unit 3: miracles of jesus nt3.15 jesus heals on the sabbath · 2016. 3. 20. · even though some...

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NT3.15 Jesus Heals on the Sabbath © Beverly Wilson 2016

Unit 3: Miracles of Jesus NT3.15 Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

Scripture: Matthew 12: 1-14; Luke 13: 10-17; John 5:1-18

Lesson Goal: Jesus was a very powerful teacher. He proved to everyone that he was really God by his teaching and miracles. He proved to everyone that he was really God by his teaching and miracles. In this lesson we will see how Jesus showed love to crippled people even when He knew that others would disapprove.

Introduction: This is the fifteenth lesson in Unit 3:The Miracles of Jesus. The life and ministry of Jesus is told to us in the first four books of the New Testament. Jesus was a very powerful teacher. He proved to everyone that he was really God by healing the sick and forgiving people of their sins. In this lesson we will see how Jesus showed love to crippled people even when He knew that others would disapprove. The Gospels are the first four books in the New Testament. The gospels tell about the life and ministry of Jesus. The word "gospel" means the good news about Jesus. Let's say the names of the gospels together. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Attention Getter: What do you like most about weekends? Do you like to watch cartoons on TV? Maybe you just like to sleep late? Or perhaps you like weekends just because you do not have to go to school! Have you ever thought about why weekends are usually different from other days of the week? Discuss activities that your students participate in during the weekend.

In this lesson we are going to learn about some things that Jesus did on the weekend. He showed love to crippled people even when He knew that others would disapprove. Opening Prayer: Let's pray and ask God to help us do what is right during those difficult times that others want us to do wrong. Dear Father in heaven, help us to not to go along with the crowd. Help us to do what is right even when everyone else is doing wrong. We thank you that You have promised to give us your wisdom and help in a time of temptation. Thank you that you did what was right even with others were against you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Memory Verse: Our memory verse is Deuteronomy 6:18 "You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that it may be well with you."

Lesson Video: https://youtu.be/mS2PxNUiJ-w In Bible times weekends in Israel were REALLY different. In fact Jewish people had a long list of rules to follow every weekend from Friday night to Saturday night. Every Saturday which was called the Sabbath in Bible times in Israel, the people walked to the nearest synagogue which was a place for studying God's law and praying. The people covered their heads with cloths. The women took their places on one side near the back while the men moved toward the front. They all came to hear a teacher talk about God's Word. This was the most important thing they did all week. God was the one who started the Sabbath. He rested on the Seventh day after the creation of the world. This was an example to man that everyone should take time to rest and worship God. Later God gave the Ten Commandments and the law to Moses. In the fourth commandment God set aside the Sabbath day as a special day to worship Him. Besides the ten commandments the rabbis counted 613 rules in the Torah or Law of Moses about ways to make the Sabbath a day of complete rest. For example one rule in the book of Exodus says not to build a fire on the Sabbath. However, if your animal fell into a ditch, you could work to get it out of there! Animals were valuable and they could not wait. If the animal did not get help it could die. So that was why it was all right to get your ox out of the ditch.

