There once was a man known as John the Baptist. | choose one boy |
he wore a robe made of camel hair, and a leather belt | wool vest, leather belt |
he ate locusts and wild honey | eats gummi worms—the word for locust in Chinese includes the word worm, so we said these were "close enough"-- & a spoonful of honey |
A lot of people recognized that he was a prophet of God, and were very curious about him, so they went out to the wilderness to see him and hear him preach. | |
Sometimes they would be there until night & it would get cold, so some people would bring extra clothing | one child puts on two extra garments |
Other people would bring food | one child gets sack with snacks. |
and they would follow John as we went about preaching | all children follow Si around room |
John taught the people to repent and obey the law of loving your neighbor as yourself. His preaching was very practical; you didn't have to do real big things. For example, he might say: | |
It is awfully cold today. I see some people are wearing extra clothes. They should share them with people who didn't bring a coat. | child wearing two shirts gives one to another child. |
And people who brought food, you should share it with those around you who are hungry. | child with snacks passes them out |
He spoke so well & helped people understand God's word, so many people wanted to be baptized and become his disciples. | Si "baptizes" children by pouring shredded blue crepe paper over their heads. |
Today, who is coming to be baptized? Jesus! | adult with white vest. |
After Jesus is baptized, a voice spoke from heaven… | have another adult read: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." |
Wow! This man was even more amazing than John! So a lot of people quit following John and followed Jesus instead, wanting to learn more about Him. | all but one or two children leave Si & follow "Jesus" |
Do you think John was very happy about that? | (ask all) |
His own disciples said to him, this is not very fair! Aren't you terribly disappointed? How do you think John answered? | (ask all) |
He answered, "Of course I'm not disappointed! In fact, I am delighted! It was a privilege to teach people about God's law, but when God's own Son comes, of course people ought to follow Him! | |
As for Jesus, although he accepted everyone who wanted to follow him instead of John, what did he say about John? | "Jesus" hugs all the kids who have followed him. |
He said, "…no one has arisen who is greater than"—whom? | show verse with John's name left out, one child sticks it in place. |
You know, in Jesus' time, there were a lot of people who liked to teach the law and get a lot of glory for it. But nobody remembers any of their names any more! | |
The one we remember is John the Baptist, who was humble enough to be willing to let Jesus be greater than himself. | shake Si's hand, give him gold star. |
Jesus spoke truly: | (read out beatitude 3 together) |
Game: humble task: throwing away the garbage
Craft: humble task: shining shoes
Bible study: Matthew 5:5
The highlight of this lesson for me was when I fed the gummi worm to "John the Baptist". He is an older, more intelligent boy who was very troublesome when he first began coming—didn't want to cooperate with the activities, would hit other kids who bumped him, etc. Then once sort of by accident, Kevin and I ended up inviting him and his mother out for tea. That was a major turning point for this boy, a-Wai. I think it was because he began to understand that we really cared about him. The look on his face this Sunday when I held up this "worm" was priceless—like I had totally gone out of my mind! But everyone encouraged him to try it, assured him it really did taste good—and he finally ate it (and liked it). Obviously his trust has come a long way. His extremely timid mother is also starting to come out of her shell the tiniest bit. God is working!
