The Jesus Shirt
Children's sermon
Object: A Jesus shirt. A sweatshirt with “I Follow Jesus” printed on the front in big letters.
* * *
Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent!
One day, Jesus got three of his friends, Peter, James, and John, and told them they were going on a hike up the mountain. When they got to the top of the mountain, some pretty amazing things happened. While they were up there, Jesus’ friends saw him start to glow, just like someone was shining some really bright lights on him. Then two other people showed up and stood with him. One of them was the prophet Elijah, and the other was Moses. Moses and Elijah talked to Jesus for a while, and when they left, Jesus’ friends heard God’s voice come from heaven telling them to listen to Jesus because he was God’s son. Then the lights went out, and it got really quiet. Peter said, “This was amazing! Why don’t we all build some little houses and just stay up here? This is a lot better than going back down with all those people who don’t like us.” But Jesus told them they couldn’t stay on the mountain but had to go back down to be with everyone else.
Now, I have to tell you, I am making this next part up. We’re just pretending for a minute. We’re going to pretend that Jesus told his disciples they had to go back down, but he would do something to make them feel better. Then an angel appeared next to Jesus and handed each of them a shirt that said, “I Follow Jesus!” (Show the shirt.) Remember that we’re just pretending about the shirts, okay? (Let them respond.) Then they walked down the mountain.
When the disciples got back down, they met a group of people who had been looking for Jesus. A man in the group said that his son was very sick and no one had been able to help him, so he wanted to ask Jesus to make him better. Jesus was still somewhere on the trail coming down the mountain, so his friends said, “Well, Jesus isn’t here yet.” The man said, “But won’t you please help my son?” Jesus’ friends smiled and said, “Sure, we will help your son. Look! We have “I Follow Jesus” shirts and everything!” (Show the shirt.)
A few minutes later, Jesus came down the mountain and saw his friends with the crowd of people. But the people were shouting and sounded really upset. When Jesus got there, the sick boy’s father said, “Jesus, my son is very sick, and nobody has been able to help him. I even begged your friends to help, and they said they would help him get better, but they couldn’t do it either.” Jesus looked at the people and at his friends and said, “How long do I have to put up with you people, anyway?” I’m not sure if he was talking to the crowd of people or his friends, but he sounded kind of frustrated, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) Up on that mountain, Jesus had just shown his friends who he really was, but they still didn’t understand what they were supposed to do. They had heard God’s voice, but they had not been able to heal the little boy. Does anyone have an idea why they couldn’t help the little boy? (Let them respond and show the shirt.) They even had Jesus shirts and everything. Let’s hear what happened and see if we can figure it out.
Jesus’ disciples believed that they understood everything. They believed that since they had been on that mountain with Jesus, they would have more power and be able to control things better, and now everyone would see their Jesus shirts (show the shirt) and know just how important they really were. But Jesus knew they did not really understand, so he started to explain things to them. But then Jesus’ friends started arguing with each other and blaming each other for not being able to help the little boy. Peter, James, and John told the other disciples that they should have just let them do it all because they were the only ones who had Jesus shirts anyway, (show the shirt) so they were more important than the rest of them who didn’t have the shirts.
Jesus finally stopped them and said, “I want you to listen very carefully to what I am going to tell you. Instead of becoming rich and powerful, I am going to be delivered into the hands of the people who hate me.” That sounds strange, doesn’t it? Does anyone have an idea about what Jesus meant? (Let them respond.) Jesus’ friends just looked at each other. None of them understood what Jesus meant either, and they were afraid to ask him to explain it. Besides, they thought they already understood what God wanted them to do. They believed that if they followed Jesus, God would give them more and more power and would help them be able to do anything they wanted to do. But that isn’t what Jesus said, was it? (Let them respond.) Jesus told them that if they followed him, instead of becoming more powerful and being able to do whatever they wanted, they would actually need to give up power and control over other people and behave more like servants to them. If they followed Jesus, instead of looking bigger, they would actually look a lot smaller. And if they followed Jesus, they wouldn’t try to help a sick boy so they could show everyone how important they were; they would help a sick boy because they cared about that boy and wanted to help him.
Then one of the disciples said, “Oh, we forgot to tell you. We saw another man going around healing people and telling them about you, but we told him he had to stop because he wasn’t a part of your group of disciples like us.” Jesus shook his head. “Listen to me. Anyone who is not fighting against us is with us, okay? So do not stop them, even if they aren’t wearing Jesus shirts like you.” (Show the shirt.)
(Show the shirt.) Jesus told them that instead of wearing a Jesus shirt to show everyone how much more important they were, they should wear the shirts to show everyone that they cared about them and would do what they could to help them. Following Jesus meant they would take care of people, not try to be more important than those people.
Sometimes, I think we forget that, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we believe that if we are trying to follow Jesus, it means we are more important or powerful than other people and that they should do what we want them to do, don’t we? (Let them respond.) But our story reminds us that Jesus said if we want to follow him, we need to be more like servants to help other people instead of behaving like rulers who try to tell everyone what they need to do. Sometimes we get too cocky like that, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
When the sick boy’s father asked Jesus for help, Jesus didn’t put on a special shirt, make a lot of noise, shout at everyone, and tell them how important he was, did he? (Let them respond.) All he did was look at the boy and say, “Leave this boy alone!” and whatever was making the boy sick went away. Jesus didn’t help the boy to make himself look good, did he? (Let them respond.) Jesus healed the boy because Jesus cared about him and wanted to help him like a good servant would help him.
And that’s all that we need to do. (Show the shirt.) We don’t need to wear Jesus shirts for people to know we are following Jesus, do we? (Let them respond.) All we need to do is care about God’s people and do what we can to help take care of them. All of them.
