King Herod the Carrot!
Children's sermon
Object: A carrot. If possible, get one with the leafy top still on it.
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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! I am going to tell you a story about a carrot. (Show a carrot and let them respond.) Well, it’s not really a story about a carrot, but it’s about someone who was kind of like a carrot. I’m going to tell you a story about King Herod. Does anyone remember King Herod and what he did when Jesus was born? (Let them respond.)
We remember that when the baby Jesus was born, God asked some people to go and see the baby and tell everyone about him. Can anyone remember who God asked to do that? (Let them respond.) It was the shepherds. Right! And the shepherds did that. They went to see the baby and then went around telling everyone about him. But other people came to see the baby, too. Does anyone remember who those people were? (Let them respond.) They were the three men, weren’t they? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we call them the Three Wise Men, and sometimes we call them Magi, which is a Greek word that means wise. We don’t know a lot about them. Some people think they were scientists, and some people think they were religious leaders. But we do know that they came from somewhere in the East, and traveled a long, long way to find the baby.
The laws said that anytime someone important came to Israel, they had to stop at the King’s palace and introduce themselves before they could do anything else. So the three wise men stopped to see King Herod and tell them why they were visiting. When they met Herod, they told him they had come to find the new baby because they believed he was going to become a very important king and they wanted to worship him. Herod told them to go and look for the baby and said that when they found him, to come back and tell him where the baby was so he could go and worship him too.
Do you remember what happened next? (Let them respond.) The Three Wise Men found the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) But somehow, God warned them not to go back and tell Herod where the baby was because Herod was just like a carrot. (Show a carrot.) Let me tell you what I mean.
Who knows how a carrot grows? (Let them respond.) It grows in the ground, doesn’t it? And while it grows, we only see part of it, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We only see the green leaves from the top of the carrot and we don’t see the rest of it until we pull it up. So, we don’t really know what kind of carrot it is until we look at it closely, do we? (Let them respond.) That was what Herod was like. He was very friendly when the wise men first met him and told them he wanted to worship the baby Jesus the way they did. But that was just part of King Herod, like the green leaves on the top of a carrot. Down keep, Herod didn’t want to worship the baby Jesus but wanted to find him and kill him. King Herod was like a carrot. On the top, he looked friendly. (Show the top of the carrot.) But underneath he was a bully. (Show the bottom of the carrot.) Herod wanted to kill the baby so he would be the only King.
Herod wasn’t the only one to be like a carrot. We are like carrots too, aren’t we? (Let them respond.) Have you ever met someone and you thought you knew them? Maybe they dress differently than we do or come from a different place that we are from. Maybe they talk differently or eat different things that we eat. But when we first meet someone, we are only seeing the top of the carrot, aren’t we? (Show the carrot and let them respond.) If we care enough to get to know them, we may find out we are more alike than we thought. We find out they really care about us and want to become great friends.
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And 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! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! I am going to tell you a story about a carrot. (Show a carrot and let them respond.) Well, it’s not really a story about a carrot, but it’s about someone who was kind of like a carrot. I’m going to tell you a story about King Herod. Does anyone remember King Herod and what he did when Jesus was born? (Let them respond.)
We remember that when the baby Jesus was born, God asked some people to go and see the baby and tell everyone about him. Can anyone remember who God asked to do that? (Let them respond.) It was the shepherds. Right! And the shepherds did that. They went to see the baby and then went around telling everyone about him. But other people came to see the baby, too. Does anyone remember who those people were? (Let them respond.) They were the three men, weren’t they? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we call them the Three Wise Men, and sometimes we call them Magi, which is a Greek word that means wise. We don’t know a lot about them. Some people think they were scientists, and some people think they were religious leaders. But we do know that they came from somewhere in the East, and traveled a long, long way to find the baby.
The laws said that anytime someone important came to Israel, they had to stop at the King’s palace and introduce themselves before they could do anything else. So the three wise men stopped to see King Herod and tell them why they were visiting. When they met Herod, they told him they had come to find the new baby because they believed he was going to become a very important king and they wanted to worship him. Herod told them to go and look for the baby and said that when they found him, to come back and tell him where the baby was so he could go and worship him too.
Do you remember what happened next? (Let them respond.) The Three Wise Men found the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) But somehow, God warned them not to go back and tell Herod where the baby was because Herod was just like a carrot. (Show a carrot.) Let me tell you what I mean.
Who knows how a carrot grows? (Let them respond.) It grows in the ground, doesn’t it? And while it grows, we only see part of it, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We only see the green leaves from the top of the carrot and we don’t see the rest of it until we pull it up. So, we don’t really know what kind of carrot it is until we look at it closely, do we? (Let them respond.) That was what Herod was like. He was very friendly when the wise men first met him and told them he wanted to worship the baby Jesus the way they did. But that was just part of King Herod, like the green leaves on the top of a carrot. Down keep, Herod didn’t want to worship the baby Jesus but wanted to find him and kill him. King Herod was like a carrot. On the top, he looked friendly. (Show the top of the carrot.) But underneath he was a bully. (Show the bottom of the carrot.) Herod wanted to kill the baby so he would be the only King.
Herod wasn’t the only one to be like a carrot. We are like carrots too, aren’t we? (Let them respond.) Have you ever met someone and you thought you knew them? Maybe they dress differently than we do or come from a different place that we are from. Maybe they talk differently or eat different things that we eat. But when we first meet someone, we are only seeing the top of the carrot, aren’t we? (Show the carrot and let them respond.) If we care enough to get to know them, we may find out we are more alike than we thought. We find out they really care about us and want to become great friends.
Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And 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.
