Year 3. Christianity. PARABLES (Spring 1)

Session 1   - How did Jesus teach about God and values through parables?

KEY WORDS God; Jesus; Parables

Class discussion and recap of work completed in KS1.

Questions- answer the following questions....

What is a parable? Can you remember any, maybe one or two of the parables? Who told these? Let's take a look...

Why did Jesus teach about God through parables?   

What ideas do you have?

Session 2 - How was Jesus explaining about pride and humility through the Parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee?

KEY WORDS pride; humility

Tell the story of the Pharisee & the tax collector. (Luke 18:10-14).

Explain what a tax collector & a Pharisee were.

Why did Jesus tell the story?

List ideas in class on the white board.

Remind why Jesus told stories in parables.

 

Draw the tax collector and the Pharisee during a guided reflection. How did it feel? Who did you associate more with? Art Gallery showing pride and boasting about your work, then change to show humility about your work. Check on understanding of pride and humility.

Explore the feelings of both the tax collector & the Pharisee in role-play by hot seating the character in small groups. Children take turns.

• How did they feel?

Watch the two clips and complete the discussion

Discuss how they feel when they are left out of a game? How do they respond? How did the tax collector in the parable feel? Who is the outsider in this story? How did the Pharisee feel at the end of the story? Who is like the Pharisee in today’s society?

What questions would the children ask God about this story if they could? Is God being fair?

Session 3 Can you explain how the parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee teaches about being closer to God

KEY WORDS Assesing concepts above

Written assessment session.

Complete a written piece of work as a diary entry of the Tax Collector and Pharisee and a text back from God explaining his views on their actions.

Include some aspects of the parable in their work, be referencing pride and humility and how this brings closer to or further away from God.

You could show a film link to remind of the story.

Session 4 What does the Parable of the Friend at Midnight teach a Christian about prayer?

KEY WORDS Persistence in prayer

Using the children & props, (bread, bed, etc) tell the story of the parable of the friend at midnight(Luke 11:5-12).

What did the man in the story do in order to get some sleep?

Why did the friend keep knocking at the door?

I wonder how the man felt?

How did Jesus say the man asleep was like God?

Compile a list of characteristics about God that Jesus was illustrating.

Why did Jesus tell the story?

Explore the parable and a discussion on Prayer.

Does God answer prayers?

Session 5 - How does the Parable of the Judge and the Widow explore the relationship between a Christian and God?

Explore the parable of the unjust judge & persistent widow, (Luke 18:3-7).

Explore and discuss or debate the following questions...

How did the judge behave? How did the widow behave? Why did the widow keep asking the judge? How did he respond? How did Jesus compare the judge to God? What was Jesus trying to teach about God? How does this parable teach about a Christian’s relationship with God?

Record your answers on your worksheet.

Kingdom of God - What is the Kingdom and God and how does the mustard seed help to explore this concept?

Adult help is needed : Have some mustard seeds which you pour from the packet into your hand. Explain how tiny this seed is, have you ever seen a seed so small?  How big a plant will this grow into? Have some guesses together. It can end up higher than 3 metres high. Look at the text of the parable. Matthew (13:31–32), Mark (4:30–32), and Luke (13:18–19). It is mentioned in three different Gospels. Can you remember what a Gospel is? 

Adult please try and have a go at explaining the meaning leading to how great things grow from small beginnings. Compare to acorns and oak trees. Explore how Jesus’ mission started small and he gathered together 12 disciples who then continued with his work. The Kingdom of God grew as more and more people believed in Jesus and passed on this belief to others. Look at an apple, cut it open, how many seeds are in it. If each seed grows into a tree which creates more apples and seeds then how many apples will there be in 50 years? This shows how Christians believe the Kingdom of God can grow. Explain to your chlid that this is not the only meaning for this parable and it can be interpreted in different ways.

Research a modern day example of something which started small, has grown and made a difference.