March 13 – April 10, 2005
Scripture: Luke 24
Memory Verse:
“God will raise us from death
by the same power that he used when he raised our Lord to life.” — 1
Corinthians 6:14 (CEV)
Offering: One Great Hour of Sharing
Concepts:
Objectives:
1. Older children will locate Luke 24 in their Bibles.
Younger children will learn that the story is in Luke.
2. The children will play a quiz game to reinforce their
knowledge of the events in the story.
3. The class will discuss how the events in the story
teach us the concepts above, and will complete their journal pages with a focus
on the importance of memory to faith.
Procedure:
Welcome and Introductions: (10:00)
1. Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your name-tag. Make sure the children
are wearing name-tags. If not, ask the shepherd to supply a temporary badge.
Remember you are interacting with a different group of students each week who
may not know you.
2.
Open with a brief
prayer (optional, as they have just prayed in Great Hall).
3.
Explain the
purpose of this workshop. We’re going to
hear the story of Jesus’ resurrection and play a game to see how much you
remember about the story.
Scripture/Bible Story: (10:05)
1.
Grades 1-2 will
not use Bibles, but do open yours to show them where the story is. For grades
3-5, make sure everybody has a Bible. Extra Bibles are located in the
room. Help the students to find the book
of Luke. (Get the shepherds to go around the room and help with this.)
2.
If necessary,
review the organization of the Bible: The Bible is divided into two big parts,
the Old and New Testaments. Each part is made up of books, which are divided
into chapters and verses. Have them figure out whether Luke is in Old or New
Testament (it’s about Jesus so it’s in NEW Testament). Show them that if they
open their Bible in the middle, they’ll usually land in the book of Psalms in
the OT. Point out that the book name is at the top of each page. After finding
Psalms, if they then take the pages on the right side and divide them in half,
they’ll land somewhere near the beginning of the New Testament. Remind them
that the first four books of the NT are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
After
they’ve found Luke, help them find chapter 24. Some of the children will
confuse chapters and verses. Show them that chapter numbers are the big ones,
and also are at top of every page.
Story Summary
Very early on the Sunday morning after Jesus
was crucified, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other
women went to the tomb, carrying spices to put on Jesus’ body. When they got
there, they found the stone rolled away from the entrance, so they went in. But
they did not find Jesus’ body. They did not know what to think.
Suddenly two men in shining white clothes
stood beside them. The women were afraid and bowed to the ground. But the men
said, "Why are you looking in the place of the dead for someone who is
alive? Jesus isn't here! He has been raised from death. Remember that while he
was still in
The women went and told the 11 apostles and
the others what had happened. The apostles thought it was all nonsense, and
they would not believe.
But Peter ran to the tomb. And when he
stooped down and looked in, he saw only the burial clothes. Then he returned,
wondering what had happened.
The Road to Emmaus
That same day, two of Jesus' followers were
going to the
Jesus asked them, "What were you talking
about?”
The two men stood there looking sad and
gloomy. Then one, who was named Cleopas, asked Jesus, "Are you the only
person from
Some women in our group surprised us. They
had gone to the tomb early in the morning, but did not find the body of Jesus.
They came back, saying that they had seen a vision of angels who told them that
he is alive. Some men from our group went to the tomb and found it just as the
women had said. But they didn't see Jesus either.
Then Jesus asked the two disciples, "Why
can't you understand? How can you be so slow to believe all that the prophets
said? Didn't you know that the Messiah would have to suffer before he was given
his glory?" Jesus then explained everything written about himself in the
Scriptures.
When the two of them came near the village
where they were going, the men begged Jesus, "Stay with us! It's already
late, and the sun is going down." So Jesus went into the house with them.
After Jesus sat down to eat, he took some
bread. He blessed it and broke it. Then he gave it to them. At once they knew
who he was, but he disappeared. They said to each other, "When he talked
with us along the road and explained the Scriptures to us, didn't it warm our
hearts?" So they got right up and returned to
The two men found the eleven disciples and
the others gathered together. And they learned from the group that Jesus was
really alive and had appeared to Peter. Then the men from Emmaus told what
happened on the road and how they knew he was the Lord when he broke the bread.