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!
One day, Jesus got three of his friends, Peter, James, and John, and told them they were going on a hike up the mountain. When they got to the top of the mountain, some pretty amazing things happened. While they were up there, Jesus’ friends saw him start to glow, just like someone was shining some really bright lights on him. Then two other people showed up and stood with him. One of them was the prophet Elijah, and the other was Moses. Moses and Elijah talked to Jesus for a while, and when they left, Jesus’ friends heard God’s voice come from heaven telling them to listen to Jesus because he was God’s son. Then the lights went out, and it got really quiet. Peter said, “This was amazing! Why don’t we all build some little houses and just stay up here? This is a lot better than going back down with all those people who don’t like us.” But Jesus told them they couldn’t stay on the mountain but had to go back down to be with everyone else.
Now, I have to tell you, I am making this next part up. We’re just pretending for a minute. We’re going to pretend that Jesus told his disciples they had to go back down, but he would do something to make them feel better. Then an angel appeared next to Jesus and handed each of them a shirt that said, “I Follow Jesus!” (Show the shirt.) Remember that we’re just pretending about the shirts, okay? (Let them respond.) Then they walked down the mountain.
When the disciples got back down, they met a group of people who had been looking for Jesus. A man in the group said that his son was very sick and no one had been able to help him, so he wanted to ask Jesus to make him better. Jesus was still somewhere on the trail coming down the mountain, so his friends said, “Well, Jesus isn’t here yet.” The man said, “But won’t you please help my son?” Jesus’ friends smiled and said, “Sure, we will help your son. Look! We have “I Follow Jesus” shirts and everything!” (Show the shirt.)
A few minutes later, Jesus came down the mountain and saw his friends with the crowd of people. But the people were shouting and sounded really upset. When Jesus got there, the sick boy’s father said, “Jesus, my son is very sick, and nobody has been able to help him. I even begged your friends to help, and they said they would help him get better, but they couldn’t do it either.” Jesus looked at the people and at his friends and said, “How long do I have to put up with you people, anyway?” I’m not sure if he was talking to the crowd of people or his friends, but he sounded kind of frustrated, didn’t he? (Let them respond.) Up on that mountain, Jesus had just shown his friends who he really was, but they still didn’t understand what they were supposed to do. They had heard God’s voice, but they had not been able to heal the little boy. Does anyone have an idea why they couldn’t help the little boy? (Let them respond and show the shirt.) They even had Jesus shirts and everything. Let’s hear what happened and see if we can figure it out.
Jesus’ disciples believed that they understood everything. They believed that since they had been on that mountain with Jesus, they would have more power and be able to control things better, and now everyone would see their Jesus shirts (show the shirt) and know just how important they really were. But Jesus knew they did not really understand, so he started to explain things to them. But then Jesus’ friends started arguing with each other and blaming each other for not being able to help the little boy. Peter, James, and John told the other disciples that they should have just let them do it all because they were the only ones who had Jesus shirts anyway, (show the shirt) so they were more important than the rest of them who didn’t have the shirts.
Jesus finally stopped them and said, “I want you to listen very carefully to what I am going to tell you. Instead of becoming rich and powerful, I am going to be delivered into the hands of the people who hate me.” That sounds strange, doesn’t it? Does anyone have an idea about what Jesus meant? (Let them respond.) Jesus’ friends just looked at each other. None of them understood what Jesus meant either, and they were afraid to ask him to explain it. Besides, they thought they already understood what God wanted them to do. They believed that if they followed Jesus, God would give them more and more power and would help them be able to do anything they wanted to do. But that isn’t what Jesus said, was it? (Let them respond.) Jesus told them that if they followed him, instead of becoming more powerful and being able to do whatever they wanted, they would actually need to give up power and control over other people and behave more like servants to them. If they followed Jesus, instead of looking bigger, they would actually look a lot smaller. And if they followed Jesus, they wouldn’t try to help a sick boy so they could show everyone how important they were; they would help a sick boy because they cared about that boy and wanted to help him.
Then one of the disciples said, “Oh, we forgot to tell you. We saw another man going around healing people and telling them about you, but we told him he had to stop because he wasn’t a part of your group of disciples like us.” Jesus shook his head. “Listen to me. Anyone who is not fighting against us is with us, okay? So do not stop them, even if they aren’t wearing Jesus shirts like you.” (Show the shirt.)
(Show the shirt.) Jesus told them that instead of wearing a Jesus shirt to show everyone how much more important they were, they should wear the shirts to show everyone that they cared about them and would do what they could to help them. Following Jesus meant they would take care of people, not try to be more important than those people.
Sometimes, I think we forget that, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Sometimes we believe that if we are trying to follow Jesus, it means we are more important or powerful than other people and that they should do what we want them to do, don’t we? (Let them respond.) But our story reminds us that Jesus said if we want to follow him, we need to be more like servants to help other people instead of behaving like rulers who try to tell everyone what they need to do. Sometimes we get too cocky like that, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
When the sick boy’s father asked Jesus for help, Jesus didn’t put on a special shirt, make a lot of noise, shout at everyone, and tell them how important he was, did he? (Let them respond.) All he did was look at the boy and say, “Leave this boy alone!” and whatever was making the boy sick went away. Jesus didn’t help the boy to make himself look good, did he? (Let them respond.) Jesus healed the boy because Jesus cared about him and wanted to help him like a good servant would help him.
And that’s all that we need to do. (Show the shirt.) We don’t need to wear Jesus shirts for people to know we are following Jesus, do we? (Let them respond.) All we need to do is care about God’s people and do what we can to help take care of them. All of them.
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.
