We're Going to Need More Baskets!
Children's sermon
Object: A handful of dried or fresh reeds, or other material used to create woven baskets. Any type of long reed or plant would work as long as it gives the idea of what materials are used to weave a basket. Also, one small woven basket to show what they look like.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
One day, Jesus got in a boat and went across the Sea of Galilee to visit a little town. People heard where he was going, so when he got to the town there was a huge crowd of people waiting to see him. Many of them were very sick and were hoping he would ask God to help them and heal them. And that is what he did.
There were so many people, Jesus was there all day healing people, and there were still more coming to ask him for help when it started getting dark. Jesus’ friends talked to him and said, “Hey, it’s getting dark. There are too many people here and it’s getting late. You need to tell them they need to go away now.”
Jesus looked at them and said, “They don’t need to go away.”
Someone else said, “But we didn’t invite them to come here, and we don’t even know most of these people. Some of them might be dangerous.”
Someone else said, “And they are starting to get hungry. So just tell them they need to go somewhere else and find food to eat.”
Jesus looked at his friends and said, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat!”
Jesus’ friends looked worried.
Have you ever been to a lake? (Let them respond.) Have you seen the big, tall plants that grow by some lakes? The reeds? Some of them look like this. (Show the reeds.) Some of them get really big and strong. Well, some of Jesus’ friends got so worried about the crowd of people, they picked up some reeds they could use to chase the people away if they needed to do that. (Show holding the reeds like they are a weapon.)
And Jesus’ friends kept trying to convince him to make the people leave. They said things like:
“But it isn’t our problem. They should have brought food with them.”
Someone said, “Tell them to go into town and find their own food.”
And someone said, “We just don’t have enough food to feed them. All we have are 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread.”
Someone else said, “That’s right. We only have enough for ourselves. We don’t have enough for them.”
Someone even said, “If they don’t have food, it’s their own fault. They should have thought of that before they came here.”
And someone said, “Just tell them to go back where they came from.”
Jesus looked at his friends and said, “Bring them to me.”
Jesus picked up the basket with the 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread and started walking around telling the people to reach in the basket and get some food to eat. His friends thought he was crazy and held on to their reeds. (Grip the reed like a weapon.) They were afraid of what the people would do when the food was gone from the basket.
But does anyone remember what happened next? (Let them respond.) Jesus called to his friends and said, “We’re going to need more baskets!”
When they looked at the basket Jesus was holding, they saw it was filled with fish and bread. No matter how many people took fish and bread from the basket, the basket kept getting fuller and fuller, until some of the food was spilling out onto the ground.
Jesus’ friends looked at each other and then took the reeds they had in their hands and started tying them together to make them into new baskets. (Show how to start weaving the reeds into a basket, and then show the completed basket.)
Jesus kept feeding people from his basket until all of the people in the crowd had gotten enough to eat. When they were finished, Jesus’ friends saw they still had 12 brand new baskets of food left over. Somehow, God had helped them feed all of the people who were hungry, just like Jesus had told them to do. That was pretty amazing, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Sometimes it is kind of scary to help other people, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But our story today reminds us that when we are trying to help others, God will help us get it done! Our job is not to worry and be afraid. Our job is to help take care of each other, like being a friend to someone who is lonely, helping someone who is afraid, feeding someone who has nothing to eat, taking care of someone who is sick or taking care of someone who has no home or place to live.
That is our job — taking care of each other. Even just one person each day. God will help us.
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.
Notes: Here are the numbers for today’s activity. After explaining the story of the power of the mustard seed, I begin with a blank piece of poster paper and recreate this list to show that no matter how small or powerless we may feel sometimes, if we just try to help one person each day, we can make a HUGE difference in the world. Depending on the ages of your group, you may use all or just some of these numbers. The big thing is to show that even if we just try to help one person each day, in three weeks over one million people might be helped. Wow!
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
One day, Jesus got in a boat and went across the Sea of Galilee to visit a little town. People heard where he was going, so when he got to the town there was a huge crowd of people waiting to see him. Many of them were very sick and were hoping he would ask God to help them and heal them. And that is what he did.
There were so many people, Jesus was there all day healing people, and there were still more coming to ask him for help when it started getting dark. Jesus’ friends talked to him and said, “Hey, it’s getting dark. There are too many people here and it’s getting late. You need to tell them they need to go away now.”
Jesus looked at them and said, “They don’t need to go away.”
Someone else said, “But we didn’t invite them to come here, and we don’t even know most of these people. Some of them might be dangerous.”
