Lesson Objective:
The children will learn that God is worthy to be obeyed above all others.
Scripture:
Luke 2:43-52
Arrival:
As the children arrive, have them sing songs about trusting and obeying God. “Trust and Obey” is a good option.
Prayer:
Pray for clarity and wisdom as you tell the story.
Lesson:
(Begin the lesson with some review about Jesus’ birth.)
Jesus never sinned, so can you imagine how Mary and Joseph felt raising him? They never had to punish him. He never disobeyed them. As Jesus grew up, Mary and Joseph had other children. Can you imagine what it was like to be his brother or sister? His brothers and sisters were human like you and me. Sometimes they did wrong. Sometimes they disobeyed. That must have been hard for them.
Mary and Joseph were very obedient to God. When Jesus was still a young child, just after the wise men came to visit, Joseph had a dream. In that dream an angel told him to take Mary and Jesus and flee Israel. Herod was trying to kill Jesus. The angel told him to take his little family to Egypt. Even though Joseph did not know how they would be taken care of in Egypt, he obeyed. When Herod died, an angel came again to Joseph in a dream and told him to bring his family back. They settled in a town called Nazareth. Joseph was careful to obey what God told him.
One day, when Jesus was 12 years old, Mary and Joseph took their family to Jerusalem for a special feast time called the Feast of the Passover. God required every male to go to Jerusalem for this feast each year, and Joseph was being obedient, even though they were not wealthy and the trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem was long. They believed God was worthy of their obedience, so they obeyed the law.
After the feast was over, the family packed up to head home. When they were about halfway there, they realized Jesus was not with them. This sounds strange, but back then people would travel in large groups when making the trip to Jerusalem for Passover. Likely the children would play and travel together in a big group, not necessarily with their parents, so Mary and Joseph probably thought Jesus was hanging out with his friends.
When they realized Jesus was missing, they ran back to Jerusalem to look for him. It took them three days to find him. Can you imagine how scared they were? Do you know where they found him? At the temple, learning from (and actually teaching) the rabbis and other church leaders! The Bible says that the people in the temple were astonished at Jesus’ understanding of the scripture. Of course, they did not yet realize that he was God in a boy’s body.
The Bible says that Mary asked Jesus why he stayed and worried them so. Jesus replied, “Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” Which father was he talking about? Obviously not Joseph, because Joseph wanted Jesus with him. No, Jesus was talking about his Heavenly Father, his real Father. Jesus was choosing to follow and obey God’s will over everything else.
It’s interesting that the Bible does not say that Jesus disobeyed Mary and Joseph. It does not record Mary or Joseph telling Jesus to come or go home. That would have been sin. However, he obeyed God by staying at the temple and revealing some of his wisdom, even though it worried his parents. This was not sin. God is worthy of our obedience. The Bible says that after Mary and Joseph found him, he went home with them and obeyed them, because obeying our earthly parents is important, and it is another way we can obey our Heavenly Father.
No matter where you go in this life or what happens to you, always remember that God is worthy of your obedience, whether or not you understand what he is telling you to do through the scripture.
Memory Verse:
Teach the children Luke 2:52. Use motions to help them. For wisdom, point to your head. For stature, bend down and appear to grow by standing up. For favor with God, point to heaven. For favor with men, point to a neighbor. Repeat the verse several times using the motions, and have the class repeat it with you.
Craft/Game:
Play “Mother May I” to practice obedience. Someone, preferably a worker or teacher, is the “mother.” He or she will give an instruction to a player, such as “Johnny, take three giant steps forward.” The child who is called will say, “Mother may I?” The mother will answer, “Yes.” Sometimes the mother will ask the entire class to do the action. Pick a different child on each turn.
Dismissal:
Remind the children to look for ways to be obedient to God and His word throughout the week.