What Jesus' Followers Must Do
While Jesus' disciples were talking about what had happened, Jesus appeared and
greeted them. They were terrified because they thought they were seeing a
ghost.
But Jesus said, "Why are you so
frightened? Why do you doubt? Look at my hands and my feet and see who I am!
Touch me and find out for yourselves. Ghosts don't have flesh and bones."
After Jesus said this, he showed them his
hands and his feet. The disciples were so glad and amazed that they could not
believe it. Jesus then asked them, "Do you have something to eat?"
They gave him a piece of baked fish. He took it and ate it as they watched.
Jesus said to them, "While I was still
with you, I told you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the
Books of the Prophets, and in the Psalms had to happen." Then he helped
them understand the Scriptures. He told them:
The Scriptures say that the Messiah must
suffer, then three days later he will rise from death. They also say that all
people of every nation must be told in my name to turn to God, in order to be
forgiven. So beginning in
Jesus Returns to Heaven
Jesus led his disciples out to
Application: (10:15)
Grades 3-5:
1. Have the buzzer box set up on a
table (one of the round tables from the main room is good for this). See end of
lesson plan for details on how to operate the buzzers.
2. Divide the children into four
lines, with the first person in each line holding a buzzer. The color of the
wire they are holding is the color for their team. (There actually are eight
buzzers — two for each color. They must all be plugged in, but just use one
buzzer of each color.)
3. Explain that you will call out a
question and players who think they know the answer should press their buzzer.
The first to buzz gets to give the answer. (If you don’t know who buzzed first,
look for the color with both lights on.) After the question, the four players
move to the end of their lines and the next four move up.
4. Don’t keep score. Just keep the
game moving. Use the answers to emphasize the concepts at the beginning of the
lesson plan.
5. Be sure they know the answer before buzzing. If they are buzzing and
then taking too long to think of the answer, use the timer in the supply bin
and give 5 seconds to answer after buzzing (this has not been a problem in the
past).
6. Give the players a chance to answer
the question first without the multiple choices. If nobody knows the answer,
offer the multiple choices. Ask the questions in the order given (because some
questions refer back to the previous question).
7. If you’re short on time, skip some questions, but try
to include the ones marked with an asterisk, as they are related to the
concepts being taught.
Grades
1-2:
Use the game wheel instead of the
buzzers. The game will go slower, so you’ll probably need to eliminate some
questions. Use the multiple-choice answers.
1.
Divide the class into several teams of three to five players. The teams
will take turns spinning the game wheel and answering questions about the
scripture. Have the shepherd keep score on the white board.
2.
Line the teams up and let the first person in line for the team spin and
answer a question. Let him consult his team if needed, but he is the only one who
can give the answer. If he answers correctly, award his team the number of
points he spun for. No points for a wrong answer.
3.
After his turn, the player goes to the end of his team’s line. Go to the
next team and continue until everyone has had a turn. Use the answers to
emphasize the concepts at the beginning of the lesson plan.
4. Alternatives:
Reflection Time: (10:30)
Gather the children in a
circle and discuss:
When the women were in the
tomb looking for Jesus’ body, who did they meet? Two men in shining clothes.
Why
did the men say the women were looking in the wrong place? Jesus was alive, but they were looking in a place for dead people.
Jesus is alive, so we should look for him among the living, too.
The men reminded the women of something Jesus
had said. Do you remember what it was? “The
Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who will nail him to a cross. But
three days later he will rise to life.” When the women heard this, they
remembered what Jesus had said.
When Jesus was walking with the two men on
the road to Emmaus, what did he remind them about? He reminded them what the Scriptures said about the Messiah, and
explained it to them. Later when he was with the disciples in
When
the women told Jesus’ other followers what they had heard, did the disciples
believe them? No, they thought it was
nonsense.
When
did the two men on the road to Emmaus believe that Jesus was alive? When they recognized him with them.
When
did the other disciples believe it? When
they saw Jesus themselves. We have to experience Jesus ourselves in order to
believe in him. Just hearing about Jesus isn’t enough for us to truly
understand.
