Scripture: Luke 19: 1-10
Memory Verse: Proverbs 3:5-6
(NRSV)
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not
relay on your own insight. In all your
ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
Concepts:
·
God
loves us no matter what mistakes we have made.
·
When
we choose to follow Jesus, God changes our whole life
Objectives:
·
Create
a news show describing Jesus’ visit to Jericho from various points of view.
·
Allow
time for the students to discover how they might be lost and what to do about
it.
·
Discuss
how we change when we take Jesus into our hearts.
1.
The Coach leads the
opening routine: snack, fellowship, prayer wall activity, and prayer
chain. Nametags are available.
Workshop Lesson Procedure:
1. Refer to the timeline. This story occurs in Luke as the last encounter before Jesus goes to Jerusalem for Holy Week. Introduce the Guide who leads the Workshop Lesson.
1. Today we are going to discuss the life of a tax collector for the Romans and how his life changed when he met Jesus. We will once again discover that God loves us no matter what mistakes we make or have made. When we love Jesus back we are compelled to change in the way we do things. We are going to interview the various characters in the Zacchaeus story to determine their reactions to Jesus’ visit to Jericho..
2.
Set the stage for this Bible story.
Jesus was still on his journey to Jerusalem ministering to people along the way. Zacchaeus is the last outcast that Jesus encounters before going to Jerusalem. This story is about salvation. The salvation of Zacchaeus is more than the conversion of one’s soul, His salvation represents a story about how “salvation can have personal, domestic, social and economic dimensions” – the whole life is touched by Jesus (Craddock, 22). Once we are saved we become different in many ways.
Scripture/Bible Story:
1. Distribute the CEV Bibles and ask the youth to find Luke 19:1-10. Read the scripture to the youth asking them to follow along as you read.
2.
After the students have read the scripture, spend a brief
time explaining the story and going over important words. Here are some words to review:
· Tax collector – If you wanted to insult someone in Jesus’ time, you might call that person a “Tax Collector”. During the Roman occupation of the land, Jewish men were hired by the Government to collect the taxes from all citizens. A tax collector would bid an amount for the rights to collect taxes in an area. The tax collector could collect whatever he was able from the people and keep any extra money. This is why tax collectors were not liked – they were considered greedy and dishonest.
· Zacchaeus’ name means innocent or clean.
· Sycamore trees were large evergreen trees, easy to climb and produced an inferior fig. An adult male would be disgraced to climb a tree.
· Restitution – means to repent and to repay back to others
· Salvation – when you believe in Christ/God you are saved. To repent and ask forgiveness and to become a child of God is what we all want to do. Salvation comes to all who believe in Jesus Christ.
Application:
1. Refer to the flipchart paper that you have posted on the wall. Headings are: Zacchaeus, the tree, a skeptical peasant, a sympathetic peasant in the crowd, a disciple.
2. Discuss the story from the point of view of each “character”. What were they thinking about Zacchaeus, about Jesus, about what happened? What was the motivation? Capture a few ideas for each flipchart to get creative ideas flowing.
3. Introduce the activity. Today we are going to create a special news broadcast for television. We will be interviewing various characters who witnessed the event between Jesus and Zacchaeus. We will be asking the witnesses for their reactions and opinions about what happened.
4. Divide the class into 5 groups. Assign one character to each group. In 5-7 minutes, the youth are to make up 4-5 interview questions and answers to the questions. To prepare for the interviews the youth may write down questions and answers and rehearse.
Questions should draw out feelings, reactions and observations. Here are some general prompts. Do not give the youth this list. Let them come up with their own questions. Ask them to be curious about their character.
· What was life like before Jesus came to town?
· What did you observe from your point of view?
· How did what you witness make you feel?
· What happened as a result of Jesus’ visit? Why?
·
How has it changed your life or the lives of others?
5. Each group will select an interviewer and someone to be the character. Costumes are available. For the peasants, a couple of peasants can contribute to each interview session. Ask the characters and interviewers to come forward and line up in order to be interviewed: Sympathetic peasant, skeptical peasant, tree, disciple, Zacchaeus. Everyone else may sit to watch the news.
