In today's class, we began with review of the notes written on the whiteboard, from last week’s class. They summarized all key elements from the lessons in December -- prophecies of the coming Messiah and the Christmas Story. Particular mention was made of Simeon and Anna and the prophetic words given to them concerning Jesus, by Holy Spirit.
Then the class started an activity. Only one student attended class today who had also attended last week, and that student did not have the Homework assignments completed. As a result, we did the ‘Thank You Note to God’ activity (from last week) in class so all students present in class would complete it today.
Today’s lesson is from Bible Adventures - Lesson 5. The New Testament portion of our lesson from Luke, Chapter 2, will cover the incident of Jesus in the Temple, after the Passover, at age 12. The Lesson Focus is: Jesus’ growth in wisdom is a good example for me. There was a Sunday School that Clicks video shown as an introduction, produced by BBC Worldwide, that is another of several we have featured using animals to start discussion and gain interest. Today the video featured dolphins. (Click Here to see the video.) Both the dolphins and the trainers enjoyed the tricks and skills that the dolphins were doing. The trainers stated that the tricks taught were based on observations of things the dolphins had done while in the ocean, “in the wild.” The training involved perfecting technique and learning to perform as directed by hand signals from people. Another key point of the training was “bonding” between the dolphins and trainers. The video was interesting and was enjoyed by the students. Plus, we used it to make a point that will connect to the lesson focus and the start of our actual lesson (the Old Testament portion, from Deuteronomy, Chapter 6).
The point is to ‘Love to Learn’ - spending time reading the Holy Bible and saying prayers asking for wisdom and revelation. “Learning is always more fun and rewarding when we are the ones who want to learn something new.” (quoted from ‘Clicks’ curriculum, page 2.) It’s true for dolphins, and for Jesus, who stayed in the Temple, eager to learn, even after it was time to go home. And, we will develop “a bond” with God Almighty and with Jesus Our Savior, in particular, as we get wisdom and revelation from our learning and as it is given directly to us by Holy Spirit. This bond of love is what is commanded in the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy 6: 4-7.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one![1]
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Footnotes:
- Deuteronomy 6:4 Or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone (that is, the only one)
These verses were read, repeated, and emphasized, and then the scene was set-up by giving background on going to Jerusalem for Passover. Then we used the lesson material from Bible Adventures to teach about the incident when Jesus was age 12 and He stayed behind, in the Temple, after the family had left to return home. The lesson and our discussion emphasized:
- The positive aspects of the incident, reflecting on Jesus’ gifted level of learning and spiritual development for a twelve year old, including His understanding that He was the Son of God.
- The fact that Jesus’ efforts in training/learning for ministry at age 12 were “jumping the gun”, that a rabbi would begin his ministry, in that culture, at age 30, that He was also the son of Mary and He needed to submit to His parents - which He did, returning to Nazareth.
- Jesus did learn and work in His trade, carpentry, while living in Nazareth with Mary and Joseph.
The lesson closed with reading the final Scripture Spotlight, which ends with Luke 2:52 --- 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Jesus is our example. He learned, and lived-out what was taught in Deuteronomy 6 -- to love God and other people.
The Memory Verse, assigned as the new verse this week is John 3: 16, and it also will be the Emphasis Memory Verse that will be re-assigned each week during the rest of this month. [Note: we are not using the verse given in Lesson 5, Philippians 1: 6, at this time]
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