https://youtu.be/mS2PxNUiJ-w

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Then to help people keep from breaking the Sabbath rule of resting, the religious leaders made many more rules. By Jesus' day there were rules about RULES--just to help make sure NO one broke a rule! For instance, on the Sabbath a person could walk only a certain distance. Walking farther than the limit was work and that broke the Sabbath rule of resting. On the Sabbath a person was not allowed to do anything that might lead him or her to work by accident, so a person could not climb a tree--that might lead to picking fruit, which was work. Soon there were so many rules that people could not remember all of them! At the time of Jesus keeping the Sabbath became more about keeping the rules than worshipping God! One Saturday on the Sabbath day Jesus and His disciples were traveling through a wheat field where grain was growing. According to the law farmers were supposed to leave grain along the roads so that hungry people could get some food. As they walked, Jesus' disciples were hungry so they picked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands and began to eat the kernels. When the Pharisees saw this, they were angry! They said to Jesus, "Look! Your disciples are breaking the law by working on the Sabbath? They were accusing the disciples of harvesting grain by rubbing it in their hands. Jesus replied, "When King David and his companions were hungry they entered the house of God and broke the law by eating the consecrated bread." Jesus wanted the Pharisees to know that the disciples were NOT doing anything wrong. God is more concerned with people's love for Him and their needs being met than just following rules. Jesus went on to say, "I tell you that one greater than the temple is here and I desire mercy not sacrifice. For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath." The Pharisees did not realize that Jesus was the divine Son of God. Because Jesus was God He had created the Sabbath and He had the power to overrule their traditions. But Jesus' words made the Pharisees even more angry. On another Sabbath day Jesus went into a synagogue to teach. A man was there whose hand was withered or crippled. The Pharisees knew Jesus would want to help this man. But their rules said that on the Sabbath it was wrong to make people well unless they were dying. Jesus knew what the religious leaders were thinking and so He said to the man with the crippled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." The man stood up. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus of doing wrong the Pharisees asked, "Should you make people well on the Sabbath?" They were sure Jesus would have to say no. But Jesus did NOT say no! He looked at the Pharisees and the people around Him and asked, "If you had a sheep that had fallen into a pit, wouldn't you try to get it out, even if it was the Sabbath?" Well, the people knew that they would probably try to rescue the sheep. "Aren't people more important than sheep?" asked Jesus. Now the people were silent. "Yes, people are more important," they must have thought. Jesus continued by saying, "Which is more lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" "You don't break the Law by doing good on the Sabbath."," said Jesus. Then he turned to the man with the crippled hand. "Stretch out your hand," He said. Slowly the man brought his hand up from his side. Carefully he stretched out his hand. The man obeyed Jesus and his hand was completely healed! What a wonderful miracle! The man's hand was no longer crippled! He could wiggle his fingers! He could open and close his hand! His hand worked! But the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were furious. They cared more about their rules than they did about people and their needs. So they began to plot and scheme some way to get back at Jesus. Later on another Sabbath morning Jesus was again teaching in one of the synagogues. The book of Luke tells us about what happened. A woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from all your infirmities!"

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Then He put His hands on her and immediately she straightened up. The woman was so happy that she began to praise God right then and there! Suddenly the voice of the ruler of the synagogue rang out. He was angry that Jesus had healed someone on the Sabbath! So the ruler began to shout, "There are six days in which work should be done, therefore you people should come during those days and get healed and not on the Sabbath!" This ruler was forgetting one of God's most important laws--to show love for people. Jesus looked at the synagogue ruler. "You hypocrite! Don't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? This woman has been bound by Satan for 18 years with this disease. Shouldn't she be released from this bond and be healed on the Sabbath day?" The things Jesus said made sense to the people listening. "Of course," they murmured. "Caring for people is more important than caring for animals! The synagogue ruler and his friends were embarrassed, but the others in the synagogue were thrilled! The healed woman and the other people rejoiced and gave thanks to God for all the wonderful things Jesus did! Even though some people had disapproved, Jesus did what was right by healing the woman. In the gospel of John we read about another time that Jesus healed people on the Sabbath day. Jesus and his disciples had gone to celebrate a Feast of the Jews in the temple at Jerusalem. They had entered the temple by a gate called the Sheep Gate. By this gate was the Pool of Bethesda which had five porches around it. Under the porches by the pool were many, many people who were sick, blind, lame, and withered. They were waiting by the water for the Spirit of the Lord to come and stir up the water. They believed that whoever would step first into the water after the Angel of the Lord came that they would be healed of whatever affliction they had. One man who was there had been an invalid for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, he knew that the man had been in that condition for a very long time. Jesus then looked at the man and asked him, "Do you wish to get well?" The man looked helplessly at Jesus. He answered Jesus, "Oh, yes, but Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up! When I am trying to get in the water, someone else comes down the steps ahead of me! It is hopeless for me to be made well!" Jesus then said to him, "Arise and take up your bed and walk!" And immediately the man became well and took up his bed and walked. Because there was a large crowd in that place Jesus slipped away without the man knowing where he had gone. Some angry Jewish leaders were watching and they said to the man who was cured, "Why are you carrying your bed? Don't you know that it is against the Law to carry your bed on the Sabbath? The man explained. "The man who made me well told me to "take up my bed and walk!" When the Jewish leaders asked him who had healed him, he explained that he did not know Jesus' name. Later Jesus found the man who had been made well in the temple and he said to him, "Look, you have become well. Do not sin anymore." The man then realized that Jesus was God and that He had the power to heal him and forgive him his sins! The man who was healed then told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him. And for that reason the Jews wanted to persecute Jesus even more! They did not like the fact that Jesus was calling God his father and making himself equal with God. So because He performed this miracle on the Sabbath day the Jews hunted Jesus down to attack him for breaking one of their Sabbath rules. In His defense Jesus said to them. "My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working." That made the Jewish leaders more furious because not only was Jesus breaking one of their Sabbath rules He was calling God His Father. That meant that Jesus was making Himself equal with God.

