal life to be about the same as the life we know now. They expect that people will still eat and drink, wear normal clothes, be married to each other, take care of their families and farms… But Jesus says that's not how it will be at all! Jesus tells the Jewish teachers that their idea of eternal life is wrong. Life with God is indescribable -- it is so completely different from life in the way that we understand it that there was and is no way to explain it. So we don't know what it will be like, except for the times that Jesus gives us a glimpse into the eternal. In our lesson, Jesus says this to the Jewish teachers: "They cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection." Even that explanation of heaven is beyond our understanding -- and definitely not what we expect!
Although we don't know what it will be like -- whether we will still speak and walk or have the same bodies we have now -- we do know that it will be good. As Jesus tells us, we are children of God and our eternal life with God will not change that. As God's children, we, even though we are sinners, will be raised up to be near the angels. Like this kiwi, the possibilities of our life with God are bright as an unexpected jewel. Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How are you this morning? (allow answers) I found something at the grocery store yesterday and wanted to bring it to show you. Look at this! (show kiwi) What do you see? (have children describe it) What do you think it is? (allow answers) It sure doesn't look like much. Small, furry, brown. Does it look like it would be good to eat? (allow answers) I don't think so! It looks more like a furry mouse than it does a piece of fruit!
Let's take a look inside. (cut open fruit) Now what do you see? (have children describe it) Look at this beautiful green! It is as bright as a jewel. Wow, it's pretty. I never would have expected to see such beautiful color -- the outside is so plain and boring! Do you know what this is? (allow answers) It is called a kiwi. How many of you have had kiwi before? (allow answers) Do you like kiwi? (allow answers)
Kiwi is not the only thing that can give us surprises. Can you think of anything else that has turned out to be different from what you expected? (allow answers) Maybe it was a food that tasted better than it looked -- or maybe it was a person who looked mean but turned out to be very kind. There are lots of things in life that surprise us by not being what we expect.
Our gospel lesson talks about expectations. Jewish teachers ask Jesus about life after we die. They expect eternal life to be about the same as the life we know now. They expect that people will still eat and drink, wear normal clothes, be married to each other, take care of their families and farms… But Jesus says that's not how it will be at all! Jesus tells the Jewish teachers that their idea of eternal life is wrong. Life with God is indescribable -- it is so completely different from life in the way that we understand it that there was and is no way to explain it. So we don't know what it will be like, except for the times that Jesus gives us a glimpse into the eternal. In our lesson, Jesus says this to the Jewish teachers: "They cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection." Even that explanation of heaven is beyond our understanding -- and definitely not what we expect!
Although we don't know what it will be like -- whether we will still speak and walk or have the same bodies we have now -- we do know that it will be good. As Jesus tells us, we are children of God and our eternal life with God will not change that. As God's children, we, even though we are sinners, will be raised up to be near the angels. Like this kiwi, the possibilities of our life with God are bright as an unexpected jewel. Amen.
