Resurrection
Resurrection
Scripture: Matthew
28
Memory Verse: “Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.” Matthew 28:19-20 (CEV)
Concepts:
Objectives: From the Bible story in this workshop, the children will hear the risen Jesus say that he has authority over heaven and earth, and the workshop leader will discuss what this means. Also from the Bible story (and specifically the memory verse) the children will hear Jesus’ commission to teach others to be his disciples. During the puppet skits, children will experience some different ways of teaching. Discussion will focus on how these can be used to teach others about Jesus and how to be disciples of Jesus.
Procedure:
Welcome and Introductions:
Bible Story:
1. Read the scripture passages using the attached version. Please practice reading this aloud several times before you teach. Practice will help you decide where to put the emphasis. You might want to mark words to emphasize. It’s a great story—the children should be very attentive! Before reading it to the children, you can tell them that this passage is about Jesus’ Resurrection. Ask whether anyone knows what “Resurrection” means. The rising of Jesus Christ from the dead. Why did Jesus die? His human body was put to death as a sacrifice to cleanse our bad behavior, also known as sins.
2. There are comments inserted in italics that you can use to explain some of the passage. It’s important to use these or a similar commentary as this is where the children learn about Jesus’ power and commission to teach what he has taught us.
3. Try to keep the Bible Story to 10-12 minutes. The children will be eager to get to the puppets. You need to cover the story completely for the first two weeks of the lesson; after that, most children will be familiar with this passage.
4. After going through the Bible story, introduce the skits by saying that the skits will help us understand some different ways of teaching, so that we can do what Jesus said—teach others how to be his disciples.
Application:
Note: There are 5 skits. Four have 4 characters; one has 2. You’ll have to use a combination of skits to give everyone a chance to perform, either by repeating or leaving out—you never know how many children will be there! Let each child have a chance to operate a puppet or they will be disappointed. Use may want to use an adult to fill in extra parts—it’s hard to give only one or two children two turns.
After skit 1: What were two of the
characters/puppets going to teach the other two? How to bake cookies. Have you ever made cookies? Would it be hard to make them if someone
gave you the recipe and you had never seen cookies made before? Probably hard to do. How were the two children going to teach the others--give them a
cookbook and let them read it? Any
discussion permissible, but encourage the idea of “sharing or showing another
what he/she had already learned.” What
are some of the things we have learned about Jesus that we could share with
someone who didn’t know anything? Encourage:
Jesus was God come to earth as a human,
the Son of God, our Lord and Savior, died for our sins, rose again, if
we accept Christ we can receive eternal life with God…
After skit 2:
What did one character/puppet teach another? The right way to subtract large numbers How did they teach it? Encourage the idea of “correcting wrong
thinking.” How do you think Monica got the wrong idea about math? Encourage the idea of either someone
taught her the wrong thing or she guessed at it and got it wrong. Did she seem happy to know the right way
to do the math? Yes Do you ever hear any wrong information
about God or Jesus that you could correct?
It will be interesting to hear what if anything the children say—if
anyone suggests anything, make sure they understand the right answer. I wouldn’t introduce any wrong or
discouraging ideas, such as that some people think God and Jesus don’t exist or
that Jesus isn’t the only way to eternal life.
I would just say that if they ever hear someone say something wrong
about God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, that they should nicely give them the
truth.
After skit 3:
What does one character/puppet want to be when he grows up and why? media specialist (librarian) because of
the one at his school. What did
all the characters/puppets like about Mrs. Thomas? She seemed to like her job, she is nice, nice voice, everyone
likes her, knows about books, has read a lot.
Does anyone know what a person is called when they set an example
like Mrs. Thomas did? role
model. Have you ever thought that
someone could be a role model for being a disciple of Jesus? What would that mean? Any discussion permissible, but encourage
ideas of showing love for God, for Jesus, for the Bible, for each other,
following 10 commandments. Do you
think that someone could think that you seemed so happy and so nice that they
wanted to be like you—be a Christian or a disciple of Christ—just because you
had been a role model? Get them to agree—question is really
rhetorical.
After skit 4:
This skit talked about the fable of the boy who cried wolf. Has everyone heard that story before? What do you learn from this fable? If you don’t tell the truth a few times
then people may not believe you when you do—especially in the area of needing
help. Do you think a fable or
story is a good way to learn a lesson?
Does anyone know about the stories that Jesus used to teach his
disciples about God? What are they
called? parables What are some of the parables you have
learned? The ones they are probably
going to know are the Good Samaritan,
the Prodigal Son and maybe the Buried Talents and the Sower and The Seeds. So stories are a good way to teach about
Jesus.
