Year B. 4th Term. Lesson 4. Bible buddy- Little boy who shared his lunch

Scripture: for teacher background:  Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9 and John 6

Making contact:

Take the children outside if possible for a little picnic. They probably need to share. It might be a good idea for you to make extra sandwiches for them. 

As they eat their bread, tell them the story.

 Exploration:

Jesus wanted to take His disciples to a quiet place after all the crowds of people who He had been teaching and healing, but the crowds followed them.

 There were over 5 000 men plus women and children. Jesus taught them and prayed for them. It was getting late and the people were hungry. 

Jesus said His disciples must give them something to eat. They said they couldn’t – it would be 8 months salary to feed all those people.

Andrew, Peter’s brother spoke up. He said there was a little boy with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, but that was a drop in the ocean.

 This little boy must have been such a special little fellow, because he gave his lunch to Jesus. If you were hungry and wanted to eat, it would be difficult to give it away. 

I think this boy knew that Jesus was special. Sometimes children have more faith and love than adults!

Well, Jesus held the food in His hands and said grace. (By the way if Jesus gave thanks for food, then so should we.) 

He then started breaking the bread up into pieces. He handed these pieces to the disciples who grouped the people into rows of 50 and 100.

They handed out the fish and the bread and the whole crowd ate as much as they wanted. The disciples then collected up what hadn’t been eaten and there were 12 baskets – one for each disciple!

Application

Do you believe that Jesus can feed you? When we pray the prayer He taught us, we say, “Give us today our daily bread.”

I believe we can trust Jesus to give us food and I don’t think we should steal or beg. Those who have a lot should share like the little boy and pray that God will increase it to feed all the hungry people so that they don’t have to beg or steal.

Challenge to Mission

There are many hungry people, waiting for Jesus and the little boy. 

You are one of God's children who can help Jesus feed the hungry people. Trust Him to use you and pray for ways to help. 

Share the little you have and watch for miracles.

Jesus said that one day when we all stand before Him, He is going to ask who fed the hungry, visited the sick etc because this shows who His true children are.

Consolidation

 Worksheet. There is an extra sheet with a word search.

Memory Verse

“Do not forget to do good and to share with others.” Hebrews 13:16

Write the memory verse on cardboard shapes that look like bread.

Or

You could use little bread rolls and tuck a piece of paper in each bread roll with 2 or 3 words from the memory verse on. Break the rolls open to find the memory verse and distribute the bread.

Or

 You could also use one loaf of bread and hand out chunks after you have “found “ the memory verse.

This activity could be done at the beginning of the lesson instead of the picnic.