4 Men Tear Up A Roof: Mark 2:1-12
We believe that spiritual development happens in the home as well as at church. We hope that these ideas will help you engage as a family. It’s designed to help you connect with your child about the lesson they had this past week. Use all the ideas one night, or spread them out throughout the week. Enjoy!
- SCIENCE EXPERIMENT items needed: pepper, water, pie pan, bar of soap (ivory works the best)
Fill the pie pan three-fourths the way with water. Sprinkle pepper all over the water surface. These are the people who filled the room, listening to Jesus and watching him heal people. Tell the children that the bar of soap represents the man who was on a mat, being let down through the roof by his friends. Rinse the soap so it is damp. Gently lay the soap flat on the surface of the water. The soap will go to the bottom (unless you have Ivory soap and it will float). What happened when the soap was placed on the surface of the water? The pepper moved back. How does that remind you of our story today? The friends could not get the paralyzed man through the door because no one would move aside. They had a Plan B, though, and let him down through the roof. This time, the people made room by stepping back, just like the pepper moved back.
- CRAFT: items needed: brown paper bags (various sizes), balloons, staplers, permanent markers, newspaper
Divide the kids into small groups (4 to a group). Each group will make their own paralyzed man out of the supplies at hand. The balloon can be the head, which can be given facial features by using permanent markers. The body can be made by stuffing the brown paper bags with newspaper and then stapling the bags together. After the man is assembled, the kids can use markers to add details. Get him put together well, because we’re going to use him in a game.
(If you don’t have the room for kids to make these, then provide a few for the upcoming activity.)
- ACTIVITY: items needed: brown bag man (from previous craft), misc. household objects (see below)
Take the brown bag man from the craft you made.
Each person can make their own or you can make one together as a family. The friends in our story brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus on a mat, carried him up some stairs, and let him down through the roof.
They were pretty determined and creative!
Let family members create silly ways that the brown bag person has to be carried through the house. Here’s a sample: Dad has to carry the brown bag person from the kitchen to garage in a skillet on top of his head.
Dad has to follow the instructions, then he gets to give someone else instructions that he makes up.
See who can come up with the most creative way to move the brown bag person around the house.
- KNOW YOUR BIBLE items needed: Bibles
Look up these verses together. You can find online versions of the Bible at http://www.biblegateway.com
If your mom told you about what she saw at the gorilla exhibit at the zoo, and you told about what you saw there, and your brother told about what he saw there, would everybody’s story be exactly the same? The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (known as the Gospels) are the same way.
Each one of these books was written by someone who was with Jesus, but they each tell it a little differently. Look up these three passages and see if you can see any differences in what they saw.
1. Matthew 9:2-8
2. Mark 2:1-12
3. Luke 5:18-26
Which one tells the least about getting the man through the roof? Which one tells us how many friends there were? Which one tells us in what city this happened?
- Scripture Memory
Galatians 3:22 (NCV)
”Instead, the Scriptures showed that the whole world is bound by sin. This was so the promise would be given through faith to people who believe in Jesus Christ.”
- Thought For The Week
AS SURVIVORS WE SHOULD BE DETERMINED TO BRING OUR FRIENDS TO GOD!