SUPER HERO THEME TITLE: WHERE IS OUR SUPER HERO? GRADE SCHOOL GRADES 2-6 LESSON 2 THE FAMILY TREE OF JESUS, OUR SUPERHERO PURPOSE The purpose of this lesson is to show the children how we are all related to one another by a family tree and that Jesus is a part of our family tree, too. The children will be able to tell you that the disciple, Matthew wrote about the life of Jesus in the Bible book of Matthew. They will tell you that Matthew was a tax collector, who became a disciple of Jesus. He witnessed and helped Jesus tell others about God and that Jesus was the son of God who would save us from our sins. In the first chapter of Matthew, Matthew writes about the family tree of JESUS, OUR SUPERHERO, and how he was born. TEACHER PREPARATION The teacher will pray for guidance and direction from God regarding the interpretation of His Word. Matthew 1 needs to be read and studied to be prepared to teach this lesson. SUPPLIES NEEDED Magnetic White Board Dry Erase Markers of different colors Story Board pictures for Lesson Two (see pages 6-10) Game Building A Family Tree (see page 3) Copies of the Activity Take Home Page for Lesson Two (see page 5) ROOM SET UP Place Age Sign on Door Have attendance cards ready with pen INTRODUCTION The teacher will ask the children to sit around the story board for the lesson. To start a discussion, the teacher will ask the children where their favorite superhero came from.in other words, how their superhero was born. Have them describe the birth of their superhero. As a teacher, be prepared to insert your own knowledge of a birth of a superhero. Then, continue to ask the children, Does your superhero have relatives?
-2- As the children discuss relatives, have a child draw a tree on the white board with branches. Using circles, put in the general family names of mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmothers, grandfathers to show how everyone has relatives. Ask the children if our superhero, JESUS had a family tree. How could we find out about that family tree? BIBLE LESSON The teacher will hand out Bibles to each child or encourage them to bring their own Bible. Special rewards could be given for bringing their Bible. The children will open their Bibles to the book of Matthew, learning that it is the first book of the New Testament. Who wrote the book of Matthew? (Matthew) Who was he? (Story board picture #1) (He was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus) What did disciples do? (Witness to the works of Jesus, helped others, and helped Jesus everywhere he went, learning all about how God wants us to live.) Matthew believed in Jesus and loved him dearly. He wrote about the life of Jesus, our SUPERHERO. In Matthew 1:1-17, Matthew tells us of the family tree of JESUS, OUR SUPERHERO, the grandfathers, fathers, brothers of Jesus. It has a lot of strange names like (story board picture #2) Can we always remember all the names of our family from a long time ago? In Matthew 1:18-25, Matthew tells a short story of the birth of Jesus. The mother of Jesus is Mary (storyboard picture #3) who was pregnant from God. His father was Joseph (storyboard picture #3) who was to wed Mary, but he was so upset that she was pregnant. So God sent an angel (storyboard picture #4) to speak to Joseph about Mary being pregnant with a baby boy who was God s son and whose name would be Jesus. The angel told him that Jesus was going to save the people from their sins. So Joseph was no longer afraid and he married Mary and she gave birth to a boy (storyboard picture #5) and named him Jesus just as God had asked him to do. CONCLUSION By reading the Bible book of Matthew, we see that Jesus had a family tree like us that he was a part of our ancestors. God had told his people that He would send a savior to save them a long time ago and that Jesus would come from ancestors of a King. Look for King David in the chapter. What verse shows that Jesus had King David as his ancestor (verse 6). God was true to His word. Jesus was so very special, like any superhero, because God was his real father and that he had a special mission to do..save people from their sins. Now, we know more about JESUS, OUR SUPERHERO!
