Jesus Showed Love

https://missionbibleclass.org/new-testament/part1/life-of-christ-late/jesus-washes-the-disciples-feet/

https://ministry-to-children.com/

I’ve got some good news. At least I think it’s good news. I am now a grandfather. Last year, two days after Thanksgiving, my daughter had a little girl. Her name is Grady Kate. I have to show you some pictures of her because that’s my job as a grandfather. I have to show people her picture. She is seven months old now, so she’s just starting to play. She is very happy though and it’s not very difficult to get her to smile or laugh. She lives in Knoxville, so I don’t get to see her very often.

I have had one bad experience with her though. A couple of weeks ago we were visiting. Her mother was at work, so my wife and I were taking care of her. My wife was taking a nap and Grady Kate had just woken up from her nap. Guess what I had the privilege of doing? That’s right, I got to change her diaper. Have you ever changed a diaper? Was it fun? Changing diapers isn’t fun, but some are worse than others. Thankfully, that one wasn’t very bad.

Why do you think I changed Grady Kate’s diaper? I didn’t do it because I thought it would be fun, but because I love her and want to take care of her. She needed her diaper changed and I was the only one in the house awake to change. So I did. When we love someone we will try to help them. Who do you love?

This morning we learned about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Have you ever washed someone’s feet? Do you think it would be very much fun? In those days, everyone wore sandals which meant their feet would get dirty. Also, they didn’t take baths as frequently as we do. While they would wash their arms and legs most every day, they only took baths about every nine or ten days. You can imagine that their feet might smell pretty bad.

If you were wealthy, you hired a servant to wash your feet. Only the lowest of servants was required to wash feet though. You didn’t have to wash feet just because you were a servant, but only if your were the least important servant. So, why did Jesus wash the disciples feet? He washed them because he loved them. He knew their feet were dirty and needed to be washed. Because he loved his disciples, he washed their feet.

Jesus was eating an important meal with his disciples. It would be like getting together with your family for Thanksgiving. Does your family have a big Thanksgiving celebration? When I was growing we did. All my aunts and uncles and cousins would meet at my grandparent’s house. There would be so many people we couldn’t all fit at the same table. In fact, we couldn’t even all fit in the house. Some of us would have to eat outside. The dinning room table would be full of food. And in the corner of the dining room there was a card table. It was my favorite table because that’s where they put the desserts. I have always liked getting together with my family for Thanksgiving.

This meal that Jesus was eating with his disciples is called Passover. Do you know what Passover is? It’s a meal that God told the Jews to eat every year. In fact, Jews still eat it today. Every spring, around Easter, they get together with family and friends and celebrate Passover. The purpose of Passover is to remind the Jews of how God delivered them from Egypt where they were slaves. Passover is a very big deal. It is a big meal they eat once a year. Not only that, but this Passover meal would be the last meal Jesus would eat before he was arrested and handed over to the Romans to be crucified. The Bible says that Jesus was really looking forward to eating the Passover meal with his disciples.

Jesus didn’t plan and organize the meal though, he had two of his disciples do the planning. They found a room for them to eat. They had someone cook and prepare the food. And they should have had someone there to wash everyone’s feet, but they didn’t. Maybe they forgot. Maybe they couldn’t find anyone. Whatever the reason, it didn’t get done. Maybe they were expecting one of the other disciples to wash everyone’s feet. Would you want to wash the feet on everyone in your tribe? None of the disciples wanted to wash anyone’s feet either. So, they didn’t. So, Jesus washed their feet.

Who was the most important person in the room that night? Jesus was. Remember, Jesus is our king. Jesus shouldn’t have had to wash their feet, they should have been washing his feet. Why do you think Jesus washed their feet? Jesus washed his disciple’s feet because he loved them. Jesus knew their feet needed washing, he also knew nobody wanted to do it, so he did it. Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, became a servant and washed the feet of his disciples. Jesus showed them just how much he loved them. When we love someone we will try to help them.

Jesus told a story about a man who helped someone he didn’t even know. Let me tell you the story.

