.jpg)
Jesus and everyone in his country had a meal each year that was even more important than our Christmas dinner, when they ate special foods and taught each other about how God had saved their people. Here they are, sitting down together in an upstairs room in Jerusalem, celebrating their special meal together. This was what they had come to Jerusalem for.
Jesus was the leader of their group of friends, so he was in charge of the meal and the teaching. He taught them the traditional things about how God had saved the people years ago, and then he taught them some new things, too.
Here he is, washing his friends' feet! Does that seem strange to you? It seemed strange to them, too, because it was the servant's job to wash everyone's dusty feet before a meal. The leader, the teacher, shouldn't do the servants' job! But Jesus wanted to teach them that really important people need to look after ordinary people, instead of bossing them about. He told them that they would never be really important unless they helped other people instead of helping themselves.
Then he took the bread and the wine, which were a big part of the special meal, and did something new with them. He broke the bread and told them: 'This is my body'. Then he showed them the cup of wine and said: 'This is my blood. I am giving them both for you all.' His friends didn't quite understand what he meant, but they remembered it all very carefully. Even if you don't understand what he meant either, just remember it, and we'll see if we can understand it later this week... j
Question for younger children: What do you like best about special meals with your family? Is it it the food, or the people, or maybe the fun you have together?
j
Question for older children: Can you explain why Jesus washed his friends' feet? Why do you think some of his friends didn't like it at first? j
j
Activity: You could put a little bit of bread and some red fruit juice in a cup next to your Easter Garden, to help you remember this special meal.
3 comments:
Hi Floss, this is another lovely post. We did foot washing as a reflection at housegroup recently (not a pretty sight). In a recent sermon at our church we heard that it is possible Mary Magdalene was at the last supper - what do think?
At the risk of sounding like Dan Brown, I should think it's perfectly possible. Even though DB wrote (or stole) a lot of rubbish about Mary Magdalen, it's clear that the church has played down the significant role she had amongst the followers of Jesus. Apparantly when she 'sat at the feet', of Jesus, that's the same phrase Paul uses to show that he 'sat at the feet' of his teacher Gamaliel, and it means 'was trained by'. So it appears she was trained to pass on the Good News, just as the men were. Not something a male-dominated church would have liked to remember, centuries later.
oh! Great post, Floss. If I had five-year-olds, we would do it! :) It is always a wrestle to take time and bring Biblical remembrance to the children, I think. Yay for sunday school teachers!
I arrive via Della's blog. :) The magazine swap looked great!
Post a Comment