Jesus a Special Friend

Think, Pair, Share:

1. What would you like God to notice about you?

2. Are there things you don't want God to notice about you? Why?

READ these selected verses from Psalm 139 together, then WRITE and ILLUSTRATE your favourite verse in your Bible books.

God notices the good and the bad, yet He still loves us the same. However He wants to help us with things that need healing.

Choose a song to listen to that helps you to remember that God notices everything about us and we can call on Him at any time!

Get into groups of around 2-3 and each group will create one of the stories we have been learning about with play dough. It could be:

Jesus and the children

Zacchaeus

The lame man

The leper

The paralysed man who was lowered down through the roof

Blind people

While you are creating your story, think about this: What did Jesus ADD to the characters' lives?

Who received:

love

acceptance

forgiveness

sight

a loving touch

total healing?

These were some of Jesus' closest friends, and they lived in Bethany (about 2.4 Km) from Jerusalem, (southeast of the Mount of Olives). Look at Jerusalem on the map. We are going to learn about how Jesus added special things to the lives of these close friends. We are learning that having Jesus as our Friend adds something special to our lives.

BUSY GAME

1. Divide the class into two teams and line them up facing each other with a 9 metre gap between the teams.

2. Place two bowls on the floor 3 metres in front of each team (1 bowl per team).

3. Have a pile of small pieces of paper in easy reach of each team and each team member needs a pencil.

4. When you say "go" have students in each team write on slips of paper all the important things they like to do - one idea on each piece of paper.

5. As soon as they finish writing an idea, students race to their team bowl and deposit their idea inside (anyone can run at any time). They will then race back to write another idea and again deposit their slip in the bowl.

6. Play this for 3 minutes while listening to the following busy music:

7. At the end of the time, count which team listed the most ideas.

8. Read a few of the ideas from each bowl.

9. Discuss the following questions:

• What did it feel like to be so busy?

• Did you have time to think about Jesus while you were rushing so much?

Give 5 words from the bowls to groups of 3 students. Give them time to rank each word in order of priority from most important to least important in their lives.

Read Matthew 6:19-21

How does this compare with other definitions about priority?

Your teacher will read out the following:

Tears Jesus Shed (John 11:1-44)

A messenger came to Jesus bringing news from Mary and Martha in Bethany. The message was very short and said "Jesus' good friend Lazarus was sick." That was all. It didn't even say, "please come quickly." The two sisters were quite sure Jesus would come as soon as He could. But He didn't go straight away. In fact, He didn't do anything about it. Not that He wasn't sorry for Lazarus, Mary and Martha. No, the Bible says that He loved them. Then why did He stay around for two more days before leaving?

That's what the disciples wanted to know. But all He would say was that this illness of Lazarus was for the glory of God. Can you imagine how strange that would have sounded to his disciples? At the end of the second day, Jesus said to the disciples, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I'm going there to wake him up."

"That's ok," said the disciples. "If he's asleep, he'll get better." Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep.

How many of the miracles that we have already learnt about can you list? Would it be a big step to revive Lazarus after healing the cripple and the leper?

Then Jesus told them plainly that Lazarus was dead. He had used the word sleep because that is what death really is. It's just like going to bed at night and not waking up until someone calls you in the morning.

So they started off for Bethany, the disciples wondering how Jesus knew Lazarus was dead and whether they'd make it in time for the funeral.

Jesus didn't seem to be in the least bit of a hurry, and when they arrived in Bethany they found Lazarus had already been buried for four days.

Oh no, were they too late?

"Lord" said Martha, "If you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died." No doubt she was right. And she couldn't understand why Jesus hadn't come when she first sent for Him. But now she said something that pleased Jesus very much. "Yet even now I know that God will do anything you ask." This showed that, even though she was the busy one, always hurrying about the household chores, she loved and trusted Jesus just as much as Mary.

Then Jesus comforted her, "Your brother will live again!"

"I know that he'll be raised to life on the last day, when all the dead are raised," Martha replied.

"I am the one who raises the dead to life!" said Jesus, in one of the most memorable statements He ever made. "Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?"

"Yes Lord!" Martha replied. "I believe that you are Christ, the son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world."

"Where's Mary?" asked Jesus. Martha went to the house and found her sister with all the mourners, who were trying to comfort her.

"The Teacher is here," she whispered, "and he wants to see you." Silently Mary got up and went outside with her sister. Thinking that the two women were going to the tomb to weep, the mourners followed them. It was a sad, sad procession. Marry was crying bitterly, and the others were crying with her. Then Mary caught sight of Jesus. "Lord," She sobbed, what do you think she will say to Jesus?

"If you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died." But He didn't try to explain. "Where have you put his body?" He asked gently.

"Lord, come and you'll see," she said. So they went to the tomb. Everybody was weeping now. And the Bible says that even Jesus started crying. Tears streamed down the cheeks of the King as He cried in sympathy for the broken-hearted people. The Bible gives us one of the shortest verses: "Jesus wept".

"See how much he loved Lazarus," some of the people remarked. And had they known why He was crying, they might have said, "See how much He loves everybody!" Because it wasn't only for Mary and Martha that He wept that day, but for all who mourn in every age-young and old, right and poor, from all over the world. Those tears of Jesus tell us how much He cares for us. If you're feeling sad and lonely just now, think about them. They'll comfort you, for His great heart of love is still touched by our sadness.

Coming to the tomb, which was a cave with a large stone rolled in front of it, the mourners stood still, wondering what Jesus was going to do. "Roll the stone away," He commanded. The mourners were horrified. Martha, always practical, urged Him not to do it. "Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell." Sensing their doubt, Jesus answered with a tone of authority in His voice, "Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?" The stone was taken away. Then Jesus began to pray. "Father, I thank you for answering my prayer," He said, as though He had been in prayer for some time.

Then He went on, "I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so that the people here would believe that you sent me." By this time the crowd had become completely silent. Everyone had stopped crying. All their attention was now concentrated on Jesus.

What was He planning to do? Surely He wasn’t going to try and bring a man back to life who’d been dead for four days!

Then Jesus commanded, “Lazarus, come out!” Everyone turned to the opening of the cave. There was a rustling sound within. Something, somebody, was moving about inside! Surely, it couldn’t be… but it was. A moment later Lazarus appeared. He was a shocking sight, because the cloth was wrapped around his face, and his hands and feet were still bound in the bandages that undertakers wound around the dead in those days.

How he managed to reach the entrance of the cave like that is a mystery, but there he was and the people gasped in awe. “Untie him and let him go,” Jesus said, and they did.

Then what a joyful scene took place! I imagine Lazarus threw his arms around Mary and Martha and kissed them. Then he shook hands with all his old friends who’d never dreamed they’d see him alive again.

Maybe they felt him all over to make sure he was real. He was perhaps they asked him what it felt like to be dead, but he couldn’t remember anything. “It was just like being sound asleep,” He told them.

So again, Jesus turned sorrow into joy, and tears of mourning into tears of happiness. When Mary and Martha looked around to thank Him for all He had done for them, He was nowhere to be seen. He had just quietly walked away.