Jesus travels to Jerusalem
key words
bible reference
Matthew 21:1-11, 15-16
lesson objective
To help the children learn the importance of worshiping Jesus, the Son of God.
memory verse
“He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:6, NIV*).
prepare yourself to teach
Jesus presented himself publicly to the Jewish people as the promised Messiah, entering the city of Jerusalem mounted on a humble donkey. This symbolized that Jesus is the king who came to seek peace, not to seek military or political power.
The disciples put their cloaks on the donkey because they did not have a saddle. Many people put cloaks and palm leaves on the road where Jesus was passing.
People shouted: “Hosanna!” Some believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but they did not fully understand what he came to do. Jesus came to earth with a purpose, giving people the opportunity to decide: to believe in him as Messiah, Savior and King, or to reject Him. On this day, people, including the children, received him with joy and emotion, praising him sincerely. They shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” This reference angered the priests and the teachers of the law, for they did not like that the people would call out to Jesus in this way. But, Jesus responded just as God responds to the love of his people. This week, as you prepare for your Sunday school class, praise Jesus, the Son of the living God.
adaptation
Help your children praise God through different activities during this lesson. Children can praise God with movements, music, singing, playing, praying and learning Bible stories. All these activities will help preschoolers prepare their hearts to receive the message of Holy Week.
Surely your children will express their desire to know Jesus as their friend. In the same way, Jesus wants to be the King in their lives.
He invites them to believe in him and to live according to His commandments. You can present His invitation to your children. Using simple words, explain how they can be friends with Jesus. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you as you tell them the plan of salvation.
introduce the lesson
Palms of praise
For this activity, you will need card stock or thin cardboard, scissors, and green and brown pencils.
Give your children a piece of cardboard and let them draw a palm branch. We suggest that you show them an example to use as a guide. You can also make patterns beforehand. As you work, tell them that those palm branches are an important part of today’s Bible story.
teach the lesson
Choose some activities to help children understand the biblical truth of the story.
Who’s missing?
Sit in a circle. A volunteer will close their eyes, while you ask another child to leave the circle and hide themselves from everyone.
Ask the volunteer to open their eyes and guess which child is missing. Once identified, the child will enter and walk around the circle before returning to his or her place. Allow time for everyone to participate.
To present this lesson we suggest that you prepare visual aids in advance. You can make the characters yourself using the figures in the children’s book as models.
Praises for Jesus
“Here comes Jesus!” shouted the people in excitement. There were many people in Jerusalem who wanted to see Jesus.
“Listen, listen, He’s getting closer!” a child yelled as he pointed and saw that Jesus was sitting on a donkey, accompanied by his disciples.
People watched carefully as Jesus approached. When he got to where they were, everyone began to shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Those praises acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, the Savior that God had promised to send to free his people.
More people came to see Jesus. Some of them quickly took off their cloaks and others took palm leaves, and put them on the path for Jesus to pass.
Ask the children to wave their palm leaves while saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
Many children ran to be closer to Jesus while singing praises. Everyone was happy! The King had come to Jerusalem!
There was so much commotion in the city that some people asked, “Who is this man?” And people said, “It is Jesus.”
When Jesus entered the city, he went to the temple. There were children waiting there to praise him, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
connect the lesson
Attendance sheets
Allow time for your children to find their attendance sheet. Help any new children to begin theirs. Hand out the attendance (heart) stamps from Student Activity Sheet #67-A and ask the children to stick them in the appropriate place, while saying something they learned in the Bible story. Connect the figures
Give your children Student Activity Sheet #67-B. Tell them to write their name and trace this unit’s words of faith: “Jesus lives!” Then, ask them to join the figures that are related while you do a brief review of the story. Tell them that Holy Week is a special time, when we read that Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world to die for us and rose again to give us victory. Remember how the children of our Bible story praised God? (Shouting “Hosanna!”)
When they are finished, encourage them to use their work to tell their friends and family about today’s Bible story.
practice the memory verse
On a piece of cardboard, draw a palm leaf and cut it out; write the memory verse inside it.
Show it to your children and ask them to repeat the memory verse with you. After doing it a couple of times, remove it and ask them to repeat it by memory. Repeat this exercise several times during class.
wrap-up
Pray
Form a semicircle and ask them to mention their prayer requests. If possible, select one or two children to pray; conclude by interceding for all attendees.
Encourage
Remind them of the importance of praising God daily and encourage the children to give God thanks for his Son Jesus.
Invite
Thank the children for attending today’s lesson and encourage them to attend the next session.
* Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™