My Father's House!
Children's sermon
Object: This message makes a good role play. You will need some cookies, a table, and some play money we will call shekels. Have children play the roles of the seller, a poor person, a woman, a foreigner, and an important, rich person. You just need one seller, and you can use one child for each of the other roles, or if you have the time and children available, you can have as many children play those roles as you like. Split the money among the children playing the non-seller roles. Give the poor person two pieces of money, the woman and foreigner four pieces each, and give the important person a whole handful of money to carry. You will also have one child playing Jesus, and if you have enough children, you could have one or two play the role of his friends and stay by him.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! This is a story about a time when Jesus got really angry and knocked tables over and threw things all over the place. Can anyone guess what happened that made Jesus so angry? (Let them respond.) Let me tell you the story so we all know what happened.
It happened when Jesus and his friends went to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday of Passover. People came from all over the world to visit the temple. On Passover they could give some kind of sacrifice to the temple priests to thank God for taking care of them. Some people sacrificed a lamb, some sacrificed a bird, and some sacrificed fruit or grain. But since some people traveled a long way, they couldn’t carry things with them, so they waited and bought their sacrifice when they got to the temple gates. That’s where the temple had the little shops for people to buy what they needed — like this little shop. (Set up the table with cookies, and have the seller stand by it.) People who wanted to offer the temple priests a cookie didn’t want to give them a broken cookie, so they waited until they could buy their cookie here.
Jesus and his friends watched as people came to buy their offerings at the shops. They watched as a very poor person came to the cookie shop. (Have the poor person come to the shop.) Now the cookies only cost one shekel, but the seller didn’t like poor people very much, so they said the cookies cost two Shekels apiece. (Have the seller say that.) That was all the money the poor person had, but they needed the cookie to give to the priest, so they paid the money, got the cookie, and walked away very sad. (Have them do that.)
Then a woman came to the shop. The seller didn’t think women should be at the temple, so he told her the cookies cost three Shekels apiece. (Have the seller say that.) The woman needed the cookie to give to the priest, so she paid the money, got the cookie, and walked away feeling frustrated because she knew the seller had cheated her. (Have them do that.)
Then a very important and rich person from right there in Jerusalem came to the shop and said they needed another cookie for their offering. (Have them do that.) The seller smiled and said the rich person could have two cookies for one shekel. (Have them do that.) The rich person smiled, pulled out the pile of money, paid the shekel, patted the seller on the back, and walked away with a big smile on their face. (Have them do that.)
Then someone from a different country came to the shop. The seller couldn’t understand what they were saying very well and didn’t like foreigners anyway, so they held up four fingers to tell them the cookies cost four shekels apiece. (Have them do that.) The foreigner paid the money, got the cookie, and walked away looking confused. (Have them do that.)
That’s when Jesus walked over and knocked the table over and yelled, “You are turning my father’s house into some kind of business!” (Have Jesus do that but grab the cookies first to avoid a mess to clean up.)
(Have all of the children sit back down to continue.)
Now, I have a question for you. Why do you think Jesus was so angry and knocked over the table? (Let them respond.) I think I know what happened.
Jesus believed that God loved every one of us just as much as anyone else, and he believed that was how people should be treated at God’s temple. But what did Jesus see the seller do? (Let them respond.) The seller didn’t treat everyone the same, did they? (Let them respond.)
The cookies were supposed to cost everyone one shekel, weren’t they? (Let them respond.) But, when the poor person came to the shop, how much did the seller make them pay for a cookie? (Let them respond.) Two shekels, right? And that was all the money the poor person had in the world, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.)
When the woman came to the shop, how much did the seller make her pay for a cookie? (Let them respond.) The seller made her pay three shekels.
And when the foreigner came to the shop, how much did the seller make them pay for a cookie? (Let them respond.) Four shekels, right?
But what did the seller have the rich person pay for their cookie? (Let them respond.) The rich person got two cookies for just one shekel, didn’t they? (Let them respond.)
The seller did not treat everyone the same way, did they? (Let them respond.) They really liked the rich and powerful person, so they gave them a really good deal on their cookie, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) But when someone came that they didn’t like as much, what did they do to them? (Let them respond.) They made them pay more for their cookie, didn’t they? (Let them respond.)
That’s what Jesus got so angry about. Instead of caring for everyone, the seller treated those people differently just because they didn’t like them. (Let them respond.) Do you think we ever do that? (Let them respond.) Do we ever treat some people differently than we treat others, just because there is something about them that is different from us? (Let them respond.)
