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Children's sermon
John 2:1-11
Epiphany 2 | Ordinary Time 2 - C
John Jamison

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water;” so they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so,and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” (vv. 7-10)

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Object: Two bottles of soda of some type. I suggest a dark cola, so the visual differences are easy to see. Prepare one bottle by opening it, replacing about a quarter of the cola with water, then shaking the bottle up to get rid of all the fizz. Leave the other bottle sealed and fresh.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great, let’s go.

But before I tell you the story, who can tell me what I have here? (Show the two bottles of soda and let them respond.) These are two bottles of soda. But they aren’t quite the same, are they? (Let them respond.) Let’s look at this one (Show the prepared bottle.) Let’s see what happens when I open it. (Open the prepared bottle.) It didn’t make a fizzing noise, did it? (Let them respond.) Now let’s try the other one. (Open the unprepared bottle and react when it fizzes.) That sounds better, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) This one sounds fresher, and it sure looks more like a cola should look, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.)

I’ll tell you why it looks so different. (Pick up the prepared bottle again.) Before we got here today, I opened this bottle, and took out some of the soda. Then I put water in instead and shook it up really good to get rid of all the fizz. So, I brought one bottle that was good, and another bottle that was not very good at all. Does anyone know why I did that? (Let them respond.) Let me tell you today’s story and see if that helps explain why I did it.

One day, Jesus and his mom and some of his friends went to a wedding in a town called Cana. Have any you ever been to a wedding? (Let them respond.) Do you remember some of the things that happened there? (Let them respond.) Well, I’ll bet the wedding that Jesus went to was quite a bit different than weddings we go to today. A wedding back then might last a whole day, and the people having the wedding had to feed everyone who came. And, back then, everyone in town was invited to the wedding, not just some family and friends. So, that meant the people having the wedding had to have a LOT of food and drinks to make sure there was enough for everyone. It was really embarrassing for them if they ran out before the wedding was over.

And guess what happened at the wedding that Jesus went to. (Let them respond.) That’s right. During the wedding, Jesus’ mom whispered to him that the hosts had run out of wine for everyone to drink. The family having the wedding were friends of Jesus’ mom, so she asked Jesus if he could do something to help them so they wouldn’t be embarrassed in front of everyone.

Jesus called some of the servants and told them to get six big jars, fill them with water, and bring them back to him. When they brought the jars of water back, do you know what Jesus did? (Let them respond.) He turned the water in the jugs into wine for everyone to drink. It was one of Jesus’ first miracles and I’ll be it was a big surprise. But do you know what really surprised everyone? (Let them respond.) Usually, the hosts of a wedding served the best wine first, when everyone was paying attention to how it tasted. Then later on, after everyone had a lot to eat and drink, they brought out the cheaper wine that had more water in it. Like our bottle of soda, it wasn’t as good, but no one would notice after everything else they already had. What surprised everyone was that the wine Jesus gave them was the best wine they had had all day.

That is the important part of our story today. Anytime Jesus helped someone, he did the best he could to help them. When Jesus helped someone, he always gave the very best he could give. If he met someone who was sick, he made them better. If he met someone who was hungry, he gave them food. He didn’t just go up and pat them on the back or hand them some money and say he hoped they got better soon. He always did the absolute best he could do to help them himself.

Jesus asked us to take care of each other, and if we see someone who needs help, we should do the very best we can do to help them. We should do our very best to show them that we love them just like God loves us.

I hope you will remember how much God loves you, and how much God wants us to love other people and do the best as we can to help take care of those other people and make sure they know how much we love them.

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.
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The Way to God
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Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)

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Good morning, boys and girls. I brought some salt with me this morning. (Show the salt.) What do we use salt for? (Let them answer.) We use it for flavoring food. How many of you put salt on your popcorn? (Let them answer.) What else do we use salt for? (Let them answer.) We put salt on the sidewalks in winter to keep us from slipping. We put salt in water softeners to soften our water.

In this morning's lesson Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth. What do you think he meant by that? (Let them answer.) In Jesus' time salt was very important. It was used to keep food
Good morning! Once Jesus told a whole crowd of people who
had come to hear him preach that they couldn't get into Heaven
unless they were more "righteous" than all the religious leaders
of that day. Does anyone know what that word means? What does it
mean to be righteous? (Let them answer.) It means to be good, to
be fair, and to be honest. Now, what do you think he meant by
that? Was he telling people that they had to do everything
perfectly in this life in order to get into Heaven? (Let them
answer.)
Good morning! How many of you own your own Bible? (Let them
answer.) When you read the Bible, do you find some things that
are hard to understand? (Let them answer.) Yes, I think there are
some tough things to comprehend in the Bible. After all, the
Bible is God's Word, and it's not always easy to understand God.
He is so much greater than we are and much more complex.

Now, I brought a New Testament with me this morning and I
want someone to read a verse for us. Can I have a volunteer? (Let
Teachers and Parents: The most common false doctrine, even
among some who consider themselves strong Christians, is that we
can earn our way into Heaven by our own works. Our children must
learn the basic Christian truth that Heaven is a gift of God and
that there is no way to be righteous enough to deserve it. We
must rely on the righteousness of Christ for our ticket into
Heaven.

* Make white paper ponchos with the name JESUS written in
large letters on each one. (A large hole for the head in a big

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