Why?!
Children's sermon
Object: A piece of paper for each child. The pieces of paper should be the size of typing paper or larger.
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Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Before I tell you the story, let me give you one of these. (Hand each child a piece of paper.) Just hang on to these for now, and we’ll use them later. Now, let me start the story by asking you a question. Have you ever been to a wedding before? (Let them respond.) Was it a big wedding, with lots of people? (Let them respond.) Were you there for a long time? (Let them respond.) Well, our story is about a wedding that Jesus went to that lasted for three whole days. But when he got there, he found out there was a big problem.
Today was the third day when everyone was supposed to say a special prayer to bless the wedding. And after the prayer, everyone was supposed to drink a cup of wine. But the wedding had been going on for so long that they had completely run out of wine for everyone to drink. If they didn’t have wine, they couldn’t say the prayer to bless the wedding. And if they couldn’t say the prayer, the wedding couldn’t be finished. They had a problem, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) When people found out what had happened, it would be really embarrassing, wouldn’t it? And that’s why when Jesus got to the wedding, his mother ran over to him and told him, “They have no more wine.”
So, what do you think Jesus did? (Let them respond.) Let’s think a minute about what we might do if we see someone who has a big problem and needs help. I wonder if Jesus and his friends got together and said, “Why did they run out of wine, anyway? They should have planned better. It’s their own fault. It’s not my problem.” Is that what Jesus did? (Let them respond.) No, it isn’t. The story says that when Jesus heard they were out of wine, he told some people to get six big jars and fill them with water. After they put the water in the jars, Jesus told them to get a cup and get a drink from a jar. When they did, what did they find? (Let them respond.) Jesus had turned the water into wine. Now they had enough wine for the prayer to bless the wedding. Jesus helped them solve their problem.
(Show the paper.) Are any of you wondering why I gave you this piece of paper? (Let them respond.) Let me show you. When everyone started drinking the wine that Jesus made, they all started saying things like, “This is the best wine we have ever been given! I wonder where we can get more of this good wine?” When Jesus heard them all talking about the wine, he got a piece of paper and did this. (Roll your paper into a cone like a megaphone, hold it in front of your mouth, and shout “I made this wine!”) Then he had his friends do it, too. (Have the children roll their megaphones and shout, “Jesus made the wine!”) And do you know what they did next? (Let them answer as you flatten your paper and hold it like you are writing on it.) They took their papers and wrote down the names of the people who wanted to order more of the really good wine that Jesus made. (Pretend to talk to people and write down their orders, then ask the children to do it, too.) So, Jesus took all of the orders people gave him for wine, and he went home and started a new wine-making business.
Do you think that is what really happened in our story? (Let them respond.) Did Jesus really brag about what he did like that? (Let them respond.) No, that’s not what happened after Jesus helped the people by changing the water into wine, is it? (Let them respond.) What did Jesus really do after he helped them? (Let them respond.) He went home. That’s what he did. He helped them, and he went home. He didn’t show off or brag about what he did. He just helped the people, and then he went home.
Sometimes we see people who have a problem and need help, like the people in Cana did, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And what do we do when we see them? Do we talk and argue about why they have the problem and say things like, “Why do they have that problem, anyway? They should have planned better. It’s their own fault. It’s not my problem”? (Let them respond.) Is that what Jesus wants us to do? (Let them respond.) No, it isn’t. If we see someone who has a problem and needs help, we help them, don’t we? (Let them respond as you show your piece of paper and roll it into a megaphone.) And then we shout something like, “I helped this person!”, don’t we? (Let them respond as you flatten your paper to write on.) And then we write down what we did so we can show everyone our list of how many people we have helped, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Is that what we do when we help someone? (Let them respond.) No, it isn’t, is it? (Show the paper as you let them respond.) That isn’t why we help someone, is it? We don’t help someone to make ourselves look good or just to get people to like us, do we? (Let them respond.) So, why do we help people who need our help? (Let them respond as you put down the paper.) We help each other because that’s what God wants us to do, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We help each other because we care about each other, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
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! Before I tell you the story, let me give you one of these. (Hand each child a piece of paper.) Just hang on to these for now, and we’ll use them later. Now, let me start the story by asking you a question. Have you ever been to a wedding before? (Let them respond.) Was it a big wedding, with lots of people? (Let them respond.) Were you there for a long time? (Let them respond.) Well, our story is about a wedding that Jesus went to that lasted for three whole days. But when he got there, he found out there was a big problem.
