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How do people react to Jesus
A week or so ago I was reading through the Christmas story and noticing the different reactions to Jesus’ birth. It started a few years ago when I did a Wise Men Bible study and noticed the priests who are supposed to be eagerly looking forward to the Messiah’s birth, didn’t travel the few miles to see if the long-awaited prophecy was finally happening. This year I noticed the shepherd’s response and a little-known passage. After some Bible study, I turned it into a Bible lesson, and a great way to extend the Wisemen meet Jesus lesson of my Advent series.
This is a take-home Wise Men Bible study
It’s a Wise Men Bible study for kids to do at home during the week. If we believe kids need to be in the Bible more than just the day they’re at church, then it’s a good idea to give them “homework” to learn more.
I made an older kid version that assumes you can read. There are four days’ worth of reading, about 10-20 verses. It will take about 20 minutes to read and answer all three questions, depending on how fast your child reads.
Then I made a picture book version of the same passages, for younger kids who can’t read to draw out the story.
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Some responded with indifference
This is the one I’ve been thinking about for years. The Wise Men came to King Herod and said, “Where is the new baby king?” Herod turned to his advisors, including some religious advisors, and they said, “Go to Bethlehem.”
Now, those same priests then sat there. They didn’t go and see the newly come Messiah, they sat there.
I think a lot of us now react this way.
As I thought through other reactions in the Gospels, I couldn’t think of anyone else reacting with such a lack of passion. So, I didn’t have a follow-up for this reaction.
Does anyone have a good idea to pair it with?
Some responded with fear
Herod heard the same thing the priests did and he believed enough to do something. He believed this news was a threat to him. In response, he decided to kill every baby 2 years old and younger. I chose not to illustrate that part of the story.
That’s a bit of overkill, but if he believed it was a credible threat, it was probably a good idea.
Fast forward 30 or so years, and the Pharisees reacted the same way. I started reading other passages to see how other people responded to Jesus when they met Him or heard of Him. The Pharisees responded with fear also. They knew Jesus would destroy their power base, just like Herod knew Jesus would destroy his power base.
Some responded with faith
The shepherds were just going about a perfectly normal night when the angels appeared their lives changed. They saw the newborn Jesus and told everyone. It was big enough news they went out and told everyone they could find.
Fast forward a few years, and Philip and Nathaniel meet Jesus. Philip meets him and immediately grabs his friend Nathaniel and says, “Come meet this amazing new teacher from Nazareth!”
Nathaniel probably has the most honest answer in a while, “Does anything good come from Nazareth?” It’s like the joke here in Texas since the UT/Oklahoma rivalry became a thing, “Is anything good from Oklahoma?”
But, he meets Jesus and changes his mind. He recognizes Jesus as the son of God.
Or Peter, Peter saw the great miracle Jesus did with the fish and he said, “Get away from me for I am a sinful man.”
Or as I put it in the summary for the little kids. “Jesus, go away. I am a bad man.” It can be a challenge sometimes to rephrase the Bible passage for an about first-grade reading level, while still keeping the point of the passage.”
Some responded with great faith
We talk about the wise men and their long journey. That takes great faith. Traveling then wasn’t fun. It can lead to crazy hijinks, or so I like to believe with our Wandering Wisemen.
That’s a lot of faith.
But, let’s look at the two other people who showed great faith that we don’t talk about. We are enamored of the people who traveled from afar, but two people simply waited.
Simeon and Anna were both old. They were waiting for God’s promised Messiah. They knew He was coming, so they waited at the temple.
FOR YEARS
When Jesus came, they recognized Him and praised God for His great gift.
In the same way, 3 decades later a centurion had great faith. His servant was sick, and he knew Jesus could heal him. He had such faith in Jesus’ ability to heal, that he didn’t even want Jesus to come to his house. He believed Jesus could say something right there, and the servant would be healed.
That would be great faith.
People still react the same way
We still are indifferent or hostile. We still believe or have great faith.
More Christmas thoughts
Comments
One response to “How do people react to Jesus”
It’s a good lesson. I always found it interesting that the Wisemen came from the East – implying that other cultures were more open and curious than a Jewish culture of the time.
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