The Parables of Jesus 2010 August

A suitable song as children come in might be ‘The wise man built his house upon a rock.’

Show the spotlight icon image from PIXAR: (can be obtained from the website)

Pixar (Disney) are the film makers of such films as Toy Story, The Incredibles, Monster’s Inc, Nemo etc., (show illustrations from these and ask the children to guess which ones they are...again obtainable from the website)

Explain how Jesus was real genius, and ahead of his time as far as telling good stories is concerned. Look at the following table:

Show some pictures of famous parables and see if the children can recognise them. (again examples from internet)

According to PIXAR this is what makes a fantastic story. Look at these and see that the pattern of Jesus’ storytelling is here too!

1 The story should be about the real world

2 Look at your characters carefully, and watch everything they do! OBSERVE!

3 Be creative. Look at colour and texture.

4 Really get to know your characters

5 Be fearless. Say what you mean.

6 Make it a story that will be remembered for a very long time.

7 Consult experts, to give you insight,

8 Keep it simple

9 Make it a story for adults as well as children

10 Break the story telling rules. They don’t always have to have a happy ending.

Jesus did all this and more, as he told his stories. He was a very clever story teller.

Teaching was a very important part of his work. He was trying to make God known to the people.

There were no TV’s, or videos, or DVD’s in his day, yet all his stories were so fresh and colourful, and we still tell them today.

The parables may not have been fully understood then, but truth shone them through and even now we can read them and find all different kind of meanings and messages in them. . . just like many of the Pixar films. e.g

Ø Toy Story says to me ‘Work as a Team

Ø The Incredibles says fight against what is wrong and don’t give up

Ø Monster’s Inc invites us not to judge people before we get to know them.

Ø Finding Nemo helps us to see that the love between family members is important and also to ignore our parent’s advice we can get into trouble.

Ø Cars is about friends and family being important

Ø Ratatouille is all about using our talent

Ø A Bug’s life says ‘Make a difference in the world!’

There are 50 parables recorded in the bible; some are only one sentence long.

Some are parable about God’s kingdom...obeying him and following his way.

Some are about God’s love for us.

Some are about the way we should treat one another.

Some were told as a telling off, to those who should have known better.

They were relevant, easy to remember and were all about everyday life.

Show example of one in animation:

From Puppets ‘n’ Parables, an interactive DVD