Lesson 12: Zacchaeus Climbs a Tree to See Jesus

February 19/20

Bible Point: Jesus loves everyone

Key Verse: “Jesus said, „Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.‟” Marl 10:14b

Getting Started

10 min

Getting Started: Welcome As the children arrive, greet each one and welcome him or her with a smile. Allow the children to choose a free play station for the first ten minutes. At 10 minutes after service start let the children know in 1 minute you will start cleaning up. Start clean up time with the clean up song: Say, “I Am!” (tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know it”) “If you are cleaning up, say, “I am.” “I am!” (children respond) If you are cleaning up, say, “I am.” “I am!” (children respond) If you are cleaning up, If you are cleaning up, If you are cleaning up, say, “I am.” “I am!” (children respond) Teachers: Prepare you class for Community Time.

Free Play Stations: 1. Toys 2. Books 3. Paper/

Crayons

Worship 8-10 Minutes

Community Time: Worship Lead the kids in 2-3 of the following songs (see attached song sheet for direction if needed) Jesus Loves Me Jesus Loves the Little Children This Little Light of Mine I’ve Got the Joy

Song Sheet

Lesson We are introducing “Theo” the puppet to Community time today. He will now be involved in each weeks lessons.

15 - 20 min

Community Time: Lesson

Place the puppet (Theo) somewhere near where you will be sitting so the children can easily see him. Open your Bible to Luke 19 and show the children the words. Tape up the “Zacchaeus” poster where the children can see. LL: Welcome everyone! Last week we learned to have faith in Jesus. Today’s Bible story tells us that Jesus loves everyone. Before we begin, let’s all say hi to Theo. Theo: Hi everyone! It is great to see you this morning. Today, we are talking about one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It is about a man named Zacchaeus. Can you say that with me? Zacchaeus. Yes, you’ve got it! So lets all put our super duper listening ears on and sit on our bottoms to hear the great story! (Place the picture of Zacchaeus on the board with tape) LL: Thank, Theo. So, Zacchaeus was a man who lived a long time ago in Bible times. He was not a very nice man. He did things he shouldn’t have . One wrong thing he did was take money that didn’t belong to him. We call that stealing. Is it nice to steal? (Tape the play coin up next to Zacchaeus). Zacchaeus really wanted people to love him, but he didn’t know how to be nice. One day Zacchaeus learned that Jesus was coming into his town. He wanted to see Jesus, but Zacchaeus was very short. (move the Zacchaeus figure to the poster, behind the crowd). He tried to see Jesus, but he wasn’t able to see past all of the people because they were all taller than him. Theo: OH, can I tell the next part? Zacchaeus had a great idea! He saw a big tree and decided to climb it so he could see Jesus! Wasn’t that a great idea? (place the Zacchaeus figure in the tree) LL: It was a great idea. Let’s all pretend that we are climbing the tree with Zacchaeus. Stand up and try to climb the tree (lead children in pretending to climb, then instruct them to take their seats again.) Soon after Zacchaeus climbed the tree, Jesus came walking by. (Place the Jesus figure on the poster) Look! Jesus stopped right at the tree where Zacchaeus was sitting. Jesus looked right up at Zacchaeus and said, “Zacchaeus, come down right away. I must stay at your house today!” Zacchaeus was so happy! He climbed down from the tree right away. (Take Zacchaeus out of the tree and place and Jesus by the house poster). Jesus and Zacchaeus went into Zacchaeus’ house and spent time together. Well, the other people began to say mean things about Zacchaeus. They wanted to know why Jesus would spend time with someone like Zacchaeus, who had done so many wrong things. Theo, do you remember

Bible – Bookmarked to Luke 19:1-10 *1 plastic gold coin *”Zacchaeus” poster from teacher pack *picture of Zacchaeus from teacher pack *Picture of Jesus, taller than the Zacchaeus figure *”Door” poster *Masking tape

what God said? Theo: I sure do! He said, “I love everyone.” LL: Right. He loved Zacchaeus, even though the other people didn’t. The news that Jesus loved him made Zacchaeus so happy! In fact, Zacchaeus decided to love Jesus too! And because he loved Jesus, he decided to try to do good things instead of bad. Remember the money (point to the coin you taped up before) we that Zacchaeus stole from people? Well, he decided to give it all back, and then give even more to the people he cheated! Just knowing that Jesus loved him helped him become a better person. Theo: You know, Jesus loves all of you, too. He loves me and you so much that he wants to spend special time with us, just like Zacchaeus. Isn’t that exciting? I just love this story! Thank’s for letting me be a part of the Bible story today. See you all next week! Let Theo say goodbye to the kids and then dismiss classes one at a time to go back to their rooms.

