Church School Take-Outs: Lessons for Busy Families March 24, 2023

Faith Formation is a Show & Tell operation every day

An Experience Worth a Thousand Words

Every parent knows, or soon learns, that children will learn lasting lessons if they see or participate in an experience. Whether it’s a hot stove or how to balance on a bike - doing it, seeing it done, makes a longer lasting impression than a verbal lesson.

Jesus was working with adults, but they had no theological filter to process the things he was telling them about his coming death and resurrection. They could hear the words but not understand what it would be like.

When word came that his friend Lazarus was sick Jesus saw the opportunity to teach them and lay the ground work for word of his own resurrection to spread. With eyes-wide-open he stepped into the pageant that would cause his own death. This was truly the “one small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” It changed everything – even the way we count time.

According to Jewish folklore after death the person’s spirit hung around for 3 days before finally departing. Lazarus had been dead 4 days by the time Jesus arrived at Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem. He hadn’t been that far away, he could have come sooner, but the opportunity to provide this experience was too rich to short circuit.

Hopeless. The time had passed that Lazarus could be revived from a coma or medical issue.

Hopeless for Mary and Martha for whom their brother was the male that gave them any standing in the community, now it was as though they were widows – worthless.

Hopeless for the mourners, Jews from neighboring Jerusalem, what could become of this situation now?

Hopeless for the disciples who understood the stakes for Jesus being this close to the city and the leaders who were sharpening their knives to destroy him.

But with Jesus there is always hope. There are always possibilities. A way opens in a no-way situation. He calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and the now-alive man comes to the light, returned to his family and friends.

The disciples have seen. Have they understood? Maybe not fully, not until the Holy Spirit gives them the insight at Pentecost. But the experience as been had, they would process it and what it means about who Jesus is through the coming weeks.

When we feel hopeless we can turn to Jesus to walk through that time with us. This story and his own death and resurrection several weeks later prove he is worthy of our trust and fully reliable.

We are not hopeless.

A Lesson You Can Share With Your Child

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead (John 11:1-45)

In the book of Psalms, David asked God to put his tears in a bottle. (Psalm 56:8) Do you see this little bottle? I call it "My Tears Bottle." These aren't real tears, it’s just water, but it reminds me of the times that I have cried real tears. Now, I don't know that God keeps our tears in a bottle like this one, but I do believe that God sees our tears and hears us when we cry.

Do you ever cry? Of course you do. What is something that makes you cry?

I made a list of some things that make us cry.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever fallen down and hurt yourself so badly that you cried.
Raise your hand if you ever have been so sad that you cried.
Raise your hand if someone hurt your feelings and you cried.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever cried because someone else was crying.

We all cry, don't we? Did you know that Jesus cried? The shortest verse in the entire Bible says, "Jesus wept." I know of at least three things that made Jesus cry.

The Bible tells us that Jesus cried when He prayed for others. It says, "While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears." (Hebrews 5:7 NLT)

The Bible also tells us that Jesus cried when He saw people who were missing out on what God wanted for them. Luke tells us that as Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, "I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from you." (Luke 19:41-42 NLT)

Another time, the Bible tells us that Jesus cried when friends of His were hurting. Jesus had a friend named Lazarus who became very sick. His sisters, Mary and Martha, sent word to Jesus and asked Him to come and heal Lazarus, but when Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already died. The Bible tells us that when Jesus saw Mary weeping because her brother had died, He cried too. That isn't all that Jesus did; listen to what happened next.

Jesus went with Mary and Martha and some others to visit the grave where Lazarus was buried. It was a cave with a large stone across the entrance. When they arrived at the tomb, Jesus said to some of the men who were with them, "Take away the stone." Then Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" And Lazarus walked out of the grave. I imagine that when she saw that, Mary's tears of sadness turned to tears of joy.

We all cry, and I am glad that we have a Savior who weeps too. I am glad that He loves us so much that He hurts when we are hurting. He feels our pain. He sees our tears and He keeps our tears in a bottle.

Dear Jesus, it is comforting to know that when we cry, You cry with us.

But it is even more comforting to know that You have power over death

and the grave and that one day we will be in heaven with You

--and then there will be no more tears. In Jesus’ name, amen.

With thanks to our friends at Sermons4kids.com

Just for Fun: Riddles

Q: Why did the computer go to the dentist?

A: It had a blue tooth.

Q. Why did the bicycle fall over?

A: It was two tired.

Q: How does a cow do math?

A: With a cow-culator!

Q: What do you get when you cross a turtle with a porcupine?

A: A slowpoke.

Q: Why is a baseball stadium always cool?

A: It is full of fans.

Q: What is the witch’s favorite school subject?

A: Spelling!

Q: How do you get a tissue to dance?