Someone else said, “And they are starting to get hungry. So just tell them they need to go somewhere else and find food to eat.”
Jesus looked at his friends and said, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat!”
Jesus’ friends looked worried.
Have you ever been to a lake? (Let them respond.) Have you seen the big, tall plants that grow by some lakes? The reeds? Some of them look like this. (Show the reeds.) Some of them get really big and strong. Well, some of Jesus’ friends got so worried about the crowd of people, they picked up some reeds they could use to chase the people away if they needed to do that. (Show holding the reeds like they are a weapon.)
And Jesus’ friends kept trying to convince him to make the people leave. They said things like:
“But it isn’t our problem. They should have brought food with them.”
Someone said, “Tell them to go into town and find their own food.”
And someone said, “We just don’t have enough food to feed them. All we have are 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread.”
Someone else said, “That’s right. We only have enough for ourselves. We don’t have enough for them.”
Someone even said, “If they don’t have food, it’s their own fault. They should have thought of that before they came here.”
And someone said, “Just tell them to go back where they came from.”
Jesus looked at his friends and said, “Bring them to me.”
Jesus picked up the basket with the 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread and started walking around telling the people to reach in the basket and get some food to eat. His friends thought he was crazy and held on to their reeds. (Grip the reed like a weapon.) They were afraid of what the people would do when the food was gone from the basket.
But does anyone remember what happened next? (Let them respond.) Jesus called to his friends and said, “We’re going to need more baskets!”
When they looked at the basket Jesus was holding, they saw it was filled with fish and bread. No matter how many people took fish and bread from the basket, the basket kept getting fuller and fuller, until some of the food was spilling out onto the ground.
Jesus’ friends looked at each other and then took the reeds they had in their hands and started tying them together to make them into new baskets. (Show how to start weaving the reeds into a basket, and then show the completed basket.)
Jesus kept feeding people from his basket until all of the people in the crowd had gotten enough to eat. When they were finished, Jesus’ friends saw they still had 12 brand new baskets of food left over. Somehow, God had helped them feed all of the people who were hungry, just like Jesus had told them to do. That was pretty amazing, wasn’t it? (Let them respond.)
Sometimes it is kind of scary to help other people, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But our story today reminds us that when we are trying to help others, God will help us get it done! Our job is not to worry and be afraid. Our job is to help take care of each other, like being a friend to someone who is lonely, helping someone who is afraid, feeding someone who has nothing to eat, taking care of someone who is sick or taking care of someone who has no home or place to live.
That is our job — taking care of each other. Even just one person each day. God will help us.
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.
Notes: Here are the numbers for today’s activity. After explaining the story of the power of the mustard seed, I begin with a blank piece of poster paper and recreate this list to show that no matter how small or powerless we may feel sometimes, if we just try to help one person each day, we can make a HUGE difference in the world. Depending on the ages of your group, you may use all or just some of these numbers. The big thing is to show that even if we just try to help one person each day, in three weeks over one million people might be helped. Wow!
WEEK 1 - 7/30 |
Starting the day |
New |
Total |
Sunday |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Monday |
2 |
2 |
4 |
Tuesday |
4 |
4 |
8 |
Wednesday |
8 |
8 |
16 |
Thursday |
16 |
16 |
32 |
Friday |
32 |
32 |
64 |
Saturday |
64 |
64 |
128 |
WEEK 2 – 8/6 |
Starting the day |
New |
Total |
Sunday |
128 |
128 |
256 |
Monday |
256 |
256 |
512 |
Tuesday |
512 |
512 |
1028 |
Wednesday |
1028 |
1028 |
2048 |
Thursday |
2048 |
2048 |
4096 |
Friday |
4096 |
4096 |
8192 |
Saturday |
8192 |
8192 |
16,384 |
WEEK 3 – 8/13 |
Starting the day |
New |
Total |
Sunday |
16,384 |
16,384 |
32758 |
Monday |
32758 |
32758 |
65536 |
Tuesday |
65536 |
65536 |
131072 |
Wednesday |
131072 |
131072 |
262144 |
Thursday |
262144 |
262144 |
524288 |
Friday |
524288 |
524288 |
1,048,576 |
Saturday |
1,048,576 |
1,048,576 |
2,097,152 |
WEEK 4 – 8/20 |
Starting the day |
New |
Total |
Sunday |
2,097,152 |
2,097,152 |
4,194,304 |
Monday |
|
|
|
Tuesday |
|
|
|
Wednesday |
|
|
|
Thursday |
|
|
|
Friday |
|
|
|
Saturday |
|
|
|
