Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, you we thank you for giving us Jesus to be our Light. Help us to follow Him as we get ready for Easter. We ask this through Christ our Lord . Amen.
Sorry Song (to the tune of If you’re happy and you know it)
When we say that you are sorry, God forgives.
When we say that you are sorry, God forgives.
If our sins are large or small,
God will still forgive them all.
When we say that we are sorry, God forgives.
Then sing the Gloria (tune of Row, Row, Row your Boat)
Praise, praise, praise the Lord, Praise our Father dear.
As we listen to his word, feel his spirit near.
Gospel – Luke 24:35
The Lord be with you. All: And with your spirit. (teach them this)
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke. All: Glory to you, O Lord. (teach them this)
Early one morning two disciples of Jesus were walking sadly towards a village called Emmaus. They felt really sad as they talked about what had happened the past few days and the death of Jesus As they walked, Jesus himself joined them, but they did not recognize him.
Jesus asked them, "What are you talking about?"
One of them answered " Did you not hear what happened to Jesus of Nazareth! He was handed over to the chief priests and the Roman governor who had him crucified. We have heard that now his body is missing from the tomb where he laid and we don't know what happened to him."
Jesus said to them, "Do you not believe what the prophets have foretold? " And then he began to explain to them the prophecies about himself from the Old Testament. When they arrived at Emmaus, the disciples invited Jesus to stay and share a meal with them.
When they were at supper, Jesus took some bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. At that moment they saw clearly that the stranger was Jesus but by then he had already disappeared from their sight.
"Of course it was the Lord," they said "Our hearts seemed to burn when he read the scriptures to us. How could we have been so blind!"
and then they returned to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead and that they had known him in the breaking of the bread.
All: “Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ”
Suggestions for the Discussion
I have a couple of pictures to show you this morning. Here is the first picture. (Show the tree illusion.) What do you see? How many of you see a tree? Did anyone see anything besides a tree? Did anyone see a gorilla? If you didn't see a gorilla, look here on the left side of the picture. (Point to the gorilla.) Can everyone see it? Does anyone see anything besides the tree and the gorilla? How about a lion? Does anyone see a lion? Look here on the right side of the picture. (Point to the lion.) Now do you see it? So, if you look at this picture, you will see three different things—a tree, a gorilla, and a lion.
Here is the second picture. (Show the duck/rabbit picture.) What do you see? Does anyone see a rabbit? That is easy, isn't it? Here is the nose, an eye, and here are the ears. Does anyone see anything other than a rabbit? Oh, I see a duck! Here is the head and here is the duck's bill. Isn't it interesting how the picture changes depending on how you look at it!
Sometimes, like in these pictures, we don’t always see what is really there. It was easy to see the tree, but we might not see the gorilla or the lion until we look at the picture for a few minutes. The same thing is true of the rabbit and the duck. We might not see one or the other. Our Bible lesson today is about two men who had some difficulty in recognizing Jesus as he joined them as they were walking to a village called Emmaus.On the very same day that Jesus was raised from the grave, two of his followers were walking to Emmaus and talking about everything that happened over the past several days. As they walked along, Jesus joined them, but the Bible tells us that they were kept from recognizing him.
Jesus asked the men what they were talking about and they asked him if he was the only one who had not heard about what had happened to Jesus of Nazareth and how He had been crucified, buried and then disappeared from His tomb.
They continued walking and talking to Jesus. As they approached the village, Jesus continued on as if He were going farther, but the men urged Him to stay with them since the day was almost over. Jesus agreed and stayed with them. As they sat down at the table to eat, Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and gave it to them. When He did this, their eyes were opened and they recognized that it was Jesus, then He disappeared from their sight.
Sometimes, we don’t see the whole picture at first—like when we looked at the illusions at the beginning of this lesson—and as the men in our Bible lesson didn't recognize Jesus. You and I might not always see that Jesus is walking beside us, but He is there, walking with us and caring for us.
How can we remember Jesus in our lives every day? We can be thoughtful, more truthful and sharing . We should always pray every day, ask for forgiveness for our mistakes, and listen to our parents, carers etc. We can also encourage our friends to come to church as we do, to learn about God and Jesus.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, open our eyes that we might recognize that Jesus is with us as we walk through life's journey. We trust in him as he guides us in our daily walk and it is in his name we pray. .Amen.
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