After skit 5:
What were the characters/puppets going to teach? They were going to make a presentation on
simple machines to their whole class. Since
none of them knew what a simple machine was, how could they teach about
it? They were going to read books
and know more about simple machines before the presentation. Do you have to be an “expert” to
teach? No, you don’t have to know
everything—you can share whatever you do know.
What can we learn from this skit to help us teach others how to
become Jesus’ disciples? Encourage
discussion about ways to learn and study so that you can teach What are ways to learn more about
becoming Jesus’ disciples? attending
FaithQuest, listening in Church, going to PCPW and reading the Bible are some
examples.
Wrap-up:
Review the two concepts covered and give a chance for additional questions. Have the children put their puppets back neatly.
Reflection Time:
Closing:
Prayer: Close with a simple prayer acknowledging that the risen Jesus now rules over heaven and earth and asking God to help us teach others how to be Jesus’ disciples. Ask all of this in Jesus’ name.
Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help clean up as they wait for their parents to arrive. Put pillows behind stage area. Put away boom box, workshop bin, etc
Teacher preparation
in advance:
1. Pray: Ask God to give you clarity of this scripture and words to teach His children this lesson.
2. Read the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.
3. Make at least 7 copies of each script. Cut the scripts into pieces so that each player can have a copy. You can also post two copies of the script at each end of the stage so puppeteers can refer to it.
4. Prepare a closing prayer.
5. Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.
6. If you choose to pre-record the scripts, family members and their friends can have a lot of fun playing the different parts.
Materials:
Copies of the script.
References:
Notes supplied by Lori Houck for curriculum writers' Bible study in February 2003.
TEACHING
SKIT 1 (4
characters)
Conrad: “Anybody want
a cookie?”
Everyone else: “Sure!”
Trudy: “These are
really good.”
Eva: “They taste
homemade.”
Alex: “Homemade
cookies? How do you do that?”
Conrad: “It’s
easy. You just get a recipe and do what
it says.”
Trudy: “Well, it
might be a little hard if you’ve never done it before.”
Eva: “I’ve never
made cookies before.”
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Alex: “I’d
like to make cookies for my family.”
Trudy: “Let’s go to
my house. My mom always lets me bake,
and Conrad can help me show you two how to make them. It’s really easy if you’re watching someone who has done it
before.”
Everyone else: “Let’s go.”
SKIT 2 (2
characters)
Monica: “I’m glad
you could come and go over yesterday’s homework with me. I missed all the math problems on
subtraction.”
Matthew: “Let me see
your homework. (looking over the
paper) You only missed the subtraction
problems with large numbers. Can you
show me how you figured out problem number 5?
It has large numbers. Maybe
you’re doing something wrong only when you use large numbers.”
Monica: “OK, see
first I do this and get that number and then this and get that number—I’m
regrouping it.”
Matthew: “That’s what
you’re doing wrong. You don’t have to
do it that way. Let me show you
how. First, do this, then
subtract. See--that’s all you have to
do.”
Monica: “That’s
really all? Let me try these others
that way. OK, is that one right now?”
Matthew: “Yes—you’ve
got it.”
Monica: “Wow,
subtraction of large numbers is so much easier this way.”
Matthew: “And best of
all, you’re getting the right answers!”
SKIT 3
(4 characters)
George: “When I grow
up, I’m going to be a media specialist.”
Frank: “Do you mean
like Mrs. Thomas, the media specialist at our school?”
Gwen: “She is
really nice. She always helps me find a
book just for me, and I always really like the ones she suggests.”
Hillary: “I really
like her because she has such a soft, nice voice.”
George: “I think all
those things are why I want to be a media specialist—because everyone likes
Mrs. Thomas, and she seems to like her job.
I’m going to try to be just like her.”
Gwen: “You’ll have
to read a lot of books so you’ll know what to suggest.”
George: “That’s OK
because I love to read.”
Hillary: “And you
can’t yell in the media center.”
Frank: “That will
be easy, just do your yelling outside.”
SKIT 4
(4 characters)
LeAnn: “Have you
ever heard about crying wolf?”
Robert: “Isn’t that
the story about the shepherd boy who was bored and cried out that there was a
wolf when there wasn’t?”
Martha: “And the
whole town came running to help him save the sheep, and he just laughed because
there wasn’t a wolf.”
Stephen: “He kept
faking and crying wolf until no one believed him anymore. Then when a real wolf came, and he cried
wolf, the town didn’t come, and the wolf killed all the sheep.”
LeAnn: “Now I get
it. I was pretending to be hurt so my
mom would come and pay attention to me.
And she told me to stop crying wolf.”
Robert: “It is
pretty scary to think that if you faked being hurt, then your mom may not pay
attention when you really are hurt.”