Circle Time

10-15 min

Circle Time: Key Verse Activity Have the children form a circle and sit down. Open your Bible to Mark 10:14b Lead the children in singing “The B-I-B-L-E”. This will be sung each week right before the Key Verse activity. LL: Our Key Verse from the Bible says, “Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’” This means that Jesus loves everyone, including little children. Let’s say the verse together. Lead the children in repeating the verse, focusing on “Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me.’” Let’s learn a rhyme to help us understand what this Bible verse means. As you teach the children this rhyme, remind them that Jesus loves everyone, including little children. Do the rhyme several times, varying your voice from a whisper to a shout.

Bible: Bookmarked to Mark 10:14b

Jesus loves me if I’m small. (Squat down) Jesus loves me if I’m tall. (Stand on toes and reach for the sky) No matter what we’ve said or done (shake head “no”) Jesus loves us, everyone! (Hug yourself) How does it feel to be small? (Sometimes it’s fun; I wish I were big like my sister) Does Jesus love big people more than little people? (No, he loves us all) How do you know? (The Bible tells us so; it is in our verse) Does Jesus still love us when we do something wrong? (Yes) Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” God wants everyone to live forever in heaven with him. That’s why he gave us Jesus! Let’s say our verse together one more time. “Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’”

Center

20 Minutes

Center: Jesus Loves Me! Before class, write, “Jesus loves me!” on a piece of blue paper for each child. Set out blue paper, brown rectangles, green tissue paper squares, and glue sticks. Ask the children if they remember where Zacchaeus went to see Jesus (in a tree). The children will glue the brown rectangle on their paper to be their tree trunk. Then they will glue green tissue paper squares to the top of their tree to be the leaves. When finished, remind them that Jesus loved Zacchaues, and he loves them too. Then hand each child a square of foil- as you hand it to the child, say, “Jesus loves you!” The children will then glue the foil onto their tree, shiny side up, so that they can see their faces. When you look into your mirror, you can remember that Jesus loves you!

Materials 1 sheet of blue construction paper per child 1 brown rectangle per child (3x7ish) to be a tree trunk Green tissue paper squares (about 1 inch squares)- enough for children to glue on tree as leaves *Glue sticks 3-inch square of aluminum foil per child

Snack *Can be a

10 minutes

Snack Prepare the snack for the children. Take time to stop and pray before the

Graham Crackers

center if you prefer

children eat. This is also a good time to ask children if they need to go to the restroom.

Water/Cups Paper Towels/Napkins

Closing 10 Minutes

Start clean up time with the clean up song: Say, “I Am!” (tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know it”) “If you are cleaning up, say, “I am.” “I am!” (children respond) If you are cleaning up, say, “I am.” “I am!” (children respond) If you are cleaning up, If you are cleaning up, If you are cleaning up, say, “I am.” “I am!” (children respond) Gather everyone for closing at your classrooms circle. Bring your center project (tree) to circle. LL: Who were the people in our story today? (Jesus, Zacchaeus, crowd) What did they do for God? (Zacchaeus loved Jesus and gave people’s money back, Jesus loved Zacchaeus when no one else did) Hold up the tree project. We made trees to remind us that Zacchaeus really wanted to see Jesus and so he climbed in the tree. Most people didn’t like Zacchaeus, because he did some unkind things, but Jesus loved him. Because of Jesus’ love, Zacchaeus became a better person. When we look in our mirrors, we can remember that Jesus loves us, even when we do something wrong. He will always love us! Let’s pray together. Dear God, thank you for loving Zacchaeus. Thank you for loving my friends and family. Thank you for loving people everywhere. Thank you for loving me! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Song Sheet

The BIBLE The B-I-B-L-E, yeah that's the book for me I stand alone on the word of God The B-I-B-L-E This Little Light of Mine This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine. Don't let Satan blow it out, I'm gonna let it shine Don't let Satan blow it out, I'm gonna let it shine Don't let Satan blow it out, I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine.

Jesus Loves Me Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong, They are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so. Jesus Loves the Little Children Jesus loves the little children

All the children of the world

Black and yellow, red and white

They're all precious in His sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world

I’ve Got the Joy

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart! Where? Down in my heart! I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart down in my heart to stay. I’ve got the peace that passes understanding, Down in my heart, Where? Down in my heart! Where? Down in my heart! I’ve got the peace that passes understanding, down in my heart down in my heart to stay. I’ve the got love of Jesus, love of Jesus Down in my heart, Where? Down in my heart! Where? Down in my heart! I’ve the got love of Jesus, love of Jesus

down in my heart, down in my heart to stay.