Holy Thursday
Children's sermon
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (vv.1-5)
Object: A piece of white cloth large enough to wrap around your body. I cut a piece about three feet wide and six feet long from an old sheet. You can use the same piece of cloth as the object for all four messages of Holy Week.
NOTE: I begin each of the four messages with the same explanation since some may only use one of the messages. However, If you do use more than the first of these four messages, you might begin each following message by talking briefly about the cloth and remembering the previous message as a great way to tie the events of the week together.
NOTE: For this message, I usually begin with the cloth hidden behind me.
Hello, everyone! Are you ready for today’s story? (Let them respond.) Great. But first I have a question for you. Can anyone tell me what is special about this week? (Let them respond.) This is the beginning of the week we sometimes call Holy Week, isn’t it? It is special because this week reminds us of the things that happened during the last week that Jesus lived with his disciples and taught everyone about God. Several things happen this week, and some of them were pretty scary, but something very, very special happened at the end of the week, didn’t it? (Let them respond.) Let me tell you what special things we want to remember today.
Today is the day we call Holy Thursday, or sometimes we call it Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday sounds kind of strange, doesn’t it? Does anyone have an idea what the word Maundy means? (Let them respond.) Well, let me tell you the story and we’ll find out.
After they came to Jerusalem on Sunday, Jesus and his disciples spent their time going around talking with people and teaching them more about what God wanted them to do. It was dangerous since they knew the leaders wanted to kill Jesus, but he still didn’t hide from them. He was doing what he knew God wanted him to do.
But tonight was something special. It was the holiday called Passover and they had all gotten together for the Seder dinner. The Seder was a special dinner when everyone remembered the old stories about how Moses had freed all of the people from being slaves in Egypt. It was a time to celebrate the time that God had done something very special to take care of them and wanted them to take care of each other. So Jesus and his disciples got together to celebrate that, too.
Now when people usually went to the Seder, one of the servants working there would get a bowl of water and a towel (show the cloth) and go around to wash everyone’s feet. It was a way to show everyone that they were welcome there, and to make them feel special. But tonight, as everyone got to the table, Jesus walked over and picked up the bowl of water. He wrapped the towel around his waist, (wrap your cloth around your waist) walked over, and started washing his disciple’s feet. (You might use your cloth to wipe the children’s feet to show how it looked.)
Some of the disciples got upset. They didn’t want Jesus to wash their feet because they thought he was too important to do things like that. He was God’s son and not some kind of servant that goes crawling around the floor washing somebody’s feet the way a servant would do. Simon Peter said, “You aren’t going to wash my feet. I should be washing yours!” But Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Either you let me wash your feet or you can just get up and leave.” And what do you think Simon Peter did? (Let them respond.) Yes, he let Jesus wash his feet.
When Jesus was finished washing everyone’s feet, he looked at them and said, “I know you don’t understand why I did that. But I tell you that no one is more special than anyone else, and God loves everyone one of us. Just like I served you, you should go and serve everyone else. God wants you to take care of each other and not treat anyone differently than anyone else. It doesn’t matter to God who they are, how rich they are, or where they are from, and it should not matter to you.”
That was the command that Jesus gave them, and the old Latin word for “command” is “mandatum,” which is where we get the word “maundy.” So we call this Maundy Thursday to remind us of the command Jesus gave us to serve and take care of each other. We might not wash other people’s feet today (show the cloth) but God wants us to find other ways to show people that we care about them.
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.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (vv.1-5)
Object: A piece of white cloth large enough to wrap around your body. I cut a piece about three feet wide and six feet long from an old sheet. You can use the same piece of cloth as the object for all four messages of Holy Week.
NOTE: I begin each of the four messages with the same explanation since some may only use one of the messages. However, If you do use more than the first of these four messages, you might begin each following message by talking briefly about the cloth and remembering the previous message as a great way to tie the events of the week together.
NOTE: For this message, I usually begin with the cloth hidden behind me.
Hello, everyone! Are you ready for today’s story? (Let them respond.) Great. But first I have a question for you. Can anyone tell me what is special about this week? (Let them respond.) This is the beginning of the week we sometimes call Holy Week, isn’t it? It is special because this week reminds us of the things that happened during the last week that Jesus lived with his disciples and taught everyone about God. Several things happen this week, and some of them were pretty scary, but something very, very special happened at the end of the week, didn’t it? (Let them respond.) Let me tell you what special things we want to remember today.
Today is the day we call Holy Thursday, or sometimes we call it Maundy Thursday. Maundy Thursday sounds kind of strange, doesn’t it? Does anyone have an idea what the word Maundy means? (Let them respond.) Well, let me tell you the story and we’ll find out.
After they came to Jerusalem on Sunday, Jesus and his disciples spent their time going around talking with people and teaching them more about what God wanted them to do. It was dangerous since they knew the leaders wanted to kill Jesus, but he still didn’t hide from them. He was doing what he knew God wanted him to do.
But tonight was something special. It was the holiday called Passover and they had all gotten together for the Seder dinner. The Seder was a special dinner when everyone remembered the old stories about how Moses had freed all of the people from being slaves in Egypt. It was a time to celebrate the time that God had done something very special to take care of them and wanted them to take care of each other. So Jesus and his disciples got together to celebrate that, too.
Now when people usually went to the Seder, one of the servants working there would get a bowl of water and a towel (show the cloth) and go around to wash everyone’s feet. It was a way to show everyone that they were welcome there, and to make them feel special. But tonight, as everyone got to the table, Jesus walked over and picked up the bowl of water. He wrapped the towel around his waist, (wrap your cloth around your waist) walked over, and started washing his disciple’s feet. (You might use your cloth to wipe the children’s feet to show how it looked.)
Some of the disciples got upset. They didn’t want Jesus to wash their feet because they thought he was too important to do things like that. He was God’s son and not some kind of servant that goes crawling around the floor washing somebody’s feet the way a servant would do. Simon Peter said, “You aren’t going to wash my feet. I should be washing yours!” But Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Either you let me wash your feet or you can just get up and leave.” And what do you think Simon Peter did? (Let them respond.) Yes, he let Jesus wash his feet.
When Jesus was finished washing everyone’s feet, he looked at them and said, “I know you don’t understand why I did that. But I tell you that no one is more special than anyone else, and God loves everyone one of us. Just like I served you, you should go and serve everyone else. God wants you to take care of each other and not treat anyone differently than anyone else. It doesn’t matter to God who they are, how rich they are, or where they are from, and it should not matter to you.”
That was the command that Jesus gave them, and the old Latin word for “command” is “mandatum,” which is where we get the word “maundy.” So we call this Maundy Thursday to remind us of the command Jesus gave us to serve and take care of each other. We might not wash other people’s feet today (show the cloth) but God wants us to find other ways to show people that we care about them.
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.
