Sons of Abraham
Children's sermon
Object:
sand
"Then Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham." (v. 9)
Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you know the old Sunday school song about Father Abraham? (allow answers) The words to the song are these: "Father Abraham had may sons; many sons had Father Abraham; I am one of them; and so are you; so let's all praise the Lord!"
Well, we all seem to be children of someone named Abraham. But do you know who Father Abraham is? (allow answers) Abraham was a man who lived long ago. We can learn about Abraham in Genesis, the very first book of the Bible. He was a man who spoke to God. God promised that Abraham would have more descendants than there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on the beach. That is a really big number! Have you ever tried to count the stars or grains of sand? (allow answers) How far did you get? (allow answers) Imagine as many people as stars or grains of sand. That's far more than we would be able to count!
Abraham only had one child, a son named Isaac, but Isaac and his sons had many children. They kept the faith of Abraham their father. I guess you could say that Abraham is the father of our faith!
Our gospel lesson today mentions Abraham. In the gospel, Jesus becomes the friend of a tax collector. People in Jesus' time hated tax collectors! They avoided tax collectors whenever they could. Tax collectors had a reputation of being dishonest and greedy. But Jesus saw past the bad reputation. In fact, when Jesus goes to the tax collector's house, this is what he says: "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham." Instead of looking at the tax collector and seeing a dishonest, greedy man, Jesus looks at the tax collector and sees in him a cousin -- a brother.
How many of you have a relative who you don't like very much? (allow answers) Maybe your cousin is whiny or your great-aunt isn't very nice. But even if you don't like all your relatives, you still love them. They are a part of your family. Just like that, we should treat everyone as our family. Even if we don't have a good opinion of others, we should still treat them with the respect and compassion that we show to our blood relatives. After all, as Jesus said, we are all "sons of Abraham." Amen.
Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you know the old Sunday school song about Father Abraham? (allow answers) The words to the song are these: "Father Abraham had may sons; many sons had Father Abraham; I am one of them; and so are you; so let's all praise the Lord!"
Well, we all seem to be children of someone named Abraham. But do you know who Father Abraham is? (allow answers) Abraham was a man who lived long ago. We can learn about Abraham in Genesis, the very first book of the Bible. He was a man who spoke to God. God promised that Abraham would have more descendants than there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on the beach. That is a really big number! Have you ever tried to count the stars or grains of sand? (allow answers) How far did you get? (allow answers) Imagine as many people as stars or grains of sand. That's far more than we would be able to count!
Abraham only had one child, a son named Isaac, but Isaac and his sons had many children. They kept the faith of Abraham their father. I guess you could say that Abraham is the father of our faith!
Our gospel lesson today mentions Abraham. In the gospel, Jesus becomes the friend of a tax collector. People in Jesus' time hated tax collectors! They avoided tax collectors whenever they could. Tax collectors had a reputation of being dishonest and greedy. But Jesus saw past the bad reputation. In fact, when Jesus goes to the tax collector's house, this is what he says: "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham." Instead of looking at the tax collector and seeing a dishonest, greedy man, Jesus looks at the tax collector and sees in him a cousin -- a brother.
How many of you have a relative who you don't like very much? (allow answers) Maybe your cousin is whiny or your great-aunt isn't very nice. But even if you don't like all your relatives, you still love them. They are a part of your family. Just like that, we should treat everyone as our family. Even if we don't have a good opinion of others, we should still treat them with the respect and compassion that we show to our blood relatives. After all, as Jesus said, we are all "sons of Abraham." Amen.
