Rotation.org Writing Team

JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

GAMES WORKSHOP

PASSAGE

Bible Story: Luke 2:41-52
Key/Memory Verse: Luke 2:52

PURPOSE

Objectives for Rotation

After completing this Rotation, participants will be able to:

• Locate the story in the Bible;
  
• Identify the book of Luke as a New Testament Gospel;
  
• Tell the story of Jesus in the temple as a young boy;
  
• Explore the ways this story shows us that Jesus is human as well as divine;
  
• Identify Jesus' priority to learn in the house of God and relate our need to do likewise;
  
• Realize that participation in a community of faith helps us to learn our identity as a child of God;
  
• Compare Mary and Joseph's search for Jesus to our own search for God's presence in our lives.
  

Specific objectives for games workshop:

• Use “pictograms” to represent each verse of the story;
  
• Retell the story in the correct sequence by arranging the “pictograms” in proper order;
  
• Identify the surprises in this story: how does Jesus’ behavior differ from what we expect;
  
• Explore the possible significance of these surprises.
  

PREPARATION

Read Bible Background for this rotation

Materials List

• Bibles
  
• Cardstock paper, 8 ½ x 11 -- 13 sheets for sequencing game, 13 more sheets for concentration game, and additional sheets for desired number of “Go Fish” card decks
  
• Clip art (Optional)
  
• List of Pictograms listed in Advance Preparation
  
• Markers (Optional)
  
• Prizes such as bookmarks, candies, and so forth, 1 or more per child
  

Advance Preparation Requirements

Read and study the Bible Background.

Adapt the game cards to the Bible translation you use in your classroom

Create 1 set of thirteen 8-1/2 x 11 pictograms for the sequencing activity. The pictogram posters and playing cards can be created using free clip art from Microsoft. However, Microsoft prohibits third parties from distributing their clip art as some of it belongs to folks from whom Microsoft has simply licensed its use. If you use the descriptions of each pictogram listed in Advance Preparation in the Microsoft search engine, you can easily replicate these for yourself.

The pictograms to use include:

13 Pictograms
New Revised Standard Version of the Bible for quotations
The words in parentheses describe the clip art used to illustrate this verse in the pdf format.

1. Luke 2:41-52 -- New Testament -- Gospel of Luke (Open Bible)

2. Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. (Moses parting the Red Sea)

3. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. (Number 12)

4. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. (Skyline of Jerusalem)

5. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. (Eye -- Searching)

6. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. (Map and Telescope)

7. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. (3 sets of suns and moons)

8. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. (Rabbi reading scroll)

9. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” (Worry)

10. He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Why? Question mark)

11. But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. (Road sign)

12. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. (Woman pondering)

13. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. (Brain and muscle, dove and crowd)

Duplicate this set to play “concentration.”

Reduce the size of the pictograms so that you can fit 6 on an 8-1/2 x 11-inch paper. These will be your playing card decks for the “go fish” game.

Create enough sets of “go fish” card decks to allow 1 deck for every 4 students – one deck can consist of either 52 cards (4 copies of each pictogram) or 26 cards (2 copies of each pictogram). Base your choice on your resources and the length of time available to you. More cards make the games last longer, but they also require more preparation.

Unless these cards get very heavy use, lamination is usually an unnecessary expense, but encourage the students to treat the cards gently. A dog-eared card can make a game less fun if the students can tell “face down” which pictogram it is.

PRESENTATION

Open – Introduction

Lead a discussion with students about the ages at which young people begin to assume adult responsibilities. Some questions might include:

When are young people allowed to drive a car? Vote in elections? Enter into the armed services? Fly in a plane without an accompanying adult? [Southwest Airlines, for example, sets a lower limit of age 5 for flying alone and requires that it be a direct flight.]

You may want to include the rules for membership participation in your church – when are young people able to exercise the rights and responsibilities of adults in the congregation?

What kinds of training/ preparation are required before exercising these rights and responsibilities?

Why are children not allowed to do these things?

What happens if children violate these age limits?

Continue with a discussion about how Jesus must have prepared for his earthly ministry. Some questions might include:

Do you imagine that Jesus read the Hebrew Bible? (As an adult Jesus often quoted verses from the scripture. He must have learned it well.)

Do you imagine that Jesus prayed as a child? (The Bible tells us that Jesus often went off by himself to pray as an adult. He must have learned to do this as a young person, too.)

How did people in Jesus’ time learn to do the work that would support them? How did they learn a job? (Generally, a son would learn to do what his father did by working with him and a daughter would learn to care for the family by working with her mother.)

What would people have expected Jesus to do when he grew up? (In both Matthew and Mark people refer to Jesus as “the carpenter’s son.”)

Only one story, located in the Gospel of Luke, allows us to see Jesus as a young person.

Dig - Main Content

Read/tell the story BY:

Dividing the students into 13 groups so that you can distribute a pictogram to each student. If you have fewer than 13 students, ask for volunteers to take two pictograms.

Asking the students to be prepared to read their card when it is their turn. If you have non-readers, be sure they know what their card says.

Directing the students to share their cards in the proper order.

Sequence the cards.

Invite the students to trade cards with someone, making sure they know what their new card says.

Have the students arrange themselves in the proper sequence.

Read/tell the story a second time, pausing to discuss each card, filling in information from the Bible Background. (For example, make sure the students know what the festival of the Passover is, how far the trip was from Nazareth to Jerusalem, etc.)

Games

Concentration (played by the whole class as a group)

Place two sets of cards, face down, on a table or pin them to a bulletin board where students can reach them. Use a random order.

Divide the group into two teams.

Alternating teams, invite one student to turn over two cards. If the two cards which have been turned over are identical, that team removes them from the board (leaving their spaces blank) and keeps the cards.

The team with the most matches wins.

“Go to the Temple” (a form of Go Fish)

Divide the group into teams of four, with a deck of cards for each team.

Deal 7 cards to each player. Turn the remaining cards face down in a stack on the table.

Beginning with the dealer, each student asks one of the other students for one of the cards. If that student has the card requested, he or she must give all of those cards to the one who asked. If not, the reply is “Go to the Temple.” The one who asked must draw a card from the stack.

When a player gets all 4 of any one card, the 4 are put face up in a pile in front of that player. (I recommend against the normal practice of awarding an extra turn to someone who has made a book of 4. This can slow down the game for the other participants.)

Simple prizes (bookmarks, etc.) can make the games more fun. Use inventive ways to award lots of prizes, such as recognizing a particularly considerate player, the player with the most winning smile, etc.

Reflect – Closure

Ask the students what surprises them about this story.

Surprises could include: that Jesus stayed behind, that the young Jesus amazed the teachers, that Jesus called the temple “my Father’s house,” that Jesus seemed to disobey his parents and then returned to Nazareth with them obediently.

Revisit your discussion of how young people grow into adult responsibilities. Wonder about how Jesus knew that God was his Father and about how we, too, know that Jesus is God's Son.

Pray together, closing with a petition from the key verse (such as, “May we all continue to grow wise, and strong. May we please both God and the people God has given us.”)

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

Adaptations - Younger Children

If you play “Go to the Temple,” use fewer cards (only a “half” deck of 26 cards.) This only requires two cards to complete the match before laying them in front of the player. Deal only 4 cards to each player.

You could use the “Go to the Temple” cards to play individual games of Concentration if your group prefers this game or if you have extra time.

CONTRIBUTOR: Anne Camp