Teaching John 13:31-14:4

3-5s

Theme: Jesus is getting places ready for us in heaven

Aim: Love Him and others now as we wait

Intro

Going away – what would you take with you? Pack a bag together.

How would we feel if x was going away? Sad? Would we want to go with them?

Teaching:

Remember Jesus was having a meal with His followers [hold up picture]

Can you remember what He had just done for them? [hold up picture of footwashing]

Jesus told His friends that He was going away. The next day He would die on a cross, which was wonderful and sad, [hold up picture of a cross] but then He would be going back to Father God. Read 13v33

This made them really sad. [hold up sad face and get them to copy]. Read 13v36-38. Simon Peter really wanted to go with Him because he loved Jesus so much. But He couldn’t, not yet.

So why was Jesus going away? Well, Jesus’ death on the cross means we can now be friends with God again. And so Jesus had to go and get things ready for us to come to Him. Read John 14:1-4. [Could play John 14:1-4 from Remember the Lord here. Hold up a picture of a house.] Jesus says heaven is a little bit like a great big house and He’s gone to get the rooms ready for us.

So, although it was sad for Jesus’ friends it was wonderful because one day they would go and be with Him forever. And so will we if we trust Jesus. What a wonderful promise!

But Jesus also tells His friends what they are to do while they wait. Read 13:34-35. They are to love each other.

How can we do this? [Give them some practical ideas]

Activities:

• Stick windows on a big house with their names on
• Big sheet – ‘Love one another’ in the middle. Stick pictures of practical examples around and colour in. 

Songs:

John 14:1-4 from Remember the Lord

5-11s

Theme: Jesus is getting places ready for us in heaven

Aim: Love Him and others now as we wait

Intro

Bag packing – relay race to pack a bag for going on a journey. Imagine x was going away. How would you feel? Sad?

Teaching       

[You’ll need a long sheet of wallpaper]

Can you remember what we looked at last week? Where was Jesus? What had He just done?

And can you remember what was going to happen to Jesus the next day? [He’d be killed on a cross. Hold up a picture of a cross. Get them to stick it on at far left of picture]

                                                                                    

This is our time-line. The next day Jesus would be killed and here’s what He says about it. Read 13:31-32. Jesus says that dying on the cross will bring glory to God the Father. That means it will show how wonderful God is in bringing us forgiveness.

But then Jesus would leave His followers. [Get one of them to draw an arrow up from the cross]. That would make Jesus’ followers really sad. Their best friend would leave them.

This led Simon Peter to ask Jesus a question. Read 13:36-38. Jesus was going back to the Father in heaven and Simon Peter couldn’t follow Him.

So what was Jesus going to be doing there? Read John 14:1-4. [Draw a horizontal line across the top of the paper and stick on a picture of a house.] What is Jesus doing now? He’s getting rooms in heaven ready for those who trust Him. [Start putting some names on the windows in the house].

Isn’t that amazing? Now that we can be friends with God because of Jesus’ death on the cross, if we trust Him we will go there to be with Him forever. And Jesus is preparing it for you.

[Get them to draw another line along the bottom and a downward line at the end to represent Jesus’ return.] So we’re here. [Put a mark on somewhere towards the end]. We’re waiting for Jesus to have those rooms ready for us. So how should we live now?

Read 13:34-35. [Take answers] We’re to love each other following Jesus’ wonderful example of love. So how can we love each other? [Help them to make practical suggestions].

Sum up: 2 things to remember – Jesus is getting heaven ready for us. We should love each other as we wait.

Table time

Younger ones – Father’s house on one side: they colour and put names in the windows. On the other side they stick pictures of practically loving each other.

Older ones – take them outside and get them to wash someone’s car?

Teaching John 13:1-30

3-5s

Aim: Jesus serves us by washing us clean from our sin

Intro:

Paint Footprints - then wash their feet. Ask them whether Mummy would let them in the house with painty feet.

When we disobey God, sin, we can’t come near God. Sin is like a dirt that stops us being God’s friend. So when we don’t do what Mummy and Daddy say, there’s a bit more sin on our hearts that stops us being God’s friend. [Have a laminated heart and stick on a big black mark]. And when we think ‘me, me, me’, that stops us being God’s friend. [Second black mark]. Continue on.

