Kingsford Church of Christ

The life of Jesus (Term 1, Even years: 2012, 2014, ...)

The focus of this unit is to see Jesus as a historical figure, a person in many ways like us and yet also unique.  We can get to know him and start becoming friends.

As everything we know about Jesus comes from the bible and the New Testament in particular we have a side-track of learning about the new-testament. This  focuses on learning the names  of the 27 books in the New Testament ("New" has 3 letters, "Testament" has 9.  3x9 = 27).

We sing the song "The New Testament" from "My First Hymnal" each week and  spend a few minutes talking about the divisions of the New Testament: the gospels, Acts, the letters from Paul, the other letters.  Note that "James" and "Jude" were both half-brothers of Jesus - his helps us see him as part of a family and support the "Get to know Jesus" track.

For each lesson about Jesus we learn a one-word summary which is then rehearse each following week and is included in a revision game at the end.

The Birth of Jesus - Jesus was Humble

This usually lasts 2 (or sometimes 3) weeks as more time is given to getting to know each other and the books-of-the-bible in the first weeks.

The lesson mostly involves reading a passage and talking about it.  One or Two children might read, or I might show a clip from "The Visual Bible - Matthew".

• Luke 1:26-38.  Meet Jesus' mum.  Talk about angels (who always say "fear not") and how Mary might have felt.
• Matthew 1:18-25.  Jesus had two fathers, God and Joseph.  Some of the students might have a step-father or might be adopted.  Talk about fatherhood and what Jesus might have learnt from his earthly parents (who were both asked by angels to make sacrifices, and were both willing).

Talk about Jesus as the "Son of God" being with God before His birth as a human child, possibly referring to John 1:14 and/or Galatians 4:4.  Emphasis what that Son gave up to become a baby (how you would feel becoming an ant?) and help them understand the deep humility in this action.

The Childhood of Jesus - Jesus was Obedient

Based on Luke 2:41-52 when Jesus was about the same age as the students.  Talk about what schooling would have been like and the practice of question/answer challenges.  I hand out a line-drawing of 3 young boys sitting on a mat with an elderly teacher (Rabbi) with a scroll and ask them to colour it in while we read and talk.

Contrast the parents' concern and worry with the apparent confidence of Jesus - he knew where he needed to be and what he  needed to be doing.

Asking and answering questions with the teachers was probably fairly normal, but the people were "amazed" at his understanding.  Even at this age Jesus knew something of who he was.

Finish up with a focus on verse 51 - despite (or because of) being the Son of God, we was humbly obedient to his parents.

The Baptism of Jesus - Jesus was Righteous

Matthew 3:13-17 -- this is particularly suitable for watching on "The Visual Bible".

Start by talking about baptism, whether any students have been baptised or christened.  What they think it means, why we do it.

Baptism means "immersion", we do it to symbolise being cleansed of our sins, and of dying to old self and being born a-new with Christ (Romans 6:2-4).

Read or watch the passage at talk about why Jesus was baptized: Did he need to be cleansed, even symbolically (no), did he need to die to his old self (no).  What does Jesus say?  He did it because  it was "righteous".  Talk about what this means.

Jesus the Teacher - Jesus was Wise

Matthew 5-7: the sermon on the mount.  This is too long to read but it may be possible to watch the whole sermon in "The Visual Bible", depending on the students.

In any case choose a few teachings to focus on: Salt and Light, Love for Enemies, Do not worry and Ask, Seek, Knock are my favourites.  Explore one or two deeply to understand what it means.

Observe that sometimes (e.g. Salf and Light) Jesus speaks in parables - explore this a little and help students realise that He is encouraging us to think (we do a lot more on parables next year).

Jesus' Miracles - Jesus was Powerful

Matthew 8:1-17. There are 3 or more healing here, each has a useful discussion point:

• The man with leprosy was told not to tell everyone.  Jesus loved to heal, but that wasn't really why he came and it doesn't want people to simply think of him as the healer, they need to know him as the saviour.
• The Centurion was acclaimed for his faith.  Explore the nature of this faith, and what it means for us to have faith.
• Peter's mother in law and many others: He heals with a touch, with a word.  These miracles were as nothing compared to his main purpose.

Jesus on the Cross - Jesus had Compassion

Look at the 7 last words of Christ on the Cross, possibly with clips from Matthew or the Jesus movie.

Explain the context and meaning of each statement and see how most of them are about  other people and few are about himself.

Even "I thirst" fulfilled a prophesy, and "It is finished" is about his mission, not his current situation.

Most of the statements are about other people and demonstrate that even when in terrible agony on the Cross, he had compassion on those around him.  When someone is suffering they guard is usually down and their real self comes through.  This was Jesus real self - he loved the world.  That is why he died.

Jesus Resurrection - Jesus has Power of Death

The "Matthew Visual Bible" scene of Matthew 28:1-10 is really good  - a lot of love is shown for and from Jesus.  Continue to the end for the full story.

Talk about some of evidence for the resurrection - the many witnesses - and  about what it means for us.

Review

As we often do we have a "memory" game for review.  16 cards have a number on one side which is visible and half a sentence on the other, which is not.

Students take turns choosing two numbers, turning them over, and seeing if they match.  If so, they keep the pair.  If not the put them back.

When all pairs are found, the winners line up and each reads their full sentence to the class and tells one other piece of information  about the related event.

Sentences are:

• Being born as a human baby  ... Jesus shows how humble he was.
• We see the obedience of boy Jesus ... after the time in the temple.
• Jesus was baptised by John because ... it was the righteous thing to do.
• In teaching us to love our ... enemies, Jesus showed his wisdom.
• Jesus great power was displayed ... in healing the sick and the lame.
• In letting himself be crucified ... Jesus showed his submission to God.
• The sentences from the Cross ... showed Jesus' compassion for people.
• The empty tomb and the resurrection ... showed Jesus was Victorious over death.