Lesson Objective:
The children will understand that they should do whatever God calls them to do, even if it doesn’t make sense.
Scripture:
John 2
Arrival:
As the children arrive, give them a strange request. Tell them to stand with their hand on their head throughout the singing time, but do not explain why. Sing with them.
Lesson:
Did you understand why I wanted you to stand with your hand on your head? No? It didn’t make sense? Has your mom or dad ever asked you to do something that didn’t make sense? (allow for responses). Did you find out that it did make sense later, after the situation was over? Today we are going to talk about obeying when things don’t make sense.
I am reminded of the story of a little girl and her daddy. The little girl was climbing a tree, which was something she enjoyed very much. Climbing a tree is a fun activity, and something her daddy let her do all of the time. In fact, she had climbed this particular tree many, many times because it was in her back yard. Suddenly, her daddy told her, “Jenny, I want you to stop right there and do not climb another inch.”
This request didn’t make sense. Jenny was barely up to the first branch, and she usually climbed way up into the tree. Jenny, however, obeyed her daddy.
Her daddy carefully approached the tree with a shovel in his hand. He whacked the branch in front of Jenny, and a huge snake fell out. Later, her daddy explained that he had seen the snake and that it was poisonous. That snake could have hurt or even killed Jenny if she hadn’t obeyed, even when the request didn’t make sense.
When Jesus was a grown man, he and his mother, Mary, attended a wedding feast. In Bible times wedding feasts went on for a week or longer, and the family of the bride and groom had to feed all of their guests for that long. If they ran out of food, it was an extremely embarrassing situation.
Well into the wedding week, the servants went to pour more wine for the guests. They found that the wine barrels were empty! They had no drink to serve to the guests!
Mary heard about the problem and told Jesus about it. Then, she told the servants, “Whatever he tells you to do, do it!”
Jesus spotted some large water jugs in the corner. These were probably used to hold the water for washing dishes or hands. Jesus told the servants to fill the jugs to the top with fresh water. They obeyed.
Now came the tricky request. Jesus told the servants to scoop out some of the water and carry it to the leader of the feast to taste! Can you imagine serving the leader of a party water that had been in the dishwasher? That’s basically what they would have been doing.
The servants didn’t argue, though. They obeyed. When the leader of the feast tasted the water, he was amazed! He said it was the best wine that he had ever had! Jesus had turned regular water into wine!
This was Jesus’ first miracle.
How do you think the servants felt as they carried that water to the leader? I bet they were a little scared! But they obeyed.
Sometime in your life, God might ask you to do something that doesn’t make sense. Maybe he will ask your family to move to a new town for your dad’s job. Maybe He will lay it on your heart to befriend someone at school that is not “cool.” These things may not make sense, but we need to obey and see what wonderful blessings, like the tasty wine, God has in store for us!
Game/Craft Time:
Play Pass the Jar.
Dismissal:
Remind the children to be obedient to their parents and the Lord, even when it doesn’t make sense.