-3- PRAYER The teacher will ask the children to pray to God, reminding them that we need to close our eyes, so that we are not looking at things, fold our hands, so we are not playing with things, and bow our heads to let God know that we recognize His awesome power. We need to thank God for our family tree and for God sending us Jesus to live on earth with us and to be a superhero and save us from our sins. Amen. GAME- GROW THE FAMILY TREE 40 precut green triangles with precut names of ancestors taped to each triangle according to Matthew 1:1-17 (see page 6-8) Timer Tape Precut trunk of a tree cut from construction paper This game is called GROW THE FAMILY TREE. The teacher will choose one child to put tape on a triangle, another child to place it on the trunk of the Family Tree and the rest of the children will have some green triangles with an ancestor name on it. The challenge is to get the family tree of Jesus built according to Matthew by the time the timer goes off. There will be 40 green triangles which can be divided among the children. Set up an area on the floor for this activity. The teacher will call out the ancestor s name and the child that has that triangle will give it to the child who has tape, and that person with the tape will put it on the back of the triangle and give it to the person who will put it on the tree to make it grow. Draw a crown, to note King David as the father of Solomon. The Bible tells us in the Old Testament that the Messiah would be descendents of Abraham and King David. If all the children hold their stations and everyone uses encouraging words to get the tree finished by the time the timer goes off, then hand out rewards.
-4- ACTIVITY TAKE HOME PAGE - WHO IS MISSING? (5) Popsicle Sticks per child Glue Copies of Activity Page (see page 5) Markers Pencils The teacher will pass out the Activity Page. The teacher will ask the children who is missing in the picture of the birth of Baby Jesus. It will be noted that there were animals there and baby Jesus, but that Mary and Joseph are not in the picture. The teacher will ask the children to draw Mary and Joseph in the picture and then ask where is God? They will have a short discussion as the children determine how to put God s presence on their picture. (A suggestion would be that the star showed the glory of God there as Jesus was born a baby.) Then each child will glue their popsicle sticks to the picture to form the place where Jesus was born as our SUPERHERO! The teacher will encourage the children to ask their parents to tell them the story of their special birth and who was there.
-5- TAKE HOME ACTIVITY PAGE FOR LESSON TWO WHO IS MISSING AT THE BIRTH OF JESUS, OUR SUPER HERO? PARENTS: READ MATTHEW 1 TELL YOUR CHILD THE STORY OF THEIR BIRTH AND WHO WAS THERE!
-6- STORY BOARD PICTURES FOR LESSON TWO #1 #2 Cut out names & tape to triangles: JESUS CHRIST MARY AND JOSEPH JACOB, FATHER OF JOSEPH MATTHAN, FATHER OF JACOB ELEAZAR, FATHER OF MATTHAN ELIUD, FATHER OF ELEAZAR AKIM, FATHER OF ELIUD ZADOK, FATHER OF AKIM AZOR, FATHER OF ZADOK
-7- ELIAKIM, FATHER OF AZOR ABIUD, FATHER OF ELIAKIM ZERUBBABEL, FATHER OF ABIUD SHEALTIEL, FATHER OF ZERUBBABEL JECONIAH, FATHER OF SHEALTIEL JOSIAH, FATHER OF JECONIAH AMON, FATHER OF JOSIAH MANASSEH, FATHER OF AMON HEZEKIAH, FATHER OF MANASSEH AHAZ, THE FATHER OF HEZEKIAH JOTHAM, THE FATHER OF AHAZ UZZIAH, THE FATHER OF JOTHAM JEHORAM, THE FATHER OF UZZIAH JEHOSHAPHAT, THE FATHER OF JEHORAM ASA, THE FATHER OF JEHOSHAPHAT- ABIJAH, THE FATHER OF ASA
-8- REHOBOAM, THE FATHER OF ABIJAH SOLOMON, THE FATHER OF REHOBOAM KING DAVID, FATHER OF SOLOMON JESSE, THE FATHER OF KING DAVID OBED, THE FATHER OF JESSE BOAZ, THE FATHER OF OBED, MOTHER RUTH SALMON, THE FATHER OF BOAZ NAHSHON, THE FATHER OF SALMON AMMINADAB, THE FATHER OF NAHSHON RAM, THE FATHER OF AMMINADAB HEZRON, THE FATHER OF RAM PEREZ, THE FATHER OF HEZRON JUDAH, THE FATHER OF PEREZ JACOB, THE FATHER OF JUDAH ISAAC, THE FATHER OF JACOB ABRAHAM, FATHER OF ISAAC
-9- STORY BOARD PICTURES FOR LESSON TWO continued.. #3 #4
-10- STORY BOARD PICTURES FOR LESSON TWO continued #5