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Jesus then went on to explain, "The Son will do far more awesome miracles than this and even raise people from the dead, just as the Father does. God leaves all judgment of sin to His Son. If you refuse to honor God's Son, whom He sent to you, then you are certainly not honoring God. Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. They will not be judged but will cross over from death to life." Eventually the Jewish leaders would have Jesus condemned to death on a cross. Although they thought that they were keeping the law, they were really rejecting Jesus the One that God had promised to come and save us from our sins. Jesus helped the people understand that showing love to a person was more important than following the Pharisee's rules. Although the Pharisees very angry the people followed Jesus and listed to Him and learned what God wanted them to do. Jesus did what was right and good even though he faced the opposition of the Jewish leaders. We can choose to do it too! Deuteronomy 6:18 says "You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that it may be well with you." To do what is right we need to pray and ask God for His help. The Bible tells us the way that God wants us to live. We have to learn what God says about the thing that we are choosing to do. Let's say our verse again together. Deuteronomy 6:18 "You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that it may be well with you." Many people think that something must be right just because everyone else says or does it. However, sometimes doing what God says is right means going against what everyone else is saying we should do. That can be hard! Jesus understands how we feel--He had the same problem showing love to people that everyone else disliked. He has promised to help us. With Jesus' help we can have the courage to choose to do what is right in God's eyes rather than following the crowd. Let's look at some times that kids your age might be tempted to follow the crowd in doing wrong instead of doing what is right in God's eyes. Sometimes people will try to get kids to smoke. That is NOT good for us and it does not please God. So we should say NO to smoking. When someone else has something that you want, you might be tempted to steal. Kids will try to get you to take what is not yours. But God says that is wrong. We should say NO to stealing. Sometimes kids get angry and say bad words. Saying God's name in anger is wrong. We should be careful about the words we say and do what is right. Let's think about some things that can help us do what is right. Reading the Bible is an important way to know what God wants us to do when we have choices to make. Another way that helps to do right is to become friends with people who usually do what is right instead of what is wrong. Sometimes it is easy to just follow the crowd, even when we know that what they are doing is wrong. We should ask God to help us be strong and do what is right even if people might dislike us for doing it. Jesus and the Pharisees both said they loved God. But Jesus showed God's love. The Pharisees didn't. howing God's love is more than just talking about it. We have to do something. We need to ask God to help us show His love by being kind to others even when it is difficult. Let's do right even when others don't!