Before Jesus left the disciples, he told them
what they must do. What was it? To tell
everything that had happened. When we believe in Jesus, we must try to
understand how he wants us to serve him.
Recite the Bible memory verse learned in the Great
Hall. : “God will
raise us from death by the same power that he used when he raised our Lord to
life.” — 1 Corinthians 6:14. If
we believe Christ rose from the dead, death is not the end for us.
Journals (10:35):
Pass out the journal pages and ask the shepherds to pass out
pencils/markers. Optional: Give the children a sticker or some other memento to
paste in their journal as a reminder of the workshop. Read the prompt out loud
and offer suggestions if needed. If they don’t know how to spell a word, write
it on the white board. Those who finish early can turn the page over and do the
activity on the back.
At 10:45 ask the students to close their journals and sit quietly.
Encourage the children to participate in One Great Hour of Sharing.
Remind them that the offering from this rotation will help people all over the
world who are hungry, impoverished, or have been in disasters. They can bring
an offering every week or they can collect it in their fish box to bring in on
Easter.
Prayer:
Close with a brief prayer.
Suggestion: Thank you, God for everything
we have learned today. Help us to remember what we learn in Faith Quest every
week and understand it better and better as we grow older.
Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help collect pencils, Bibles, etc.
When the room is tidy, dismiss the class.
Extra activity if time
allows:
Grades 3-5:
After reviewing the story, play a few rounds of "who can find the passage
first." Call out verses for the students to search and read when they find
them -- do this in pairs if you wish. Suggestions: the other gospel accounts of
the events in Luke — Matthew 28:1-10;
Mark 16:1-8; John 20:1-10,Mark 16:12,13, Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-18; John
20:19-23; Acts 1:6-8,Mark 16:19,20; Acts 1:9-11.
Teacher preparation in
advance:
1. Read the scripture passages and attend the
Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.
2. Prepare opening and closing prayers.
3. Room set-up (must wait until after
4. Find the small blue fold-up table, stored
behind the puppet stage. It is handy for organizing all your supplies. Optional:
Bring a CD or taped music for background music while you are gathering,
meditative music for Reflection time.
5. In your bin of supplies are two books of
maps. With older children, consider finding one with
6.
Write the
scripture verse on the white board or display it in the room some other way.
7.
BUZZERS: Practice
using the buzzer box and be sure you understand how it works. GAME WHEEL: The
game wheel is kept in the main room of the activity building. You will need to
move it into the
Supply List
Extra Bibles
Pencils (in supply bin; the
shepherds also have pencils)
Journal pages
Dry-erase marker (in supply
bin)
Buzzer box or game wheel
Game Questions
(Answers
are in Italics)
What day of the week did the
women go to the tomb?
Friday
Saturday
Sunday (Jesus was crucified on Friday, Saturday was
the Sabbath so no work allowed.)
What time of day did the
women go to the tomb?
Very early in the morning
Very
early in the evening, just as the sun was setting
Very
late at night
What were the women carrying?
Fine
linens to wrap Jesus’ body in
Spices to put on Jesus’ body
Food
to give the guards as a bribe
When the women got to the
tomb, what did they see from the outside?
The stone had been rolled away from the entrance
Jesus
was standing at the entrance
Angels
were guarding the entrance
True or false: When the women
saw the stone rolled away, they ran away.
False — they went inside the tomb.
True or false, when the women
went inside the tomb, they put spices on Jesus’ body
False — the body was not there.
True or false: When the women
saw the body was missing, they said, Jesus must be alive!
False — they did not know what to think
Who appeared to the women in
the tomb?
Peter
Jesus
Two men in shining white clothes
What did the women do when
they saw the two men in the tomb?
They bowed to the ground because they were afraid
They
asked what had happened to Jesus
They
turned and ran
*Which of
these things did the men say?
Jesus
isn't here! Someone stole his body
"Why are you looking in the place of the dead for
someone who is alive?
Take
off your shoes. You’re in a holy place.
*The men
reminded the women of something Jesus had said. What was it?
'The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who
will nail him to a cross. But three days later he will rise to life.' "
“Love
your neighbor as yourself.”
