Theme: My country: South Africa
Bible Story: Jesus washes the disciples’ feet
Value: Love and help others
Jesus washes His disciples’ feet
Jesus, the Son of God, did many amazing things when He was on earth. He healed people who were sick, made blind people see and fed lots of hungry people.
One day, Jesus and His special friends, the disciples, were eating together. Jesus loved His friends very much. He wanted to show them how to love others.
After they ate, Jesus did something surprising. He got up, took a towel and poured water into a bowl. Then, He knelt in front of His friends. Do you know what He did next? He began to wash His friends’ feet!
Back then, people wore sandals and their feet would get very dirty from walking on dusty roads. Usually, a servant would wash the feet, but Jesus, their teacher, chose to do it instead.
One of His friends, Peter, was very surprised. “Jesus, you shouldn’t wash my feet!” Peter said. But Jesus told him, “You won’t understand now, but you will understand later.”
After Jesus finished washing all of His friends’ feet, He said, “I did this to teach you something important. Just like I washed your feet, you should love and help each other too.”
(John 13:1-17)
- Opening
(Show a pair of sandals or flip-flops) What do I have here in my hand? What happens when I walk in the mud with my sandals? In the Bible, people only wore sandals, which meant that their feet got very dirty.
Today we will read about a time when Jesus washed His friends’ dirty, smelly feet! Let’s read the Bible story.
- Discovery
Can you remember the story that you heard yesterday?
Yes, we talked about how Jesus washed His friends’ feet. Let’s read the Bible story again.
What is your favourite part of the story?
Which one in the picture is Jesus?
How many sandals do you see in the picture?
- Retell
Can you tell me what happened in our story yesterday? (Ask leading questions and guide the child using the picture and story.)
How do you think His friends felt when Jesus washed their feet?
Tell me about a time when someone did something special for you? How did it feel?
Would you like washing your friends’ smelly, dirty feet?
- Value
This week we’ve been talking about how Jesus washed His friends’ feet. Jesus showed us that loving others means serving and helping them, even when we don’t feel like it sometimes. We can show love just like Jesus did, by sharing our toys, being kind to friends and helping our parents around the house.
What are some of the ways you can show love to someone?
- Activity
In our Bible story this week Jesus showed us how important (and easy!) it can be to show love to our family, friends and even to people we don’t know. Today, we are going to show love to one another, just like Jesus did!
(Prepare a bowl with water, a washcloth, towel and seat beforehand. Put on calm worship music and have the children line up to have their feet washed. Help the children as the first child wipes the second child’s feet. The first child moves to the back of the line, the second child then wipes the third child’s feet and so on, until all the children’s feet have been washed.)