Bible Study – Second Sunday After Christmas – The
Boy In The Temple
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.
The Gospels appointed for these two Sundays after Christmas offer a fitting conclusion to Advent’s mystery of “both/and” time. The first Sunday is from John’s Gospel a mystery-laced view of the divinity of Jesus, “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” The second Sunday is a very human story of the little boy Jesus. Just as Jesus was both human and divine, we also balance two worlds: the world in which we do our day to day tasks -- a world mostly unaware of its true potential -- and our life in Christ: "from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." (John 1:16)
A day back from the annual trip to Jerusalem for Passover, Joseph and Mary check with their extended family. Suddenly they realize that their young son, Jesus, is not with any of them. They race back to Jerusalem, frantically searching for the 12 year-old. Three days and unimaginable stress later they find him sitting in the Temple learning from the teachers. He is un-phased by their universal parental response of relief mixed with fury. "Didn't you know I would be in my Father's house?" asked Jesus. Yes, Mary had much to hold in her heart.
Have you ever wandered away from your parents? Why did you wandered away (looking at something interesting, to say hi to someone, etc.)? Today the Bible story we have is about Jesus when he was 12 years old
Opening Prayer: Loving God, thank you for Jesus’ parents who loved him and took care of him. Thank you for our parents and our family. Amen.
Please open your Bibles to Luke 2:41-52 and read or read the scriptures below.
Luke 2:41-52
The Boy Jesus at the Temple
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”[a] 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Questions:
- What did you like about this story?
- What questions did it give you?
- Have you ever been separated from your parents?
- What do you think this was like for Jesus? For his parents?
- Do you know about the celebration of Passover? (Jewish people to this day celebrate this every year to mark the escape from Egypt and slavery, the crossing of the sea, dry-footed.) What do you think Mary might have been thinking at what Jesus replied (his reply is in verse 49).
- For some other clues about what Mary might have been thinking you could look up previous passages: Luke: 2: 8-19 (what the shepherds told Mary they heard about Jesus), Luke 2: 34- 35 (what Simeon said to Mary when she and Joseph had brought the infant Jesus to the temple), Luke 2:36-38 (Anna the prophetess’ response).
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click on url)
Lumo – Gospel of Luke Chapter 2:41-52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbbm916CWZQ
Gospel of Luke Summary: A Complete Animated Overview (Part 1) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIb_dCIxzr0
Song: I was glad when they said unto me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUfp2ALrq4w
Activities:
Bible Verse on Parchment: You will need plain white paper, a small bottle of cooking oil, cotton balls, plastic wrap to protect the table, and paper towels. (Instant Parchment!) Leftover lengths of ribbon can be used to tie the parchments. You will also need Bibles or copies of the scripture found at the end of this lesson.
We do not know, of course, what questions Jesus might have been asking the teachers in the Temple. But we can be pretty sure the teachers would have known the books of the prophets. The "books" available would have been rolls of parchment.
Find in Isaiah or Micah a passage you think Jesus would have known, copy it on a piece of plain white paper using a ball point pen. When you have copied what you want – and illustrated it. “Paint” the sheet of paper with the oil using cotton balls. When the paper is lightly, but sufficiently oiled, dry it with paper towels. When it is dry, it can be rolled up like a parchment.
Some suggested passages, to get you started looking: Micah 6:8, Micah 4: 2b, Isaiah 11:1, or Isaiah 9: 6.
Jesus At The Center: Cut out a large circle on construction paper. Write the word JESUS in the very center of the circle. Write this in bright colors or gel markers, etc. Decorate the circle with stars and stickers. Write as small as possible around the very outside “edge” of the circle with names or things and people that might take your attention off of JESUS at the center!!
The Boy Jesus in the Temple - Crossword: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/jesus-in-the-temple-1
The Boy Jesus in the Temple – Fill in the Blank: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/jesus-in-temple-3
The Boy Jesus in the Temple - Word Search: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/jesus-in-temple
The Boy Jesus in the Temple – Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/jesus-in-the-temple-2
The Boy Jesus in the Temple – Multiple Choice: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/jesus-in-temple-4
Prayer: Thank you, God, for these passages we found in our Bibles. And thank you for the birth of Jesus who lights up our lives. Amen.
