![]() three. Children will have an easy time rising from the chair. Say: On the count of three, I’d like you to stand up. Ask the person in each pair whose first name starts with the letter earliest in the alphabet to sit in a chair. Kids will begin to express themselves more over time-and hearing their stories will help you adapt this lesson to make it relevant to your kids’ lives. Be sure to include your own initials and explain your placement on the line. That’s because there’s no such thing as a week that’s exactly half good and half bad!Īfter kids have signed in, give them 30 seconds each to explain why they placed their initials where they did. Place your initials anywhere on the line that shows how you feel about this past week-except exactly on the 5. If it was a great week you wish you could repeat, put your initials by the 10. Say: If this past week was so awful you wish you’d slept through it, place your initials by the 1. As kids arrive, ask them to pencil in their initials on the line. Place a 1 on the left end of the line, a 10 on the right, and a 5 in the middle. And we can do the same! OPENING ACTIVITY Image Credit: Robert Lang Photography/Moment/Getty Images Option 1: Howzitgoing’ Suppliesīefore kids arrive, draw a line on a poster. Lazarus became a living testimony to the truth that Jesus is powerful. ![]() But four days later, that pain behind them, Lazarus became the reason many Jews came to believe in Jesus. Was the day Lazarus died a bad day? It must have felt that way to Lazarus and to his sisters. And that following his death, Lazarus walked out of his tomb once Jesus called him back to life. We don’t know much about Lazarus beyond that he was the brother of Mary and Martha and a friend of Jesus. He died-literally died-as in dead-and-buried died. Lazarus waited, day after painful day, until at last he could hold on no longer. Picture Lazarus lingering in bed, knowing that if Jesus would just come, he’d be healed. But Jesus put off the trip for four days, and rather than come heal Lazarus, Jesus let his friend die. They now had the opportunity to enjoy God’s favor eternally.- John 17:3.That’s how far Jesus had to walk to reach his friend Lazarus, who was dying in Bethany. ![]() Many accepted the Scriptural message that Jesus taught and benefited from it. The common people-who had long been neglected by their religious leaders-were now experiencing favor. And they were tormented by the message that Jesus and his followers preached.- Matthew 23:29, 30 Acts 5:29-33. But they experienced death, as it were, when God rejected them and their form of worship because they did not accept Jesus’ message. The Jewish religious leaders thought that they enjoyed God’s favor. The change in circumstances was drastic for both groups. Lazarus symbolized the common people who accepted Jesus’ message and who were despised by the Jewish religious leaders. ![]() These religious leaders looked down on the common people.- John 7:49. The rich man evidently symbolized the Jewish religious leaders, “who were money lovers.” ( Luke 16:14) They listened as Jesus spoke, but they opposed his message. The story shows that two groups of people were about to experience a great change in circumstances. How could Abraham be alive in heaven, since Jesus clearly stated that up to the time Jesus related the parable, no one had gone to heaven?- John 3:13. If the rich man were in a literal place of burning torment, would not the fire evaporate the water on Lazarus’ fingertip?Įven if it were not evaporated, would a single drop of water bring the rich man lasting relief from his suffering in a literal fire? Was Jesus teaching lessons about life after death? Did he mean that some people suffer in a hellfire when they die and that Abraham and Lazarus were in heaven? Several facts show that this could not be the case. And the Catholic Jerusalem Bible, in a footnote, states that this is a “parable in story form without reference to any historical personage.” For example, a subheading in the 1912 edition of Luther’s Bible states that this is a parable. The fact that this is a parable is acknowledged by scholars. This is a parable that Jesus related in order to teach a lesson.
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