Touch and see!
Children's sermon
Object:
some object in Braille -- preferably an entire book (An
encyclopedia can give you the Braille alphabet. Most children
have seen Braille in some public buildings)
Good morning! Jesus was alive and the disciples couldn't
believe it! The disciples were so scared because they thought
they were seeing a ghost. Would you be scared if you thought you
were seeing a ghost? (Let them answer.) I think I'd be scared!
The disciples knew for sure that Jesus had died, but here he was
-- standing among them.
Jesus tried to make them feel better. He said, "Peace be with you." In other words, "Don't be afraid. Don't be scared. Be at peace with yourselves."
Then Jesus said, "Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself." In other words, Jesus said, "It's really me. Believe it!"
But hearing Jesus wasn't enough and hearing his words of comfort didn't help and seeing him didn't work either. So Jesus said, "Touch me and see."
Reading those words of Jesus made me think of the way blind people read. People who are blind cannot see the words in a book to read. The only way they can see is by touching. I brought a book written in the language blind people can "see." It's called "Braille" because it is named after the man who invented this way of seeing for blind people, Louis Braille.
Jesus could only get the disciples to be comfortable with him when he invited them to "touch ... and see." So those first believers touched Jesus and they saw him and heard him and they believed in him. They became his "witnesses," as Jesus said they would. They witness to us. They tell us what they saw, heard, and felt. They tell us these many years later that Jesus really, truly did rise from the grave.
We can "touch ... and see" by reading and hearing what they wrote about Jesus in the Bible. It is something like touching and seeing Jesus with Braille. We cannot see him with these eyes or touch him with these hands. But we can hear about Jesus from those who saw, heard, and felt him.
Dearest Jesus: Thank you for these disciples who tell us about what they saw, heard, and felt. Amen.
Jesus tried to make them feel better. He said, "Peace be with you." In other words, "Don't be afraid. Don't be scared. Be at peace with yourselves."
Then Jesus said, "Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself." In other words, Jesus said, "It's really me. Believe it!"
But hearing Jesus wasn't enough and hearing his words of comfort didn't help and seeing him didn't work either. So Jesus said, "Touch me and see."
Reading those words of Jesus made me think of the way blind people read. People who are blind cannot see the words in a book to read. The only way they can see is by touching. I brought a book written in the language blind people can "see." It's called "Braille" because it is named after the man who invented this way of seeing for blind people, Louis Braille.
Jesus could only get the disciples to be comfortable with him when he invited them to "touch ... and see." So those first believers touched Jesus and they saw him and heard him and they believed in him. They became his "witnesses," as Jesus said they would. They witness to us. They tell us what they saw, heard, and felt. They tell us these many years later that Jesus really, truly did rise from the grave.
We can "touch ... and see" by reading and hearing what they wrote about Jesus in the Bible. It is something like touching and seeing Jesus with Braille. We cannot see him with these eyes or touch him with these hands. But we can hear about Jesus from those who saw, heard, and felt him.
Dearest Jesus: Thank you for these disciples who tell us about what they saw, heard, and felt. Amen.
