All, or Nothing at All!
Children's sermon
Object: A Bible.
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
You probably remember some of the stories about the people who tried to bully Jesus and make him do what they wanted him to do, don’t you? (Let them respond.) There were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Priests, the Scribes, and more. They all tried to trick Jesus to make him stop saying things they didn’t like. Well, today’s story is about a day the Pharisees came again. They acted really friendly and said, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” They called him teacher, like they respected him, but they were just setting him up. Bullies do that sometimes, don’t they? (Let them respond.)
They asked him which of God’s commandments was the most important one. Does anyone remember how many commandments God gave to Moses a long time ago? (Let them respond.) There were ten weren’t there? (Let them respond.) The religious leaders believed that the most important commandment was the first commandment which saidyou should love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
But it was a trap. The Pharisees believed that if you loved God, then you had to obey all of the religious laws and commandments. And if you broke any of those laws, it meant that you didn’t love God and should be punished. And who do you think was in charge of punishing people if they broke any of the laws? (Let them respond.) Yep, the Pharisees were.
And they knew that Jesus had broken many of their laws. He had touched people the Pharisees said you shouldn’t touch. He had eaten with people the Pharisees said you shouldn’t eat with. He had healed people on the Sabbath day when you weren’t supposed to do anything but rest and pray. So, if Jesus said the most important commandment was the first one, they could say he had broken it, and they could punish him and make him stop talking to people about God.
But Jesus knew it was a trap, and he said there were two commandments that were most important. The first is to love God, and the other is to love your neighbor. Then Jesus said, “Now, I have a question for you. ‘What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?’”
The Pharisees laughed and said, “That’s easy. Everyone knows that the Messiah is the Son of David, just like it says in the old scripture.”
Then Jesus smiled too, because he had set a trap for the Pharisees, and they had fallen into it. Jesus said, “But Psalm 110 says that David called the Messiah his Lord. So, which is true? Is the Messiah David’s son, or his Lord?” The Pharisees didn’t know the answer to Jesus’ question, and they just walked away and didn’t say another word.
There are a lot of things written in our Bible, aren’t there? (Show your Bible and let them respond.) Well, the Pharisees were experts on the Bible, but when they made up their laws, they didn’t always look at the whole Bible. They just looked for the texts that said what they wanted to say and that would help them create their new law. They just read the texts that proved what they wanted to prove and ignored the rest. It is called “proof-texting”, and some people still do it today, don’t they? (Let them respond.)
Sometimes people want to make other people do something they want them to do, so they find something in the Bible they can use to try and make them do it. They just look for pieces of the Bible they can use to prove what they want to prove. They want to use a piece of God to make other people do what they want. That’s what the Pharisees did. And Jesus showed them that you can’t just use pieces of God. You either use all of God, or you don’t get to use any at all.
If we just pick out pieces of the Bible like that, it’s like we are trying to make the Bible say what we want it to say, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) It’s like we are trying to make God say what we want God to say, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But God isn’t a puppet. We call our Bible the Word of God, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We don’t call it the word of anybody else.
I hope our story reminds us that no matter what anyone else might say we should do, Jesus said that the most important things we are to do is to love God and love and take care of each other. Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
You probably remember some of the stories about the people who tried to bully Jesus and make him do what they wanted him to do, don’t you? (Let them respond.) There were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Priests, the Scribes, and more. They all tried to trick Jesus to make him stop saying things they didn’t like. Well, today’s story is about a day the Pharisees came again. They acted really friendly and said, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” They called him teacher, like they respected him, but they were just setting him up. Bullies do that sometimes, don’t they? (Let them respond.)
They asked him which of God’s commandments was the most important one. Does anyone remember how many commandments God gave to Moses a long time ago? (Let them respond.) There were ten weren’t there? (Let them respond.) The religious leaders believed that the most important commandment was the first commandment which saidyou should love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
But it was a trap. The Pharisees believed that if you loved God, then you had to obey all of the religious laws and commandments. And if you broke any of those laws, it meant that you didn’t love God and should be punished. And who do you think was in charge of punishing people if they broke any of the laws? (Let them respond.) Yep, the Pharisees were.
And they knew that Jesus had broken many of their laws. He had touched people the Pharisees said you shouldn’t touch. He had eaten with people the Pharisees said you shouldn’t eat with. He had healed people on the Sabbath day when you weren’t supposed to do anything but rest and pray. So, if Jesus said the most important commandment was the first one, they could say he had broken it, and they could punish him and make him stop talking to people about God.
But Jesus knew it was a trap, and he said there were two commandments that were most important. The first is to love God, and the other is to love your neighbor. Then Jesus said, “Now, I have a question for you. ‘What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?’”
The Pharisees laughed and said, “That’s easy. Everyone knows that the Messiah is the Son of David, just like it says in the old scripture.”
Then Jesus smiled too, because he had set a trap for the Pharisees, and they had fallen into it. Jesus said, “But Psalm 110 says that David called the Messiah his Lord. So, which is true? Is the Messiah David’s son, or his Lord?” The Pharisees didn’t know the answer to Jesus’ question, and they just walked away and didn’t say another word.
There are a lot of things written in our Bible, aren’t there? (Show your Bible and let them respond.) Well, the Pharisees were experts on the Bible, but when they made up their laws, they didn’t always look at the whole Bible. They just looked for the texts that said what they wanted to say and that would help them create their new law. They just read the texts that proved what they wanted to prove and ignored the rest. It is called “proof-texting”, and some people still do it today, don’t they? (Let them respond.)
Sometimes people want to make other people do something they want them to do, so they find something in the Bible they can use to try and make them do it. They just look for pieces of the Bible they can use to prove what they want to prove. They want to use a piece of God to make other people do what they want. That’s what the Pharisees did. And Jesus showed them that you can’t just use pieces of God. You either use all of God, or you don’t get to use any at all.
If we just pick out pieces of the Bible like that, it’s like we are trying to make the Bible say what we want it to say, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) It’s like we are trying to make God say what we want God to say, isn’t it? (Let them respond.) But God isn’t a puppet. We call our Bible the Word of God, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We don’t call it the word of anybody else.
I hope our story reminds us that no matter what anyone else might say we should do, Jesus said that the most important things we are to do is to love God and love and take care of each other. Let’s pray and ask God to remind us that Jesus loves every one of us and wants us to follow him and take care of each other the way God takes care of us.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us and for forgiving us when we forget that. And please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.
