We've been studying the life of Christ cronologically. Each week, we see a different event in His life - from His birth, to going to the temple as a boy, calling the first disciples, etc.
So, two weeks ago, we wondered how we could make the story of Jesus' first miracle something memorable. So we MADE the wedding feast as similar to a wedding feast in Jesus' time as we could, being in 2009 in Mexico...
Short tables and seating on the floor, clay cups, green olives, grapes, pita bread with hummus, grape juice, and even Jewish party music!
We saw how Jesus demonstrated that he was both HUMAN, like us, and GOD, all powerful. Read John 2:1-11, and see in which ways He demonstrated both!
And last week, as the students entered the room (Trawpilandia, the elementary school kids' room, which means the land of growth), they saw tables laying on their sides, overturned chairs, some Bible-looking clothes scattered around, clay dishes from the week before tossed here and there, and money sprinkled on the floor... (We wanted to bring in a few white, furry dogs that could pass for small sheep, or even a friend's chihuahua, but no one wanted to clean up poop...)
We looked at John 2:12-22, about Jesus getting rid of the vendors and advantage-taking money changers in the Temple ("Hey! Over here! I'll give you 8 pesos per dollar!!") So, why did Jesus upset these guys in the Temple? The people were likely using the Temple for personal financial gain, AND they were doing it in the Temple Courts, which is the area that the gentiles were allowed to enter to worship God. So, the gentiles probably couldn't do a lot of praying and worshipping during the Passover time if there were a bunch of sales going on in their area of worship. And, most of the people in the Court area were probably there to get rich, and not to worship. Jesus loved His Father SO much, that He wanted the people to respect God how they should. His Father was/is His passion! Maybe it was ok for vendors to sell animals for sacrifices, or change money (13 pesos to the dollar please!) for foreigners coming to worship at Passover. But when the point of the booths in the Temple becomes personal gain instead of helping people to worship, it totally defeats the purpose. And since Jesus is passionate about people truly worshipping His Father, He put a stop to those who were abusing the right to be in the Temple Courts.
I don't have pictures of the overtuned room we "set-up" last week, but I hope it will help the idea of the passion Jesus has for His Father to stick with the students.
What are YOU passionate about?
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