Lowered through the Roof

I can never get tired of Mark 2's account of Jesus healing the paralytic.  I taught that lesson yesterday for Children's Church.  I can always get so many points out of it, but the book whittled them down to about 3.

I made this house out of card stock.  The neon green house had a door, a front wall that would not close, and a sunroof.  I also had three guys on their knees, stuck together, while they lowered (actually threw) the paralyzed man through the roof to Jesus.  We also had four worksheets to color.  They will be a booklet.

Lesson 1.

Contrast America with a third world country.  Can you just go to a hospital if you are sick?  Can you go to the store and get Advil?  Will mom let you stay in bed all day?  No.

In Jesus’s time, the whole world lived as a third world country.  If a man is paralyzed, there is no medical innovation to keep him comfortable and he drains his friends and family of all their resources.  Such people usually died because they lacked people to care for them.  This man had some real friends.

Lesson 2.

Mark 2:1-4.  Is there someone you can be friends with who normally would not have friends?  These four men did that for the paralytic (have the kids name him.)  So, they come to Jesus for healing.  What does Jesus do?

Lesson 3.

Verse 5.  Why did Jesus heal that?  Let’s see what the others say.

Verses 6-7.  Do you agree?  Why would Jesus forgive this man’s sins when only God can forgive sins?  Because he is God.  Let’s see what else he says.

Verses 8-12.  Which is easier for God to do, forgive sins or heal diseases?  What did God do to forgive sins?  (Sent Jesus to die in our place). 

Lesson 4.

How do you define authority?  Jesus says he has authority to forgive sins?  How does he have this authority?