Jesus Declares His Mission – A Prophet without Honor
Use this children’s Sunday School lesson about Jesus’ announcement to teach
kids about what Jesus came to do.
Needed: Bibles, prophecy clues on strips of paper
Intro Game: Fulfilling Prophecy
Print or write out prophecy clues about Jesus, along with their Scripture reference, on strips of paper and hide them around the room. Kids rush to find them and then, put them in order according to book of the Bible.
When they’re finished, explain that all of the
statements are prophecies about one person and see if they know who the
prophecies are describing.
Prophecies could include:
Will be born in Bethlehem – Micah 5:2
Will not have a human father – Isaiah 7:14
Will be a prophet – Deuteronomy 18:15
Will be protected by angels – Psalm 91:10-12
Will ride a donkey into Jerusalem – Zechariah
9:9
Will be rejected by people – Isaiah 53:1-3
Will be betrayed by a friend – Psalm 41:9
Will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver – Zechariah
11:12-13
Will die for other people’s sins – Isaiah 53:8
Will come back from the dead – Psalm 16:10
Lesson
Ask students, What did Jesus come to Earth to do?(Read Luke
4:14-21.)
Jesus went to synagogue, or what the Jewish
people call church, went up to the front,
and read some verses out of the Bible. Then, He said that the part of the Bible
He had just read had been fulfilled. What does it mean if something has been
fulfilled?
If something has been fulfilled, that means it
happened. Jesus was saying that the part of the Bible He just read was
happening right then because that part of the Bible was written about Him. In
the Old Testament, there a lot of things that people wrote about Jesus before
Jesus was even born. We call those things prophecies. Do you know what a
prophecy is?
A prophecy in the Bible is something God tells
us about the future. God knew everything that Jesus was going to do, and so, He told people a long time ago all
about Jesus. That’s how people were supposed to know that Jesus was the Savior.
When they saw Jesus doing all the things that the prophecies said He was going
to do, they should be able to know that Jesus is the Savior.
This prophecy says that the Savior was
supposed to preach to poor people. Did Jesus ever preach to poor people? (Yes.)
It also says that the Savior was supposed to
let the prisoners go free. Did Jesus ever let any prisoners out of jail?
Jesus never let prisoners out of jail, but He
did free us from having to go to Hell. He also freed us from the power of sin.
We don’t have to sin and do bad things anymore because Jesus freed us from
that.
The prophecy also says that Jesus was supposed
to heal the blind. Did Jesus ever heal any blind people so that they could see
again? (Yes.)
And Jesus also heals us from our blindness.
Our eyes aren’t blind, but sometimes, our minds and hearts are blind when we
can’t see the truth. When we believe in Jesus, He opens our hearts and minds so
that we can see the truth about God and about the way we’re supposed to live.
Because Jesus did all that – preached to the
poor, freed us from the power of sin and having to go to Hell, healed the blind
and made it so that we could see the truth – then, we know that He is the
Savior, as the prophecy says.
And Jesus did all that through the power of
the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave power to Jesus to do all the things He
did, just as the prophecy says: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me...”
Game: Poor, Imprisoned, and Blind
Divide students into two teams. Choose one team to be It. When an It tags a player on the other team, they become Poor, holding their stomachs as if they’re hungry. When an It tags them again, they become Poor and Imprisoned, holding their stomachs with one hand and putting their other hand behind their back as if they’ve been arrested. When an It tags them a third time, they are Poor and Imprisoned and Blind, meaning they hold their hands in the same position but also close one eye. When they’re tagged a fourth time, they’re out.
If, however, one of their teammates does not
have any of the conditions, they can act as
Jesus and take away those conditions with a single tap.
Lesson continues...
Jesus did everything the prophecy says He was supposed to do, but not everyone believed Jesus was the Savior.(Read Luke
4:22-27.)
Jesus said the people in His hometown would
not believe in Him. Why do you think people who knew Jesus for a long time, such
as His neighbors, wouldn’t believe in Him?
Jesus’ neighbors and the people from His town
thought He was only an ordinary person like them. When He was younger, Jesus
couldn’t do miracles, so they wondered how He could now. They didn’t believe
that Jesus was really God’s Son because they thought He was Joseph’s son, not
God’s.
(Read Luke
4:28-30.)
Because the people wouldn’t believe in Him,
Jesus said He wouldn’t do any miracles for them. Did the people like that?
No, they got very mad and tried to throw Jesus
off a cliff to kill Him. But did they kill Jesus? Did they throw Him off the
cliff? (No.)
What happened?
Jesus simply walked away, and they couldn’t
kill Him. Why do you think they couldn’t kill Jesus by throwing Him off the
cliff?
God wanted Jesus to die on the cross, so God
protected Jesus and wouldn’t let the people throw Him off the cliff.
The thing we want to remember, though, is that
Jesus is the Savior because He did everything God said He would do in the
prophecies.
Game: Slipping Through the Crowd
Divide students into teams. They stand at opposite ends of your play area. When you say, “Go!” all of the players from Team A will try to run past Team B. If someone from Team B tags them, they’re out.
The remaining members of Team A go back to
line up on their side. You’ll then signal Team B to run and try to get past
Team A.
The game continues until all the players on
one of the teams is out. The remaining player slipped through the crowd, just
as Jesus did.
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