Following Jesus

KFW—June 30, 2013

Following Jesus (Luke 9:51-62)

[Set up:  Have Jesus up at the front to start, with readers spread around the room.  Children will follow Jesus around the room]

Narrator:  One day, Jesus and his disciples were walking along the road to Jerusalem.  Can we walk behind Jesus as he travels?  Join me!

At each village, people called out for Jesus.

GREEK CHORUS:  (can you join me and call out for Jesus?  Jesus!)  Jesus!

Narrator: Jesus called out to each person he met. 

Jesus:  Follow me  (Greek chorus:  FOLLOW JESUS!)

Reader 1:  I will follow you wherever you go!

Jesus:  Every animal has a place to call home, but I go from place to place. (points to reader 2)  Follow me! (Greek chorus:  FOLLOW JESUS!)

Reader 2:  Wait!  I need to bury my father who just died.

Jesus:  The dead have no worries anymore.  Think about the living and tell them about God.  (points to reader 3)  Follow me! (Greek chorus:  FOLLOW JESUS!)

Reader 3:  I will follow you!  Oh, but first I need to go back and tell my family goodbye.

Jesus: No one who says they will follow, but turns around to look at his old life is ready to tell others about God.

Narrator:  What did Jesus ask the three people to leave behind?  He asked them to leave behind homes, family, and everything they knew!  Which do you think would be the hardest?  What did they gain by following Jesus?  What can you tell others/your friends about following Jesus?

NOTES-- for parents, further thoughts, and children's sermon

Oh, this is yet another 'easy' text.  Coupling this one with the Old Testament readings on Elijah and being asked to leave everything behind (including cooking their oxen that helped run the farm before leaving) in order to follow God's calling, we start to see a theme--and that is that following our calling and Jesus is costly.  This is no simple and easy thing.  Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" (and Bonhoeffer's life in general) comes to mind when we talk about this subject.  Though not all of us will be called to lay down our lives as martyrs, all of us are called to give up our lives to God for his will.

I guess the place to start with all of this for children is to talk about the idea that appears in the new testament reading--freedom, and that with that freedom comes responsibility.  Salvation is the greatest kind of freedom, but it also comes with responsibility--the responsibility to share the good news of Jesus and to give up what we want so that we may share more of his story.