Bible Study “Third Sunday of Advent – Are You The One”
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
Advent invites us to risk pushing on through the world’s weariness to expectant hope. Something’s coming we proclaim! Immanuel: God With Us in the form of an infant. We celebrate what happened 2000 years ago while we look to the promise that Jesus will come again. We are also called, as we live in this parenthesis time, to look for messages God continues to send: what has happened, and will happen again, is also happening now: right here.
John the Baptist has been calling people’s attention to their skewed priorities and baptizing them when they got the message. Now, confined to prison for his preaching that made the authorities uncomfortable, John sends this plaintive question to Jesus: “Are you the one?” How do we answer the question? How do we choose to live out our answer?
Opening Prayer: Thank you, God, for the courage John the Baptist found to do the work you gave him to do. Amen.
Can you think of a situation where someone was put in jail for something that did not seem wrong or a story of unjust punishment (having to stay after school for something they did not do, etc.) The story today is about John the Baptist who was thrown in jail because the people in charge did not like what he was doing or what he was saying.
Please open your Bibles to Matthew 11:2-11 and read or read the scriptures below.
Matthew 11:2-11
2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[a] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written:
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’[b]
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Questions: (Answers at the bottom of the page)
- Why was John in prison?
- Why do you think John needed to know the answer to the question he asks in verse 2b?
- Why do you think Jesus gave John the answer that he did? Find and read passage — Isaiah 35:5-6.)
- Who does Jesus tell the people that John the Baptist is?
- Why do you think Jesus says that John is the “greatest” [verse 11a] and yet the “least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”? [verse 11b]
- What would we say is the “kingdom of heaven?”
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click on url)
Matthew 11:2-11, a brief thought - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS0rLwBn_Rg
Matthew 11:2-11 Messenger from John the Baptist, Jesus Praises John the Baptist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6836oH1WZ10
Overview: Matthew 1-13 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dv4-n6OYGI
Activities:
Code - Sending a message out of jail could have been dangerous. Perhaps John simply whispered to a trusted disciple, perhaps he sent the message in code, for Jesus’ response is clearly a code answer. Create a code so each letter of the alphabet is coded. A code for the question mark is also needed. For the code suggestion (a code letter for each letter of the alphabet: z for a, y for b, x for c etc. for example, or a number code: 26 for a, 25 for b, 24 for c, etc.). Then write: “Are you the one?” using the code on a piece of paper.
Gifts To Wrap – Wrap a small piece of candy or some other small gift and give it to someone who needs encouragement. Write “Jesus is the Best Gift” or “The Real Meaning of Christmas is Jesus Coming to Earth to Give Us Eternal Life” on a slip of paper and place it inside the gift.
Advent Wreath – Hopefully you completed your Advent Wreath and you lit the first purple candle of hope or prophesy and the second purple candle of Peace. Light the third candle which is Joy or Shepherds (pink candle). It is meant to remind us of the joy that the world experienced at the birth of Jesus, as well as the joy that the faithful have reached the midpoint of Advent.
25 Days of Christmas Activities
The Gift that Jesus Brings Crossword: https://sermons4kids.com/gifts_that_jesus_brings_crossword.htm?fromSermonId=92
The Gift that Jesus Brings Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/gifts_that_jesus_brings_decoder.htm?fromSermonId=92
Word Search: https://thewordsearch.com/puzzle/4499558/third-sunday-of-advent-are-you-the-one/
Prayer: Thank you, God, for messages you send us. Help us to see your prophets and hear Jesus’ voice as we seek you this Advent season. Amen.
- Why was John in prison? (By John telling people to go out of town, listen to him, and be baptized (instead of worshipping in the Temple) the authorities thought he was dangerous.)
- Why do you think John needed to know the answer to the question he asks in verse 2b? (The pain of being imprisoned would be more bearable if he was sure that what he had been preaching was really true: Jesus was the one.)
- Why do you think Jesus gave John the answer that he did? (John would have known the Isaiah passage he quotes as the sign of the coming of the Messiah. Find and read passage — Isaiah 35:5-6.)
- Who does Jesus tell the people that John the Baptist is? (A prophet who can help people see what they need to do)
- Why do you think Jesus says that John is the “greatest” [verse 11a] and yet the “least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”? [verse 11b] (Jesus is saying that when we choose Jesus it is no longer about who is the greatest and who is the least.)
- What would we say is the “kingdom of heaven?” (It is the heaven we will go to when we die and it is also the choosing to see God in our lives right here and now.)