Today was the third day when everyone was supposed to say a special prayer to bless the wedding. And after the prayer, everyone was supposed to drink a cup of wine. But the wedding had been going on for so long that they had completely run out of wine for everyone to drink. If they didn’t have wine, they couldn’t say the prayer to bless the wedding. And if they couldn’t say the prayer, the wedding couldn’t be finished. They had a problem, didn’t they? (Let them respond.) When people found out what had happened, it would be really embarrassing, wouldn’t it? And that’s why when Jesus got to the wedding, his mother ran over to him and told him, “They have no more wine.”
So, what do you think Jesus did? (Let them respond.) Let’s think a minute about what we might do if we see someone who has a big problem and needs help. I wonder if Jesus and his friends got together and said, “Why did they run out of wine, anyway? They should have planned better. It’s their own fault. It’s not my problem.” Is that what Jesus did? (Let them respond.) No, it isn’t. The story says that when Jesus heard they were out of wine, he told some people to get six big jars and fill them with water. After they put the water in the jars, Jesus told them to get a cup and get a drink from a jar. When they did, what did they find? (Let them respond.) Jesus had turned the water into wine. Now they had enough wine for the prayer to bless the wedding. Jesus helped them solve their problem.
(Show the paper.) Are any of you wondering why I gave you this piece of paper? (Let them respond.) Let me show you. When everyone started drinking the wine that Jesus made, they all started saying things like, “This is the best wine we have ever been given! I wonder where we can get more of this good wine?” When Jesus heard them all talking about the wine, he got a piece of paper and did this. (Roll your paper into a cone like a megaphone, hold it in front of your mouth, and shout “I made this wine!”) Then he had his friends do it, too. (Have the children roll their megaphones and shout, “Jesus made the wine!”) And do you know what they did next? (Let them answer as you flatten your paper and hold it like you are writing on it.) They took their papers and wrote down the names of the people who wanted to order more of the really good wine that Jesus made. (Pretend to talk to people and write down their orders, then ask the children to do it, too.) So, Jesus took all of the orders people gave him for wine, and he went home and started a new wine-making business.
Do you think that is what really happened in our story? (Let them respond.) Did Jesus really brag about what he did like that? (Let them respond.) No, that’s not what happened after Jesus helped the people by changing the water into wine, is it? (Let them respond.) What did Jesus really do after he helped them? (Let them respond.) He went home. That’s what he did. He helped them, and he went home. He didn’t show off or brag about what he did. He just helped the people, and then he went home.
Sometimes we see people who have a problem and need help, like the people in Cana did, don’t we? (Let them respond.) And what do we do when we see them? Do we talk and argue about why they have the problem and say things like, “Why do they have that problem, anyway? They should have planned better. It’s their own fault. It’s not my problem”? (Let them respond.) Is that what Jesus wants us to do? (Let them respond.) No, it isn’t. If we see someone who has a problem and needs help, we help them, don’t we? (Let them respond as you show your piece of paper and roll it into a megaphone.) And then we shout something like, “I helped this person!”, don’t we? (Let them respond as you flatten your paper to write on.) And then we write down what we did so we can show everyone our list of how many people we have helped, don’t we? (Let them respond.) Is that what we do when we help someone? (Let them respond.) No, it isn’t, is it? (Show the paper as you let them respond.) That isn’t why we help someone, is it? We don’t help someone to make ourselves look good or just to get people to like us, do we? (Let them respond.) So, why do we help people who need our help? (Let them respond as you put down the paper.) We help each other because that’s what God wants us to do, don’t we? (Let them respond.) We help each other because we care about each other, don’t we? (Let them respond.)
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.
