Untouchable!
Children's sermon
Object:
A pair of gloves.
Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. (vv. 31-32)
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have another story for you today, are you ready? (Let them respond.) Great!
This is a story about a time when Jesus and his disciples were traveling. They were in a place called the Decapolis. It wasn’t very far from their home, but the people there were very different than the people back home. Most of the people in the Decapolis were not Jewish and did not follow the religious laws the people back home followed. They dressed differently, they ate different things, and they believed in different kinds of religions and went to different kinds of churches and temples. They were very different than the people back home.
Since they were different and did not follow the Jewish rules, the Jewish religious leaders like the Pharisees said you had to stay away from people like them because God did not like them. The religious leaders said those foreigners were unclean. The leaders said you could not eat with these foreigners, you could not talk with them, and you could never, ever, touch them. If you did, then you became unclean too. And if you did become unclean, no one would eat with you, or talk with you, or even touch you, because they said God did not like unclean people.
Even if you were just walking down the street and accidentally bumped into one of these unclean people, you became unclean and had to go to the temple and pay a sacrifice to become clean again. So, do you know what some people did when they went to places like the Decapolis? (Let them respond as you put on your gloves.) Yes, they wore gloves so they didn’t accidentally touch anyone who was unclean. Some of them even wore big extra robes that covered their whole body, so they didn’t accidentally touch someone who was unclean.
Well, our story says that Jesus was walking down the road when a bunch of people brought a friend to see him. The man was sick. He could not hear and could barely even talk. They knew that Jesus had healed a lot of people, so they asked him to please heal their friend now. But there was a problem. Do you know what it was? (Let them respond.) Yes, the man was from Decapolis, so he was unclean, and Jesus was not supposed to touch him. If Jesus touched the man to heal him, the Jewish religious leaders would say that he broke the rules and he was unclean now, too. No one would talk to him, no one would eat with him, and no one would touch him. So, Jesus had to make a hard decision, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)
You know, I think that sometimes we have to make that same hard decision, don’t we? Maybe at school, or when we are playing somewhere, we see someone that other people think is unclean. Maybe that person looks different, or maybe talks differently, or they are from someplace far away, or maybe they are just really shy, but the other people laugh at them, won’t talk with them, won’t play with them, or even sit with them. They treat that person like they are unclean. Maybe they don’t actually put gloves on, but they sure won’t get close to that person, will they? (Let them respond.)
Have you ever seen someone who was treated like that? (Let them respond.) Yeah, I have. And when we do, we have that same hard decision to make that Jesus had, don’t we? We know God wants us to love everyone, and not just people who look like us, or talk like us, or act like us. But if we do treat that person nicely, the others might laugh at us, and pick on us, too, right? (Let them respond.)
In our story, who knows what Jesus did about the sick man? (Let them respond.) Yes! Jesus didn’t put gloves on but reached out his hand and touched the man and healed him. And he didn’t even wear gloves! (Take off your gloves with a flourish.) The man was able to hear and talk again. Jesus broke the rules the leaders had made up and did what he knew God wanted him to do and healed the man. Jesus didn’t worry about what the other people might say but just did what God asked him to do…to take care of all of God’s people.
The next time we see someone being treated like they are unclean and aren’t as good as everyone else is, I hope we can remember that Jesus said God loves all of us and wants us to spend our time doing what we can to take care of all of God’s children.
I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to show everyone around us how much we love them, too.
Let’s have our prayer 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.
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have another story for you today, are you ready? (Let them respond.) Great!
This is a story about a time when Jesus and his disciples were traveling. They were in a place called the Decapolis. It wasn’t very far from their home, but the people there were very different than the people back home. Most of the people in the Decapolis were not Jewish and did not follow the religious laws the people back home followed. They dressed differently, they ate different things, and they believed in different kinds of religions and went to different kinds of churches and temples. They were very different than the people back home.
Since they were different and did not follow the Jewish rules, the Jewish religious leaders like the Pharisees said you had to stay away from people like them because God did not like them. The religious leaders said those foreigners were unclean. The leaders said you could not eat with these foreigners, you could not talk with them, and you could never, ever, touch them. If you did, then you became unclean too. And if you did become unclean, no one would eat with you, or talk with you, or even touch you, because they said God did not like unclean people.
Even if you were just walking down the street and accidentally bumped into one of these unclean people, you became unclean and had to go to the temple and pay a sacrifice to become clean again. So, do you know what some people did when they went to places like the Decapolis? (Let them respond as you put on your gloves.) Yes, they wore gloves so they didn’t accidentally touch anyone who was unclean. Some of them even wore big extra robes that covered their whole body, so they didn’t accidentally touch someone who was unclean.
Well, our story says that Jesus was walking down the road when a bunch of people brought a friend to see him. The man was sick. He could not hear and could barely even talk. They knew that Jesus had healed a lot of people, so they asked him to please heal their friend now. But there was a problem. Do you know what it was? (Let them respond.) Yes, the man was from Decapolis, so he was unclean, and Jesus was not supposed to touch him. If Jesus touched the man to heal him, the Jewish religious leaders would say that he broke the rules and he was unclean now, too. No one would talk to him, no one would eat with him, and no one would touch him. So, Jesus had to make a hard decision, didn’t he? (Let them respond.)
You know, I think that sometimes we have to make that same hard decision, don’t we? Maybe at school, or when we are playing somewhere, we see someone that other people think is unclean. Maybe that person looks different, or maybe talks differently, or they are from someplace far away, or maybe they are just really shy, but the other people laugh at them, won’t talk with them, won’t play with them, or even sit with them. They treat that person like they are unclean. Maybe they don’t actually put gloves on, but they sure won’t get close to that person, will they? (Let them respond.)
Have you ever seen someone who was treated like that? (Let them respond.) Yeah, I have. And when we do, we have that same hard decision to make that Jesus had, don’t we? We know God wants us to love everyone, and not just people who look like us, or talk like us, or act like us. But if we do treat that person nicely, the others might laugh at us, and pick on us, too, right? (Let them respond.)
In our story, who knows what Jesus did about the sick man? (Let them respond.) Yes! Jesus didn’t put gloves on but reached out his hand and touched the man and healed him. And he didn’t even wear gloves! (Take off your gloves with a flourish.) The man was able to hear and talk again. Jesus broke the rules the leaders had made up and did what he knew God wanted him to do and healed the man. Jesus didn’t worry about what the other people might say but just did what God asked him to do…to take care of all of God’s people.
The next time we see someone being treated like they are unclean and aren’t as good as everyone else is, I hope we can remember that Jesus said God loves all of us and wants us to spend our time doing what we can to take care of all of God’s children.
I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to show everyone around us how much we love them, too.
Let’s have our prayer 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.