Martha: “I like
stories like that.”
Stephen: “I think
they’re called fables, and the lesson at the end is called the moral.”
SKIT 5
(4 characters)
Peter: “Our group
is supposed to make a presentation to teach the class about simple machines.”
David: “What is a
simple machine?”
Lacy: “I don’t
know.”
Margo: “Me
neither.”
Peter: “I don’t
know either, but that’s what these books are about. We can’t teach the class about simple machines if we don’t know
what they are.”
Lacy: “Let’s each
take one and read it tonight. Then we
can talk about it tomorrow.”
David: We can even
trade books until each of us read all of them.
I’d like to be an expert if I’m going to teach everyone else.”
Margo: “I
agree. I wouldn’t want someone to teach
me anything if they didn’t know a lot about it.”
Resurrection:
Matthew’s Account (CEV)
(Suggested comments are in italics.)
28 The Sabbath was over, and it was almost daybreak on
Sunday when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly a strong earthquake struck, and the
Lord’s angel came down from heaven. He
rolled away the stone and sat on it.
The angel looked as bright as lightning and his clothes were white as
snow. The guards shook from fear and
fell down, as though they were dead.
The
angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid!
I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross. He isn’t here! God has raised him to life, just as Jesus said he would. Come, see the place where his body was
lying. Now hurry! Tell his disciples that he has been raised
to life and is on his way to Galilee.
Go there, and you will see him.
That is what I came to tell you.
The
women were frightened and yet very happy, as they hurried from the tomb and ran
to tell his disciples. Can you
imagine how these women felt? Seeing
this amazing angel was probably a little scary. But try to imagine how happy they must have been. After watching Jesus die on the cross and
being sad about his death for three days, they came to his tomb and found that
he had been raised from the dead, just as he had said. Suddenly Jesus met them and greeted
them. They went near him, held on to
his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus
said, “Don’t be afraid! Tell my
followers to go to Galilee. They will
see me there.”
While
the women were on their way, some soldiers who had been guarding the tomb went
into the city. They told the chief
priests everything that had happened.
So the chief priests met with the leaders and decided to bribe the
soldiers with a lot of money. They said
to the soldiers, “Tell everyone that Jesus’ disciples came during the night and
stole his body while you were asleep.
If the governor hears about this, we will talk to him. You won’t have anything to worry about. The soldiers took the money and did what
they were told. The people of Judea
still tell each other this story. These
soldiers agreed to tell a lie about Jesus to hide how powerful God really
was. They did it just to get
money. Do you remember another man who
did something bad to Jesus to get money?
(Judas). This kind of money
doesn’t last long, only until you spend it.
The soldiers and Judas could have had eternal riches in heaven if they
had only believed in Jesus and what he taught.
Instead they betrayed him and told lies about him. And why did the bad
leaders pay money to start the lie?
They did not want to share power with God. They wanted to make up their own rules about God, not follow
God’s true rules. *
Jesus’
eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to
meet him. They saw him and worshiped
him, but some of them doubted.
Jesus
came to them and said:
I have
been given all authority in heaven and on earth! Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the
end of the world.
What
does authority mean? (power). So “all authority” means that Jesus has
power over heaven and earth. He rules
heaven and earth. God has given the
risen Jesus the same powers that God has.
And
as the ruler of heaven and earth, Jesus has given us a job to do—what job did
he give us? (Go to all the people of
the nations and make them my disciples.)
Do you have to go to other countries to do this? (No, you can also make disciples of people
in this country—there are a lot of people in our community who do not accept
Jesus as their savior. You can also go
to other places to teach about Jesus.
We call that being a missionary.)
What
did Jesus teach us? Can you think of
things you have learned from previous Faith Quest lessons? (Hopefully you’ll have lots of answers, more
than I can think of, but here are some:
God loves us, Love God, Love your neighbors which really includes all
people, God wants to forgive us, God wants us to be in heaven with him, all we
have to do to go to heaven is believe in Jesus and accept his power to cleanse
away any bad things we do, obey God’s rules, trust God, forgive others, , God
blesses a lot of people who are sad, and lastly what we have just learned, God
wants us to be baptized, and Jesus has power over heaven and earth and wants
everyone to be his disciple.)
*Note
to workshop leader: many people, even
non-Christians, believe that Jesus existed and that his body disappeared from
the tomb that day. There is so much
written about it in history that it would be hard to dispute. But some people believe the story that the
soldiers and leaders invented, that Jesus’ disciples removed his dead body,
instead of the truth that God raised Jesus’ dead body to eternal life. This scripture passage explains where this
lie came from. This is probably too
hard for the children to grasp at this point, but if someone asks a question
about this, you’ll have some background to answer it.