Oh no. We can never be God’s friends now. All this sin needs to be washed off.

Ask: What stops us being friends with God?

Well that’s exactly what Jesus came to do.

Teaching:

Tell the Bible story using flannelgraph

• Set the scene – Night before Jesus arrested and killed. Celebrating special meal: Flat bread and wine
• Jesus knew that Judas was going to get him arrested the next day
• Jesus suddenly wraps a towel round his waist and starts washing their feet. Something only the lowliest servants would do – not God’s great King who made everything!
• Peter doesn’t like it. Read v6-11.
• Then Judas leaves to go and get the Jewish leaders to arrest Jesus

Why would Jesus wash their feet? What a yucky thing to do. If you walked around in sandals in Jesus’ day your feet would get covered in really yucky things. So to wash them off would be horrible.

But Jesus is saying that He’s come to wash our sins away. [Hold up black heart] When Jesus dies on the cross it washes all these dirty sins away. [Wipe off]. Now, if we trust in Jesus we can be friends with God again because we’ve been washed clean. What an amazing and wonderful thing for Jesus to do for us!

Ask: How does Jesus wash away our sin?

Pray

Activities:

• Paint footprints – label ‘Jesus washes away my sin’

• Laminated hearts – they draw on ‘sins’ with felt pens then wash off
• Story sticking

Songs:

There’s a way back to God

Jesus died for all the children

I am the Way the Truth and the Life (from a Very, very Big God, for future weeks)

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5-11s

Theme: King Jesus came to serve us by washing away our sin.

Aim: That they learn to serve others the way King Jesus served them

Intro:

• Hide pictures of stories from John’s gospel so far – they have to find and tell you what the story was. Don’t spend too long on this. Max 5mins
• Fetch – Relay race to get the parts of the story: bowl, towel, soap, pitta bread, ‘wine’

Teaching:

[Have them lying around in a circle as the disciples would have been. Pass round bread and red juice.]

The night before Jesus died, he and his disciples met and had a special meal, a Passover meal, together. Jesus knew that the next day Judas, one of the disciples, would have him arrested. Jesus knew everything because He is God. This is the one who created the entire universe. And so He was in total control of the fact that the next day he would die. Read v2-3.

But Jesus did something very surprising. In Jesus’ day walking around the streets in open sandals [if possible have a pair of sandals] would mean your feet became really yucky! The lowest servants would be the ones who had to wash your feet as you came into a house.

Yet Jesus got up and put a towel around his waist and started washing their feet! How amazing! The King of the universe would serve his followers by doing the most yucky job. Would you have done this? [Act out what Jesus did]

But not everyone was happy! Read v6-11.

Here’s what Jesus was saying:

[Have a laminated heart] Sin is like a big black stain. So when we disobey God, maybe we think ‘me, me, me’ and do something which really hurts someone. Big black mark appears. Or we disobey our parents, big black mark appears. And that means we can’t be friends with God anymore.

But when Jesus died on the cross he washed our sins away. [Wipe black marks off]. So if we trust in Jesus was can friends with God again. So Jesus washing His disciples feet is His way of showing us what He will do on the cross.

But there’s another thing: Jesus tells us to copy Him by serving others in the way He has served us. Read v12-17. So if we’ve realised the amazing way in which Jesus has loved and served us, so we should love and serve others. Maybe its our brothers and sisters, or our parents, or people in our class. What could you do to serve others as Jesus has served you? [Take suggestions]

Pray

Table Time:

Younger ones – Put pictures of the story in order and answer questions

Older ones – Talk through passage with questions. Give them ‘serving cards’

Questions:

Knowledge

• What were Jesus and the disciples doing in this true story?
• What did Jesus do that was surprising?
• What did Simon Peter say about it?

Understanding

• Why did Jesus wash their feet?
• Why was Simon Peter so surprised?
• What was Jesus going to do for us on the cross?

Application

• Who’s the only person who can wash your sin away?
• How has Jesus served you?
• Who could you serve in the way Jesus has served you?