Jesus Tree

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-Nine

Today’s reading was about Peter’s confession of Christ and his receiving the keys to heaven. We read all three accounts, from Matthew 16:13-20, Mark 8:27-30, and Luke 9:18-21. The Matthew reading is the most detailed, and I love the boldness of Peter’s response when Jesus asks Peter Who he says Jesus is: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter may have stuck his foot in his mouth a lot, (one of the reasons I like him so much…I can relate to him!), but he also had a great faith, and is a great example to believers.

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-Eight

Today’s reading was a classic–the story of Zacchaeus, found in Luke 19:1-10. I don’t think that there’s a child that isn’t familiar with this story, but it’s still a good one to read when presented with the opportunity. This is another passage that reminds us that Jesus came to seek the lost, as Zacchaeus was a sinner just like us. Not only that, but he was generally hated by his peers, because of his status as a rich tax collector. And yet, Zacchaeus came to faith, and made amends for the wrong he had done, and while others may have complained about Jesus’s acceptance of him, Jesus Himself rejoiced that another who was lost had been saved.

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-Seven

Today’s reading focused on Jesus healing the centurion’s servant in Matthew 8:5-13. This is a great story, because it shows the faith of an “outsider,” and serves as a reminder that Jesus came to save all, not just the Jews. It also gave us an opportunity to practice our Latin, as the children attempted to define “centurion” based on what they’ve learned this year!

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-Six

Today’s reading focused on Jesus healing the man with the withered hand. We read all three accounts: Matthew 12:9-13, Mark 3:1-5, and Luke 6:6-10. This is a fairly short story, and perhaps not as “exciting” as some of Jesus’s other miracles, but the really important message here comes from His conversation with the Pharisees. They tried to trap Jesus, by forcing Him to admit that He was doing unlawful work on the Sabbath, by healing the man’s hand. He turned it around on them, though, and pointed out to them that they would rescue an animal that had been trapped, without worrying about the Sabbath. He then ended by reminding them that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-Five

Today’s readings were about Jesus healing the man born blind. We read three different accounts from Matthew 20:29-34, Luke 18:35-43, and John 9:1-41. Actually, I was interested to discover, (because I had somehow never noticed it before), that in Matthew, it was actually two blind men that were healed. The Luke and John accounts, by contrast, only include one blind man. And the John account goes into a great amount of detail about how the man was healed, and what happened when the Pharisees questioned him afterward…to the point where I wonder if John is recounting a different healing altogether. I’ve been too lazy to actually look it up and see, however!

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-Four

Today marks the halfway point for our Jesus Tree readings and symbols, (but only because I added an extra one for Easter Monday, bringing the total to forty-eight). Our readings today focused on the calling of the disciple Matthew, (who was previously a tax collector, thus the money bag symbol), and we read all three accounts: Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; and Luke 5:27-32.

We found it interesting that only Matthew referred to himself by that name in his Gospel…the other two called him Levi, his Hebrew name. It was also interesting to note that while all three Gospels mentioned Jesus dining with tax collectors and sinners, (and the Pharisees’ subsequent complaining about this fact), only Luke mentions that the feast was being given by Matthew, (Levi), which makes a lot of sense, and helps the story flow better knowing that–of course he would invite people like him to a dinner party!

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-Three

Today’s reading was the story of the rich man and Lazarus as found in Luke 16:19-31. It’s a slightly less-familiar reading, at least for my children, so they really listened to the story. This led to a discussion about how people are given the chance to hear to the Word while on Earth, and there are no “do-overs” once you die. I thought that using an angel for the symbol was a bit of a stretch, because angels are only given the briefest of mention in verse 22, but then again, I guess I wouldn’t want a flame representing Hell on the tree, either. Not an easy reading to come up with a symbol for!

This was the first day where I had to use a children’s Bible not published by CPH to do our evening reading. Instead, I used our copy of the Egermeier’s Bible Story Book. This is also a good children’s Bible, because of how thorough it is. It covers more stories than are usually found in a children’s Bible, (like today’s reading),the stories tend to be longer and more detailed, and it also uses more sophisticated language than children’s Bibles tend to. It’s still a simplified version of the actual Bible text, but can be helpful in getting children used to listening to something a little closer to the words from the Bible.

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-Two

Today’s reading was The Parable of The Prodigal Son from Luke 15:11-32. You could also easily call this “The Parable of The Lost Son,” as it falls in the same chapter of Luke as The Parables of The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin, thus emphasizing how Jesus came to seek the lost. I have also heard this parable referred to by a pastor as “The Parable of The Waiting Father,” thus putting the emphasis of the story on God, and not on us. I really like that way of looking at it, and I shared that with the children as we read the story. While there is certainly more information in the parable about the son and his exploits, the real point of the story is the father, who waited, and then welcomed his wayward son with open arms, (and a ring, as pictured in the symbol for today)  just as God does with us sinners. No matter how you refer to it, it’s a great analogy of God’s love for (and patience with) us!

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty-One

Today’s story was about Nicodemus visiting Jesus at night as recorded in John 3:1-15. Because this story focuses on being born again via Baptism, the symbol to go with the reading is a dove on a water drop. We had a good discussion about who Nicodemus was, and why he came to Jesus at night, instead of during the day. We also talked about the faith of Nicodemus, and how he believed in Jesus, even though his station in life and associates would suggest he “shouldn’t” have.

The Jesus Tree–Day Twenty

Today’s reading was about Jesus healing an invalid man at the pool of Bethesda, found in John 5:1-15. This is another familiar story, but still good to read again. We did have an interesting discussion about why the people gathered at the pool, and what it meant that they were waiting for the waters to be “stirred up.”  When we read the story in A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories, it pretty much stated as fact that the water was occasionally stirred up by angels for healing purposes, while the notes in my Lutheran Study Bible referred to this as a “Greek Cultic Belief.” In the end, we decided that while it could be true, the fact that the Bible doesn’t specifically say it’s true means that it at best doesn’t matter if the water had actual healing properties. All that really matters is that Jesus was able to heal this man with only a word!

Sadly, this was another symbol (a mat) that didn’t photograph well, and doesn’t show up well against the banner because of how dark it is. It was fun to make, though, partly because it was easy, and partly because it was just fun to fringe the edges!