One day, a man came to Jesus and asked him, “What must I do to have eternal life?” What answer would you give him? If someone asked you what they needed to do to go to heaven, what would you say? We need to believe in Jesus and trust in him. That’s what we should say, but that’s not what Jesus said. Jesus wanted the man to think about it, so Jesus asked him, “What do you think?” The man answered, “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” Do you think that was a good answer? On another occasion, Jesus said that of all the laws of God those are the two most important laws. In fact, we’re told that if we do those two things, if we love God and we love our neighbors, we will be able to all the other commands of God. Jesus told him he had answered correctly and that now he should go do it.

Do you think it’s easy to love your neighbor? Sometimes it is, but sometimes it is really difficult. While we’re at camp this week, one of my neighbors is going to mow my grass for me. Do you think it would be easy to love him? It is very easy. But if I had a neighbor that didn’t like and yelled at me all the time, do you think it would be easy to love him? It would be difficult to love him. I guess this guy who asked Jesus this question had neighbors who were hard to love too, because he than asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

Who is your neighbor? We usually think of our neighbors as those people who live really close to us. Too, their leaders taught them that their neighbors only included other Jews. That means they didn’t have to love anyone who wasn’t a Jew. So, this man asked Jesus who his neighbor was. In other words he asked, “Who do I have to love?” Jesus answered him by telling a story. It’s the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Once upon a time a Jewish man went on a journey. He was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. The trail he was walking on was very mountainous. It was narrow and had lots of turns and twists. It was also known to be a very dangerous road to travel because there were lots of places for robbers to hide. Lots of people had been robbed and beaten. Some people had even been killed who traveling on that road. So, it wasn’t very smart for him to be traveling alone, but he was.

Along the way some men jumped out and attacked him. They beat him up and took all his money. When they left, they figured he was dead, but he wasn’t.

A little bit later, a Jewish priest came walking by. The priest saw the man lying there, but instead of helping him, he kept on walking. Then, a Levite walked by. He didn’t help the man either. He kept on walking. Because the road was so narrow there was no way they didn’t see him. They just didn’t want to help him. It was too much trouble. The man obviously couldn’t walk, so that meant they would have had to carry him. Who has time for all that. So they kept going.

But then, a Samaritan walked by. The Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along very well. In fact, they hated each other. If a Jew saw a Samaritan walking towards him, he would cross the road because he didn’t want to get to close to him. He was afraid that maybe his robe would touch the Samaritan and he didn’t want that to happen. This Samaritan knew that Jews didn’t like him. They would call him names and yell at him. But do you know what the Samaritan did? He helped the man. First, cleaned his cuts and bruises. Then, he bandaged them. Then, he put the man on his donkey and took him to an inn where he continued to take care of the man.

The next day, the Samaritan had to continue on his journey. But before he left, he gave the innkeeper some money and said, “Take care of this man. If it takes more money, I’ll pay you when I return.”

When Jesus finished his story, he asked the man, “Who was a neighbor to the man who got beaten and robbed?” Who do you think was the neighbor? Should the priest and the Levite have helped the man? Why didn’t they? The man didn’t want to say the neighbor was the Samaritan because he didn’t like Samaritans. So, he said, “The one who had mercy on him and helped him.”

Who should we help? We should help anyone we see with a need. Why should we help help them? We should help because we love them. We are supposed to love everyone and when we love someone we will try to help them.

Do you agree or disagree with these statements:

We don’t need to help people if we are watching our favorite TV show.

We should be extra nice to kids at school who have trouble making friends.

We should obey our parents right away.

Do you think Jesus wants us to help people? How can you help someone this week? How can you help someone when you go back to school?

https://missionbibleclass.org/new-testament/part1/life-of-christ-late/the-last-supper/

Love Good Samaritan

https://ministry-to-children.com/all-about-love-lectionary-lesson-from-matthew-2234-46/

https://ministry-to-children.com/sunday-school-lesson-good-samaritan/

https://ministry-to-children.com/story-time-with-jesus-lesson-eight/