Review Questions: Freeze! Cut construction paper into strips, one strip for each child in your class. Draw a circle on one strip. Have children sit on the floor in a circle. Distribute strips of paper to children. Children are to pass the strips around the circle until you say. "Freeze!" The child holding the circle answers one of the questions below. Play several rounds so that different children may answer questions.

1. What day of the week was the Jewish Sabbath on? (The Sabbath was on Saturday.) 2. What activity did the Jewish people do on the Sabbath? (Everyone went to the synagogue to pray and

worship God. They listened to the Jewish leaders read the Old Testament scripture.)

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3. When Jesus and his disciples went to a town what did Jesus do on the Sabbath? (Jesus and his disciples went to the synagogue where Jesus read the scripture and taught the people about God.)

4. What were some of the rules that the Jewish leaders had made up about how to keep the Sabbath? (No one could work. No one could travel a long distance. No one could climb a tree. No one could cook or harvest grain.)

5. What did Jesus and his disciples do on one Sabbath when they were hungry? (They walked through a grain field and picked some kernels an rolled them in their hands so they could eat them.)

6. When the Pharisees complained to Jesus and his disciples about breaking the Sabbath by working, what did Jesus say to them ? (Jesus said, "When King David and his companions were hungry they entered the house of God and broke the law by eating the consecrated bread." Jesus wanted the Pharisees to know that the disciples were NOT doing anything wrong by eating grain when they were hungry.)

7. What miracle did Jesus perform to show that on the Sabbath God is more concerned with people's love for Him and their needs being met than just following rules? (Jesus healed a man who hand was withered or crippled.)

8. On another Sabbath Saturday what other miracle did Jesus perform to show that meeting people's needs is more important than keeping the rules? (Jesus healed a woman who had been bent over and crippled for eighteen years.)

9. What did the angry Jewish leader in that synagogue say to Jesus when He healed the woman? ("There are six days in which work should be done, therefore you people should come during those days and get healed and not on the Sabbath!" )

10. What reason did Jesus give to the angry Pharisee that the woman should be healed? (Jesus said that if you could water your donkey on the Sabbath day then God would be even more pleased if a woman was healed from her infirmed body.)

11. What did Jesus do at the Pool of Bethesda in the city of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day? (Jesus healed a crippled man by telling him to take up his bed and walk.)

12. Instead of being happy for the crippled man who was healed, what did the Jewish leaders say to him? (They criticized him for carrying his bed on the Sabbath and asked him who had healed him.)

13. When Jesus later found the man who had been healed in the temple what did He say to Him? (Jesus told him, "Look, you have become well. Do not sin anymore."

14. Why did Jesus tell the man not to sin anymore? (Jesus was showing the man that He was God and that He had the power to heal him and forgive him his sins!)

15. When the Jewish leaders began to argue with Jesus about keeping the Sabbath rules, what authority did Jesus tell them that He had over the Sabbath? (Jesus called God His Father. That meant that Jesus was making Himself equal with God. Jesus was God and He had created the Sabbath and so He had the power to determine what was the right way to keep it!

16. What is the memory verse for this lesson? (Deuteronomy 6:18 "You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that it may be well with you.")

17. What ways can we use to determine if something is the right thing to do in the sight of God? (We can have the courage to choose to do what is right in God's eyes rather than following the crowd. Reading the Bible is an important way to know what God wants us to do when we have choices to make. Become friends with people who usually do what is right instead of what is wrong. Pray and ask God for wisdom.)

Bible Memory Verse Activity: Circle Game (version of "Duck, Duck, Goose") Our memory verse is Deuteronomy 6:18 "You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that it may be well with you." Have student locate the verse in their Bibles. Read verse aloud together. Say: "To do what is right we need to pray and ask God for His help. The Bible tells us the way that God wants us to live. We have to learn what God says about the thing that we are choosing to do. Let's say our verse again together. Deuteronomy 6:18 "You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that it may be well with you."