6. The guide or a student will act as anchor for a special news segment on “CNN News”. The anchor will introduce the story to the audience and each interview segment. “Now over to ______ for a live on the scene report from _______.” See attached script for ideas for the anchor to segue to each interview.
7. Each interview group will step behind the TV to give the interview then disappear for the anchor to introduce the next interview set.
Reflection Time:
Take some time to discuss what happened to Zacchaeus and how this applies today:
· What made Zacchaeus want to see Jesus? (the Holy Spirit in his heart made him want to know Jesus, he realized his money meant nothing without love and mercy)
· What happened to Zacchaeus when he met with Jesus? (he changed his ways, he paid back what he took from others).
· How do we change when Jesus lives in our hearts? (we are kind to others, we don’t cheat, we come to church)
· Read the memory verse. What does it mean to have a crooked or a straight path? (a crooked path wanders away from Jesus from time to time. A straight path follows Jesus consistently)
· What did Zacchaeus do to straighten his path? (he paid back his debts, he dedicated his life to Jesus, he stopped his greedy ways)
· What do we do to make our path crooked? (lie, fight with siblings, be mean, cheat)
· How do we straighten our path? (we keep Jesus in our heart and in our actions)
Prayer: Dear Jesus, when we trust you and follow your ways, our path to you is straight, but sometimes we mess up and lose our way – we sometimes are mean and selfish, we don’t do as we are asked. However, we know we can always come to you for forgiveness no matter what we do. You call our name and ask us to “make haste” because you want to come into our hearts. Open our hearts to letting you live in us every day. Amen.
Teacher preparation in
advance:
1.
Prepare the flipcharts with headings and post them on the
walls before class begins.
2.
Read the Bible scripture and practice reading it a few times.
3.
Decide how best to orchestrate the youth on and off TV given
the logistics of the room.
4.
Make a mock TV from a large appliance box (from Best Buy or
Circuit City), or large cardboard project display. Cut out a large screen, big
enough that 2 or 3 youth can gather behind. Draw dials and knobs for effect. You
may want to use sheets to cover the sides of the TV so that attention is
focused on looking at the screen and not the action behind it.
Suggested Supply List
· A microphone
· Paper and pens for writing questions and answers
· Costumes for the characters
· A mock TV
· Poster of the memory verse
References
Craddock, Fred. “Luke.” Interpretation. James Luther Mays, et al. editors.
(Louisville, John Knox Press, 1990).
CNN News Anchor
Script
Anchor: We interrupt our
regularly scheduled programming to bring you this breaking news. The man they
call Jesus of Nazareth has been roaming the countryside creating quite a
disturbance. Large crowds have been gathering around Jesus everywhere he goes.
We have reports of healings and suggestions that this man is God. There is also
the possibility that Jesus has broken various Jewish laws. The tension between
the Pharisees (the religious leaders) and the followers of Jesus has been
mounting. It seems that a man named
Zacchaeus, a faithful servant of the Roman government has made a rather
spectacular conversion to leave his secure life as a tax collector to follow
this man Jesus. We bring you the details in this special report direct to you
from Jericho.
Interview with sympathetic peasant
Thank you for that report. But
we have also learned that not all people are sympathetic to Zacchaeus and the
special attention he has received from the wildly popular Jesus. Let’s listen
to this report.
Interview with unsympathetic peasant.
Well, this story is fascinating people
all over the world. We now bring you a special interview from an unbiased
source: the sycamore tree in which Mr. Zacchaeus is said to have climbed. This
sycamore tree has been around for many years and has seen many changes in the
community. Let’s listen in to hear what the tree has to say about this event.
Interview with the tree
Well, that tree certainly has
seen a lot in its lifetime. But what about the close companions of Jesus? What
must they think about the bizarre choices that Jesus has made for friends? What
is the purpose of Jesus’ travels? We go now to an exclusive interview with a disciple
of Jesus.
Interview with disciple.
Very interesting. We now have a
very special guest. Zacchaeus – the little man himself – is with our reporter
ready to speak to us today about his personal reaction to Jesus the events in
Jericho today.
Interview with Zacchaeus.
Well, that concludes our news
break for this time. We will be following this story as Jesus continues his
travels to Jerusalem for Passover and Holy week. We promise to bring you
updates as events unfold. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Thank you and good night.