One Little Thing!
Children's sermon
Object: A photo album with no photos in it.
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! But before I tell the story, can anyone tell me what I have here? (Show the closed photo album.) It is an album where we keep pictures and other things that we want to remember. Some of you might have these at home, don’t you? (Let them respond.)
I want to tell you a story about a man called Joe. Joe lived over two thousand years ago when Jesus was alive. He must have been pretty special if we remember him this long, huh? (Let them respond.) I brought this photo album about Joe with me so I can tell you more about him and you can see just who he really was. Let’s look at it now. (Open the album and let them respond.) It’s empty, isn’t it? If Joe was so special, why isn’t there anything in his album? Let me tell you about him.
We know that his name was Joseph. He was from a place called Arimathea, so everybody just called him Joseph of Arimathea. We don’t know where Arimathea was. We have lots of ideas, but nobody knows for sure. He was one of the leaders in Jerusalem when Jesus came there. And we know he had money because he owned his own tomb in the big cemetery outside of town that only the rich people could afford. The only other thing we know about Joe was that he had heard about Jesus and believed what he was saying about God. And that’s about all we know about Joe. So why do we still talk about him today? He doesn’t sound all that special, does he? (Let them respond.)
Have you ever felt like you weren’t very special or important? (Let them respond.) Sometimes when we look around and see how big and important some other people look, we feel kind of little, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Maybe we see people who are really good at music, or sports, or something like that, and we just can’t do those things. Or maybe we see someone who is a lot more popular than we are and gets a lot more attention than we get.
In Jesus’ day, there were a lot of very important people like Jesus and his disciples, King Herod, and Pilate. I wonder if Joe ever felt like he wasn’t as special as those people. (Let them respond.) I wonder if he ever felt like he just wasn’t going to be anything special at all. (Let them respond.) I wonder if Joseph of Arimathea ever felt that no one would ever remember him.
But something happened.
When Joe heard that Jesus had been arrested, he went to see what was happening. He was there when Jesus died. And that’s when he heard about the problem Jesus’ family was having. The Jewish law said that when someone died, they needed to be buried before the sun when down. That was the law. But when Jesus died it was already late in the afternoon and the sun was starting to go down. Jesus’ family didn’t live near Jerusalem, so they didn’t have a place to bury him, and they didn’t have enough money to buy a place for him.
That’s when Joseph got an idea.
Joseph went to the leaders he knew and asked them to give him Jesus’ body so they could bury it in his own tomb. Since they knew Joseph, they agreed to do it. Then Joseph went to the market and bought a nice burial cloth and the spices they needed, and he and Nicodemus took Jesus to Joseph’s tomb and buried him before the sun when down.
Do you know what happened to Joseph after he did that? (Let them respond.) We don’t really know what happened to Joseph after that. There are a lot of stories, but we don’t know for sure what really happened to him. We don’t even know if he ever felt special because of what he did, or if everyone thought he was important because of what he did. All we know is that he did one thing for God, and we still talk about him two thousand years later. It probably took him about an hour to bury Jesus, but we still talk about him today, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
So, if you ever feel like you might not be special, or might not be very important, just remember what happened when Joe decided to do one little thing to help Jesus’ family when they had a problem. Maybe someday God will lead you to help someone who needs help like that, too. It might not make you famous, but God will make sure you aren’t forgotten.
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.) Great! But before I tell the story, can anyone tell me what I have here? (Show the closed photo album.) It is an album where we keep pictures and other things that we want to remember. Some of you might have these at home, don’t you? (Let them respond.)
I want to tell you a story about a man called Joe. Joe lived over two thousand years ago when Jesus was alive. He must have been pretty special if we remember him this long, huh? (Let them respond.) I brought this photo album about Joe with me so I can tell you more about him and you can see just who he really was. Let’s look at it now. (Open the album and let them respond.) It’s empty, isn’t it? If Joe was so special, why isn’t there anything in his album? Let me tell you about him.
We know that his name was Joseph. He was from a place called Arimathea, so everybody just called him Joseph of Arimathea. We don’t know where Arimathea was. We have lots of ideas, but nobody knows for sure. He was one of the leaders in Jerusalem when Jesus came there. And we know he had money because he owned his own tomb in the big cemetery outside of town that only the rich people could afford. The only other thing we know about Joe was that he had heard about Jesus and believed what he was saying about God. And that’s about all we know about Joe. So why do we still talk about him today? He doesn’t sound all that special, does he? (Let them respond.)
Have you ever felt like you weren’t very special or important? (Let them respond.) Sometimes when we look around and see how big and important some other people look, we feel kind of little, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Maybe we see people who are really good at music, or sports, or something like that, and we just can’t do those things. Or maybe we see someone who is a lot more popular than we are and gets a lot more attention than we get.
In Jesus’ day, there were a lot of very important people like Jesus and his disciples, King Herod, and Pilate. I wonder if Joe ever felt like he wasn’t as special as those people. (Let them respond.) I wonder if he ever felt like he just wasn’t going to be anything special at all. (Let them respond.) I wonder if Joseph of Arimathea ever felt that no one would ever remember him.
But something happened.
When Joe heard that Jesus had been arrested, he went to see what was happening. He was there when Jesus died. And that’s when he heard about the problem Jesus’ family was having. The Jewish law said that when someone died, they needed to be buried before the sun when down. That was the law. But when Jesus died it was already late in the afternoon and the sun was starting to go down. Jesus’ family didn’t live near Jerusalem, so they didn’t have a place to bury him, and they didn’t have enough money to buy a place for him.
That’s when Joseph got an idea.
Joseph went to the leaders he knew and asked them to give him Jesus’ body so they could bury it in his own tomb. Since they knew Joseph, they agreed to do it. Then Joseph went to the market and bought a nice burial cloth and the spices they needed, and he and Nicodemus took Jesus to Joseph’s tomb and buried him before the sun when down.
Do you know what happened to Joseph after he did that? (Let them respond.) We don’t really know what happened to Joseph after that. There are a lot of stories, but we don’t know for sure what really happened to him. We don’t even know if he ever felt special because of what he did, or if everyone thought he was important because of what he did. All we know is that he did one thing for God, and we still talk about him two thousand years later. It probably took him about an hour to bury Jesus, but we still talk about him today, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
So, if you ever feel like you might not be special, or might not be very important, just remember what happened when Joe decided to do one little thing to help Jesus’ family when they had a problem. Maybe someday God will lead you to help someone who needs help like that, too. It might not make you famous, but God will make sure you aren’t forgotten.
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.