Active Game Option: Children stand in a circle. A volunteer or person called "it" walks around the outside of the circle and then taps another child on the shoulder. Volunteer immediately speeds up his or her walking and the tapped child rapidly walks around the circle in the opposite direction. When the children meet, they stop and greet each other by saying the memory verse together and shaking hands. Children then walk quickly in the direction in which they started to try to reach the empty spot in the circle first. Play several rounds until all the children have had an opportunity to walk around the circle and say the memory verse.

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Group Learning Activity: "Stir the Waters" (Grades K-2) Purpose: This activity will help students gain a better understanding of why the crippled man was at the Pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem and what the scripture means "to stir up the waters." Procedure: Set out several towels and a shallow plastic tub filled with water. Give children spoons and spatulas and let them stir up the waters by playing gently in the water. Say: "In our lesson today Jesus healed a sick man who sat by a special pool. The man believed that the moving water could make him well. Do you think that the "moving water could really make him well? Who saw the man and had compassion on him and really did heal his sickness? (Jesus) Why could Jesus make the man well and the water did not have that power? (Jesus is God.) Have you ever been sick? What was that like? What kind of things can make us feel better when we are sick?" Continue discussing the events in the story using the review questions as a guide. Emphasize the main point of the lesson: "God loves us and is more concerned about meeting our needs than just keeping rules about the Sabbath. Group Learning Activity: "Fish and Sharks" (Grades 3-5) Purpose: Student will apply the principle of making right choices that please God to different situations that are commonly faced by students their age. Preparation: Make two masking tape lines approximately 20 feet apart. Provide a large sheet of paper and marker. Say: We're going to play a game of tag, but first we need to make a list of situations in which kids your age might be tempted to do the wrong things?" Lead students in a discussion listing situations as they are discussed. (Examples: taking a test at school; not having enough money to buy something at a store; playing a close game of ball, doing your homework; etc.) Divide students into two equal groups. One group is called the 'sharks" and the other group is called the "fish." Each group stands behind one of the masking tape lines. To start play, students start walking toward each other. After students have taken at least four steps toward each other, call "fish" or "sharks". If you call "fish," the students in the fish line try to tag the students in the shark line before they get back to their safety line. If you call "sharks" the sharks attempt to tag the fish. Anyone who is tagged joins the other team. Play the game again; but this time at the end of each round the first student tagged chooses one of the situations listed on the large sheet of paper and tells what he or she thinks would be the right thing to do in God's eyes. After the last round ask the students to find Deuteronomy 6:18 in their Bibles and say the verse aloud. Discuss how God wants us to make good choices; how we can know what is right in God's eyes.

Group Learning Activity: Map Skills (Grades 3-5) Use the public library or borrow a book that has good pictures of Jerusalem during the early first century. Some are very good for showing the children the layout of the walls and the temple. Or print copies of the map below. Have students find the Sheep Gate and the Pool of Bethesda on a map of Jerusalem. Identify other familiar landmarks of other Biblical stories of Christ.

Craft Learning Activity: Weave a Mat (Grades K-4) Materials: 11X17 sheets of construction paper (two contrasting colors of sheets for each child); scissors, ruler, pencil, and glue. Procedure: Children will turn a sheet of construction paper into a placemat with paper weaving. Take one of the coordinating colors of construction paper and fold it in half vertically. On the paper that is folded over mark a line 1" from the short ends of the sheet of construction paper. Use ruler and pencil to draw the line. Next mark a series of lines that are 3/4" apart that go from the fold to the marked line. Cut on the marked lines from the fold to the vertical line, Unfold the paper and smooth the fold.