Sometimes we meet people who look different than we look, or talk differently than we talk, or believe different things than we believe, don’t we? (Let them respond.) But when that happens, Jesus doesn’t want us to treat them differently just because they might seem to be different. They might look, or talk, or believe differently than us, but God created them and loves them exactly the same way that God loves us.
I hope we can remember that God loves every one of us, no matter how we look, how we talk, what we believe, where we are from, or anything else.
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! This is a story about a time when Jesus got really angry and knocked tables over and threw things all over the place. Can anyone guess what happened that made Jesus so angry? (Let them respond.) Let me tell you the story so we all know what happened.
It happened when Jesus and his friends went to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday of Passover. People came from all over the world to visit the temple. On Passover they could give some kind of sacrifice to the temple priests to thank God for taking care of them. Some people sacrificed a lamb, some sacrificed a bird, and some sacrificed fruit or grain. But since some people traveled a long way, they couldn’t carry things with them, so they waited and bought their sacrifice when they got to the temple gates. That’s where the temple had the little shops for people to buy what they needed — like this little shop. (Set up the table with cookies, and have the seller stand by it.) People who wanted to offer the temple priests a cookie didn’t want to give them a broken cookie, so they waited until they could buy their cookie here.
Jesus and his friends watched as people came to buy their offerings at the shops. They watched as a very poor person came to the cookie shop. (Have the poor person come to the shop.) Now the cookies only cost one shekel, but the seller didn’t like poor people very much, so they said the cookies cost two Shekels apiece. (Have the seller say that.) That was all the money the poor person had, but they needed the cookie to give to the priest, so they paid the money, got the cookie, and walked away very sad. (Have them do that.)
Then a woman came to the shop. The seller didn’t think women should be at the temple, so he told her the cookies cost three Shekels apiece. (Have the seller say that.) The woman needed the cookie to give to the priest, so she paid the money, got the cookie, and walked away feeling frustrated because she knew the seller had cheated her. (Have them do that.)
Then a very important and rich person from right there in Jerusalem came to the shop and said they needed another cookie for their offering. (Have them do that.) The seller smiled and said the rich person could have two cookies for one shekel. (Have them do that.) The rich person smiled, pulled out the pile of money, paid the shekel, patted the seller on the back, and walked away with a big smile on their face. (Have them do that.)
Then someone from a different country came to the shop. The seller couldn’t understand what they were saying very well and didn’t like foreigners anyway, so they held up four fingers to tell them the cookies cost four shekels apiece. (Have them do that.) The foreigner paid the money, got the cookie, and walked away looking confused. (Have them do that.)
That’s when Jesus walked over and knocked the table over and yelled, “You are turning my father’s house into some kind of business!” (Have Jesus do that but grab the cookies first to avoid a mess to clean up.)
(Have all of the children sit back down to continue.)
Now, I have a question for you. Why do you think Jesus was so angry and knocked over the table? (Let them respond.) I think I know what happened.
Jesus believed that God loved every one of us just as much as anyone else, and he believed that was how people should be treated at God’s temple. But what did Jesus see the seller do? (Let them respond.) The seller didn’t treat everyone the same, did they? (Let them respond.)
The cookies were supposed to cost everyone one shekel, weren’t they? (Let them respond.) But, when the poor person came to the shop, how much did the seller make them pay for a cookie? (Let them respond.) Two shekels, right? And that was all the money the poor person had in the world, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.)
When the woman came to the shop, how much did the seller make her pay for a cookie? (Let them respond.) The seller made her pay three shekels.
And when the foreigner came to the shop, how much did the seller make them pay for a cookie? (Let them respond.) Four shekels, right?
But what did the seller have the rich person pay for their cookie? (Let them respond.) The rich person got two cookies for just one shekel, didn’t they? (Let them respond.)
The seller did not treat everyone the same way, did they? (Let them respond.) They really liked the rich and powerful person, so they gave them a really good deal on their cookie, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) But when someone came that they didn’t like as much, what did they do to them? (Let them respond.) They made them pay more for their cookie, didn’t they? (Let them respond.)
That’s what Jesus got so angry about. Instead of caring for everyone, the seller treated those people differently just because they didn’t like them. (Let them respond.) Do you think we ever do that? (Let them respond.) Do we ever treat some people differently than we treat others, just because there is something about them that is different from us? (Let them respond.)
Sometimes we meet people who look different than we look, or talk differently than we talk, or believe different things than we believe, don’t we? (Let them respond.) But when that happens, Jesus doesn’t want us to treat them differently just because they might seem to be different. They might look, or talk, or believe differently than us, but God created them and loves them exactly the same way that God loves us.
I hope we can remember that God loves every one of us, no matter how we look, how we talk, what we believe, where we are from, or anything else.
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.
