Scripture: Mark 2: 1-12, Luke 5: 17-26 or page 370 in The Golden Children’s Bible
Target Age Group: 1st through 6th grade
Welcome the children to the classroom and chat with them about their week as they gather around the table.
Pray and ask God to teach the children not just head knowledge, but also heart knowledge.
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Bible Lesson:
Have the children open their Bibles to Luke 5 or page 370 in The Golden Children’s Bible.
(Read the story to the children because at this age some of the children do not read smoothly, which hinders comprehension for the whole class.)
Discussion:
- Where was Jesus teaching in this story? In a house in Caperaum.
- How many people were there? So many that they filled the house and all around the house.
- Who were some men bringing to Jesus? A paralyzed man.
- What does it mean to be paralyzed? Your legs (and maybe your arms) don’t work and you can’t walk. Maybe he had an accident and broke his back. Maybe he was that way from birth. We don’t know. But, if he had been that way for very long his muscles and joints would have become very stiff and twisted up. All he could do is lie on his mat and someone else had to take care of him.
- When the men couldn’t get through the door because of the crowd, what did they do? They climbed up on the roof and made a hole. Then they lowered the paralyzed man on his mat down through the roof to Jesus.
- Do you think that you would have gone to that great of trouble to bring your friend to Jesus to be healed?
- What did Jesus say to the man? “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
- Did you expect Jesus to say “Your sins are forgiven” or “You are healed”? You are healed.
- Why do you think that Jesus said this instead? To make the people think about who he was.
- Who was offended when he said, “Your sins are forgiven”? The Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
- Why were they upset? Jesus said that the man’s sins were forgiven, but only God can forgive sins.
- Jesus knew what they were thinking before they said anything. So, what did he say to them? Which is easier, to say “Your sins are forgiven.”, or “Get up and walk?”
- What do you think would be easier to say?
- Anybody could say, “Your sins are forgiven.”, but only God could make a paralyzed man walk.
- Jesus tells them that he wants them to know that he has the power to forgive sins. So he turns to the paralyzed man and says what? “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
- Did the man get up? Yes. He got up and took his mat home, praising God as he went.
- How did the crowd react? They were amazed and filled with awe. They praised God and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” or “We have never seen anything like this!”
- What does this story tell you about Jesus? He is God.
- Do you have a friend who needs to be brought to Jesus?
- You might or might not have a friend who is sick, but do you have a friend who needs his or her sins to be forgiven?
- How do you think that you can bring that friend to Jesus? Tell them about Jesus. Ask them to come with you to Sunday School. Give them a Bible or read the Bible with them.
- Let’s pray and thank Jesus for forgiving our sins. And let’s ask him to help us to find ways to bring our friends to him…
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During the remaining class time do activities that help to reinforce what the children have learned. Here are some suggestions…
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Memorize the verse.
Psalm 103: 2-3 “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”
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Have the children use colors or pastels to draw their own vision of the story on a sketch pad page. Or have them color a color page related to the story.
Color page #1 from sermons4kids
Color page #2 from Bible Wonderland
Color page #3 from Bible Printables
An excellent color page book is “Through-the-Bible Coloring Pages For Ages 4-8” by Janet Skiles. The pages are reproducible.
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Show the children a video of this story:
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Share this children’s sermon from sermons4kids. Don’t forget the activities at the bottom of the page!
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Have the children fill out these worksheets and color page from Calvary Curriculum.
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Younger children will enjoy this story and worksheets from the Church of God.
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This lesson from growing kids in grace has a mat craft. And here is another similar one from crafting the word of God.
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Jesus Without Language has another craft. Click on the icon at the bottom of the page for the pattern.
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Lambsongs has a booklet and activities for this story. The booklet doesn’t follow scripture closely, but the crafts are cute. (Scroll down to “Down Through the Roof”
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Here is a craft from Auntie’s Bible Lessons .
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Gospel Hall has a minibooklet and story prop. Search “paralytic”.
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DLTK has a story board activity.
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Have the children act out the story as suggested by childrens ministry ideas unlimited.
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Free Children’s Bible Lessons has some good ideas.
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Sing “Walking & Singing” or “Jesus Can” by Mary Rice Hopkins. These songs are available on itunes.
Or since the story is about a paralyzed man who was able to walk again, sing “Every Move I Make” by Uncle Charlie .
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Make these Teddy Grahm crackers for snacks.
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Evaluate what the children have learned. While they are coloring or crafting ask each one what they learned today.
Send each child’s parent an e-mail (or a hard copy) of the Parents’ Page.
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