http://www.auntannie.com/FridayFun/PaperWeaving/PaperWeavingInOut800.jpg

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From the second coordinating sheet of construction paper cut the 3/4" strips of paper along the short side of the page making 11 X 3/4" strips. These strips of paper will be woven into the slits cut in the first sheet. Weave the paper strips into the slits cut in the placemat. Starting from the back bring the first strip up through the first slit and down through the second slit. Continue weaving the strips up and down through the slits. At the end adjust the strip so it is even with the placemat edges at the top and bottom. Do the same for the second strip but start from the back at the second slit and finish until you have woven as many strips as possible in the slits. Arrange the strips so they are evenly spaced in the slits. Be sure the strips do not extend beyond the edges of the placemat. Turn the placemat over and glue the ends of the strips. Trim strips if needed. Using a crayon or marker write the words Jesus spoke to the crippled man by the Pool of Bethsaida: "Arise, take up your mat and walk" along the outer edge of the mat. As children work on project circulate among the children offering help as needed and direct conversation toward reviewing the events in the story and toward the point of the lesson: God is more concerned about meeting people's needs than keeping rules.

Craft Learning Activity: Encouragement Cards (Grades 3-5) Say: "Today we are going to make cards for each other as a reminder to do what is right." Procedure: Have students choose of the following type of card to make. Have samples of each type of card already made for student to see the finished results and to help them in making their selection. Colorful Animal: Draw a simple outline of a long bodied creature (dinosaur, crocodile, lizard, dolphin, whale, etc) on colored paper. Cut it out and glue on other features such as eyes, fins, or spikes using different colors of construction paper. Write the words of Deuteronomy 6:18 as a message of encouragement to help someone do what is right in God's sight. Fold the animal to hide them message and to make the sides of the folded card. Talking Pop Up Card: Fold a piece of colored paper in half. Cur out two tabbed half-circles from the crease to make two circles with tabs at the top or the bottom when unfolded. Fold a contrasting color of paper in half and the open it. Tape or glue the tabs of the cut out circles at an angle on either side of the contrasting paper's fold, one circle at the top and one circle at the bottom so the cutouts meet to resemble a mouth or beak. Cut the card into a circular shape. On the mouth write a message of encouragement such as Deuteronomy 6:18. Decorate the rest of the card to resemble a face. Collect cards and mail them to the students during the week, making sure each student receives a card made by another student.

Craft Learning Activity: "Stuffed Hands" (Grades K-5) Purpose: Students will make “stuffed hands” to remind them that Jesus healed a man’s hand that was shriveled. Materials: 67 Lb. White Cardstock; Stuffed Hand Patterns; Crayons, Markers, or Colored Pencils; Scissors; Stapler; Tissues Procedure: Make a copy of the “Stuffed Hand Patterns” onto 67 lb. cardstock for each student. Have students color the two hands. Allow students to cut out the two hands.

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Staple the two hands back-to-back leaving an opening large enough to stuff tissue into. This will make the hand look puffy and more life-like. Staple the hand shut. Write the memory verse on the palm of the hand. As students are assembling their “stuffed hands”, remind them that Jesus healed the man regardless of what day it was. Help students realize that Jesus desires mercy, not sacrifice. Christianity is not about following a set of rules; it’s about a relationship with Jesus.

Life Application Challenge: Healing Prayer Boxes Purpose: Children decorate boxes for holding prayers they may pray when someone they know needs healing. Materials: small boxes with lids (plain cardboard boxes in fancy shapes are sold in craft stores); paints paintbrushes; glitter glue and other decorative elements; markers; prayers for healing Invite the children to decorate the boxes as follows: Paint the outside of the box and lid. When dry, write on the lid with a marker: Healing Prayers. Decorate the box with sequins, glitter and other decorative elements. Write prayers for the healing of others and put them into the box. Using the Healing Prayer Box: Invite the children to use their prayer box whenever they or anyone they know is in need of healing—either in body, mind or spirit. They can write a prayer for healing and place it in the prayer box. Pray to God for those who are sick.

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Jesus Heals the Crippled Woman on the Sabbath

Deuteronomy 6:18

"You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that it may be well with you."

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unit 3: miracles of jesus nt3.15 jesus heals on the sabbath · 2016. 3. 20. · even though some...

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