A: You put a little boogie in it

Q: Why did they quit giving tests at the zoo?

A: Because it was full of cheetahs

Lessons for Car and Home

Sunday's Lesson

Jesus asks God to bring his friend, Lazarus, back to life. God the Father does that and Lazarus wakes up from death and comes back to his family.

As much as we wish God could do this for us when we lose a friend or family member we can be assured that in the end we will all be together again.

Lazarus' sister believed that too, boy was she surprised when she saw him again! In her mind she believed Jesus was the Messiah, but having the connection with God to be able to bring someone back from death really made her believe in Jesus.

What do you think? Check out the video and see.

Watch the Video

Add Music!

This week the Hebrew scriptures has a lesson from the book of Ezekiel about how God brought an army's worth of dried bones back to life.

Ezekiel was one of the people God was so close to that they understood each other very well.

God wanted Ezekiel to understand that nothing is too hard for God to do. So God took Ezekiel to a place full of scattered bones. Then told him to say to the bones: "O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord...." and then they began to come together, click, click, click. And they got muscle and skin and finally breath.

Here's a song about the bones coming together, enjoy!

Dem Bones

I Can Do THIS!

The tomb for Lazarus was a cave with a stone rolled in front - sort of like Jesus's tomb would be.

Here is a picture for you to put together of Lazarus coming out of the tomb.

Have your adult print the pages from the button below - pick the pages that you color yourself or the ones already colored. Cut the stone and Lazarus out and glue or tape them in place to tell the story.

Lazarus and the Tomb

Micropractice

Martha and Mary show up in another story, too (Luke 10:38-42) What we learned in the Luke story is that Martha was very busy making a meal and taking care of the needs of others - in control of the situation - and Mary was more interested in sitting at Jesus' feet listening and learning, absorbing his presence.

In this story from John, the sisters react to Jesus arrival differently. Martha operates from her "head". When told Jesus was coming toward the village she strides out to meet him, greets him in the road with the bald, flat statement "If you had been here my brother would not have died." Possibly accusatory? She recites the resurrection theology and Jesus tells her that HE is the resurrection and the life, no one who believes in him will die. She responds "I believe."

Mary, operating from her "heart" also rushes out to meet Jesus, falls to her knees weeping before him and says the very same words, "If you had been here my brother would not have died." The tone feels different.

Grief takes people in different ways. The same words, but from different places of hurt and pain. Anger is a natural reaction to that which we cannot fix and bewildered pain is another. Both are natural and Jesus can handle each as you see in his reactions, giving them each what they need.

Remember this for those times you are grieving, whether you are in a place of anger or bewildered pain, rest assured that Jesus/God can handle listening to your outrage or whimpers. He will be there for you. He is the resurrection and the life, he holds it all and he will hold you.

The Death of Lazarus John 11:1-45

11 1-2 A man by the name of Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord's head and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.

4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won't end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.”

5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. 6 But he stayed where he was for two more days. 7 Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”

8 “Teacher,” they said, “the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?”

9 Jesus answered, “Aren't there twelve hours in each day? If you walk during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won't stumble. 10 But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don't have any light.” 11 Then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up.”

12 They replied, “Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better.” 13 Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep.

14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead! 15 I am glad I wasn't there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let's go to him.”

16 Thomas, whose nickname was “Twin,” said to the other disciples, “Come on. Let's go, so we can die with him.”

Jesus Brings Lazarus to Life

17 When Jesus got to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was less than three kilometers from Jerusalem, 19 and many people had come from the city to comfort Martha and Mary because their brother had died.

20 When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Yet even now I know that God will do anything you ask.”

23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will live again!”

24 Martha answered, “I know he will be raised to life on the last day,[a] when all the dead are raised.”

25 Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. 26 And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord!” she replied. “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”

28 After Martha said this, she went and privately said to her sister Mary, “The Teacher is here, and he wants to see you.” 29 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up and went out to Jesus. 30 He was still outside the village where Martha had gone to meet him. 31 Many people had come to comfort Mary, and when they saw her quickly leave the house, they thought she was going out to the tomb to cry. So they followed her.

32 Mary went to where Jesus was. Then as soon as she saw him, she knelt at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw that Mary and the people with her were crying, he was terribly upset 34 and asked, “Where have you put his body?”

They replied, “Lord, come and you will see.”

35 Jesus started crying, 36 and the people said, “See how much he loved Lazarus.”

37 Some of them said, “He gives sight to the blind. Why couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

38 Jesus was still terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled against the entrance. 39 Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, “Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell.”

40 Jesus replied, “Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?”

41 After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up toward heaven and prayed, “Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. 42 I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so the people here would believe you sent me.”

43 When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face.

Jesus then told the people, “Untie him and let him go.”