“Take
up your cross and follow me.”
The passage names three of
the women who went to the tomb. Who were they?
Mary,
Martha, and
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James
Mary
Magdalene, Martha, and Joanna
After the women left the
tomb, what did they do?
They
went to the temple and told everyone there what had happened.
They
had a party to celebrate the good news.
They told the eleven disciples and the other followers
of Jesus what had happened.
*True or
false: When the disciples heard the women’s story, they celebrated because
Jesus was alive.
False — They thought it was all nonsense.
*What did
Peter do when he heard the women’s story?
He ran to the tomb and looked inside.
He
went for a walk to think things over.
He
celebrated the good news.
What did Peter see in the
tomb?
Two
men dressed in shining clothes.
Jesus
Only the burial clothes.
*That same
day two of Jesus' followers were walking to a village. What is the name of the
village?
Emmaus
Encino
How far was Emmaus from
About
three miles
About seven miles
About
10 miles
Name one of the men
Cleopas
Copernicus
Cornelius
How were the men feeling?
Hopeful
that Jesus was alive
Sad and gloomy
Curious
about what had happened
*Who came
along and started walking with the men?
Jesus
Peter
Mary
Magdalene
*Why weren’t
the men surprised to see Jesus?
They
already knew he was alive
Nothing
could surprise them anymore
They didn’t recognize him
What did Jesus ask the men?
Why
do you look so sad and gloomy?
What were you talking about?
Where
are you going?
How did Cleopas answer Jesus?
He told him about Jesus’ death and the women finding
the empty tomb.
He
asked him to walk along with them
He
told him that Jesus had risen from the dead
*What did
Jesus explain to the men?
That
he was Jesus
That what had happened was in the scriptures
That
everything would be all right
What happened when the three
arrived in Emmaus?
The
men and Jesus said goodbye.
They
met Peter and the other disciples
The two men begged Jesus to stay with them.
*What did
Jesus do when they sat down to eat?
He
took some bread, blessed it, broke it, and ate it.
He took some bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it
to them.
He
blessed the bread and the wine.
*What
happened when Jesus gave the men the bread?
They
suddenly recognized him and ran away in fear.
He
disappeared, and they said, “Who was that man?”
They suddenly recognized him, but he disappeared.
What did the men do after
Jesus disappeared?
They finished eating, then went back to
They got up
and went right back to
They
wondered what to do next.
What did the men do when they
got back to
They
went to the temple and told everybody what had happened.
They found the eleven disciples and the other
followers, and told them what had happened.
They
kept their secret to themselves.
What did the group tell the
two men?
That
their story was nonsense.
That Jesus was really alive and had appeared to Peter.
That
the women had seen Jesus, too.
*What
happened while the disciples were talking?
Jesus appeared and greeted them.
Jesus
appeared and warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Peter
rushed in and said he had seen a ghost.
*How did the
disciples feel?
They
were happy because Jesus was alive.
They
were terrified that they would get in trouble for being with Jesus.
They were terrified because they thought they were
seeing a ghost.
*What did
Jesus say to reassure them?
“Don’t
worry; I’ll take care of you.”
“Look at my hands and my feet…Touch me … Ghosts don't
have flesh and bones.”
“Look
at my hands and my feet. Touch me…Ghosts don’t walk and talk the way I do.”
What did Jesus ask for?
Something to eat
Some
clean clothes
A
basin to wash his feet.
What did they give Jesus to
eat?
A
loaf of bread
A piece of baked fish.
A
piece of cheese
*What did
Jesus talk about?
He
told them what it was like to die and come back to life
He
told them they would do great things
He helped them understand the scriptures
*What did
Jesus tell his followers to do?
Beginning in
Go
to Emmaus and tell everyone there what has happened.
You
must not tell anyone what has happened.
Where did Jesus lead the
group?
To
Emmaus
To
To
the temple
What did Jesus do at
He raised his hands and blessed them and was taken up
to heaven.
He
said goodbye and disappeared again.
He
took some bread, blessed it, and gave it to them.
*What did the
disciples do after Jesus left?
They returned to
They scattered all over the
world to tell people about Jesus.
They returned to