JESUS IS THE BREAD OF LIFE
Scripture: Matthew 15:32-39
Season/Sunday: Any, but Sunday when Holy Communion is being served would be most appropriate.
Focus: Jesus as the Bread of Life, the one who satisfies the hunger inside us.
Experience: As the children distribute the “bread and fish,” they will be made to feel like Jesus’ disciples, as well as be given a taste of service.
Arrangements: Beforehand, secure enough small, inexpensive baskets so that each child will have one. Also secure a sufficient number of fish-shaped crackers so that every worshiper can take one. (Have a good supply to spare—you don’t want to run out of food while reenacting this miracle story!) Divide the fish-shaped crackers into the baskets. If the church is large, or the children particularly young, it might be a good idea to have adult ushers ready to help in the logistics of the distribution. Finally, as the children distribute the baskets of fish-shaped crackers, an appropriate hymn such as “Break Thou the Bread of Life” may be played (or sung).
Leader: | Good morning! Have you ever been away from home, perhaps shopping at the mall or watching a parade or on a fishing trip, or maybe even at church, when you got really hungry? |
Children: | Yes! |
Leader: | Most of us have done that. Well, often when Jesus was teaching the people, they would walk for miles to hear him teach and time would get away from them so that before long they realized they were hungry and had not brought anything to eat. Jesus felt sorry for the people and did what he could to feed them. In one of those stories, the writer of Matthew’s Gospel tells about a crowd of people who had been with Jesus three days and had nothing left to eat. Matthew wants to teach us in this story that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Can you say that with me? |
L & C: | Jesus is the Bread of Life! |
Leader: | Jesus’ disciples were able to come up with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. Who is Jesus? |
Children: | Jesus is the Bread of Life! |
Leader: | By breaking and breaking and breaking the seven loaves of bread and a few small fish into smaller and smaller pieces, Jesus was able to see that all the people were given something to eat. Who is Jesus? |
Children: | Jesus is the Bread of Life! |
Leader: | Then the disciples gave the bread and the fish to all the people. And today you get to be Jesus’ disciples too! Can you make sure that everyone here this morning gets a piece of bread, because . . . |
Children: | Jesus is the Bread of Life! |
Leader: | (Begin distributing baskets and sending children out for the distribution while you continue talking.) You may notice that our bread today (hold up a fish-shaped cracker) is in the form of a fish. It is thought that the fish was the earliest symbol used by Christians to let others know they were followers of Jesus, and let’s all say it together (inviting congregation as well), because . . . |
All: | Jesus is the Bread of Life! |
Leader: | (As the distribution is winding down) After feeding all the people, the disciples brought the baskets back (signal children to return). The disciples saw that they had leftovers! Because . . . |
All: | Jesus is the Bread of Life! |
Leader: | The early followers of Jesus saw in this miracle a spiritual lesson: Jesus satisfies the spiritual hunger and spiritual searching that is inside every one of us. Because . . . |
All: | Jesus is the Bread of Life! |
Leader: | All of us have an inner hunger, a hunger of the heart, to know God, to learn God’s ways, to live like God wants us to live. And Jesus is the one who satisfies that hunger, as he shows us who God is, as he teaches us God’s ways, and as he instructs us on how to best live our lives. Because . . . |
All: | Jesus is the Bread of Life! |
Leader: | (Make this refrain the closing prayer by simply adding, “Amen!” or offer closing prayer.) |
Randy Hammer
(The Abingdon Children’s Sermon Library, vol. 2, ed. Brant D. Baker © 2007 by Abingdon Press. Adapted and used by permission.)