Jesus Tree

The Jesus Tree–Day Nine

Today’s reading was again a bit out of order chronologically, as we went back to read about Jesus calling the first disciples. Our morning readings from the ESV were from Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:16-20, and Luke 5:1-11, and they all focused on Jesus calling fishermen to become “fishers of men,” (thus the fish symbol). Tonight, from The Story Bible, we read the abridged account from John 1:35-51, which, surprisingly, focuses on a different even altogether, and even different disciples, (Philip and Nathanael). You’d think that John, being a fisherman himself, and having actually been there, would have shared that story, but he didn’t. Once again, it’s interesting to see how the evangelists shared a different perspective on the same event in their writings.

The Jesus Tree–Day Eight

Today’s reading was about Mary and Martha from Luke 10:38-42. I was a little surprised to discover that this story was recorded in only one Gospel. I guess because it’s such a familiar reading, I figured it was written in more than one book. It’s always good when even the teacher can learn something! I also discovered that, unless I missed it, this story isn’t included in The Story Bible. It’s understandable, because there’s no way they can include every Bible story in a children’s Bible, but it did mean I had to go digging through our other children’s Bibles to find this story, so that we could read it a second time today. I did finally find it in another CPH book–A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories. Hopefully, between these two Story Bibles, we’ll cover all of the rest of the Jesus Tree readings, because I’d hate to have to drag out our whole children’s Bible collections–we have at least three others, and probably more than that!

The symbol for today is a footstool. The Bible doesn’t specifically mention Mary sitting on a stool while listening to the Lord teach, but it does say that she sat at His feet, so I guess a footstool is a natural progression from that. I am wondering about the pink, padded, top to the stool, though–I think that may be a little on the anachronistic side!

The Jesus Tree–Day Seven

This morning, we read portions of the Sermon on the Mount, first from Matthew 5:1-16, and then Luke 6:20-26.  Both of these readings focused primarily on the Beatitudes. When we read from The Story Bible this evening, however, I also included the chapter on worry, (also a part of the Sermon on the Mount), partly because it’s a great thing to read, and partly because I wanted to emphasize the fact that Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount involved much more than “just” the Beatitudes. I do think the children were grateful that I didn’t read the whole Sermon from the book of Matthew–that would have been a lot of chapters, and even I didn’t feel up to reading that much!

In other news, I have to say that this particular felt symbol is one of my favorites…it looks so pretty on the banner!

The Jesus Tree–Day Six

Our readings today were a little different from the ones we’ve done so far, in that they weren’t entirely in chronological order. First, we read the account of John 2:13-17, of Jesus cleansing the temple (this was also the passage behind our symbol for the day: the whip). That passage was chronologically next–still at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. But, we also read the Matthew 21:12-13 account regarding the money-changers, which didn’t take place until Holy Week. So, thematically, the two readings went together, but time-wise, they were actually two separate events. I made a point of telling that to the children, because I know that as a child, I thought that the different money-changer stories were the same story, recorded by different authors, and I want to make sure that my children understand that Jesus actually had to do that twice during his ministry.

The Jesus Tree–Day Five

The reading today came from John 2:1-12, in which Jesus performed His first miracle–turning water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana. This has always been an interesting story to me, because of Mary’s actions. She complains to her Son, and then when He chastises her, she goes to the servants anyway, and tells them to do whatever Jesus says. That’s a mother for you–complete faith in her Son, and ready to brag about Him to anyone who will listen. Plus, it probably made her look really good to play the whole “My Son is the Son of God,” card! So, not only do we see Jesus as God as He does this miracle, we also see how very human His mother is.

The Jesus Tree–Day Four

Today’s reading was about the temptation of Jesus in the desert, which immediately follows the baptism story we read yesterday. Again, we read the Bible story from three different Gospels: Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; and Luke 4:1-13, and again it was interesting to see how concise Mark was compared to the other two Evangelists who recorded this event. The children tried desperately to find a reason that our symbol was three stones–it being a nice-looking grouping wasn’t a good enough answer for them. They did finally give up on trying to make a connection there, though!

I did take this reading as an opportunity to point out to them that even Satan can quote Scripture, (this was a big surprise to them!), and will try to use it to confuse people, and get them to do things they shouldn’t. It was also a good opportunity to remind us all that Jesus fulfilled all of the Law perfectly, even under desperate circumstances, (we tried to imagine what it would be like to go without food for forty days, and quite frankly, none of us could fathon it), whereas we fail miserably, (and constantly!), even under relatively good conditions.

The Jesus Tree–Day Three

Today’s readings were about the Baptism of Jesus. It was interesting, because we actually read the accounts from Matthew 3:11-17, Mark 6-11, and Luke 3:21-22, and I always find it fascinating to compare what the Evangelists wrote that was the same, and what was different. It’s also interesting to see how some of the events were recorded in a much more concise fashion, while some were more descriptive. Each reading also began, (where applicable), before the actual baptism story, and shared a little information about John the Baptist, and his words of prophecy about Christ, the One “whose sandals [John was] not worthy to carry,” or “untie.” The symbol for these readings is a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, Who came bodily down from Heaven at the Baptism, and, along with the voice of God the Father, marks a rare instance in the Bible when all three Persons of the Godhead are mentioned together in the same place.

The Jesus Tree–Day Two

Today’s reading was about the boy Jesus in the temple, from Luke 2:41-52. The symbol is a saw, and I found myself wishing while doing the reading that in this instance, the company that produced this resource had included some additional information to go along with each reading, similar to what we had with the Jesse Tree. Most of the symbols are fairly obvious, but this one I had a difficult time connecting. What I decided to go with, as far as talking about it with the children, was focusing on the part of the story where Jesus returned with His parents and was submissive to them. This would have included, I assume, helping Joseph out with his carpentry. The saw is also a good point of contrast with Jesus being in the temple doing His Father’s business, versus the occupation of his adoptive father.

I don’t know for sure what the company who produced this was getting at with the saw, so if anyone has an insight that I overlooked due to exhaustion, I’m all ears. I think that my explanation worked OK, though, and the children were satisfied with it, so it was still a successful reading!

The Jesus Tree–Day One

Today we began our Jesus Tree readings. We started at the beginning of Jesus’s life, with His presentation in the temple, and the encounters with Simeon and Anna, as recorded in Luke 2:22-38. The symbol for the tree is two turtledoves, which were the sacrifice offered by Mary and Joseph, in accordance with Jewish Law.

A New Lenten Activity

Every year as Lent approaches, I find myself wishing that there were more activities available to do with the children, similar to the things we do at Advent. Last year, I found one new resource–a book by Arnold Ytreeide that continues the story started in Jotham’s Journey, but this time, set around the events of Holy Week. That was a good start, but I still wished for more.

This year, I stumbled across the resource I didn’t even know I was looking for–The Jesus Tree: A Lenten Journey Through the Gospels.

The idea is similar to the Jesse Tree–there’s a daily Bible reading, and an “ornament” to be placed on the tree to reflect the reading. Instead of focusing on Jesus’s family tree, however, this tree focuses on Jesus’s life, culminating with the events of Holy Week, and, of course, Easter Sunday.

My plan is to do the reading from the ESV each morning, before Moose has to go to school, just like we did with the Jesse Tree. I’m also hoping, when possible, to read the story again in the evening, but this time from a children’s Bible. I’m hoping to share each day’s writing and symbol here, as well, again as I did during Advent. Of course, once the baby arrives, there are no guarantees for what I will or will not get done!

I’m very excited about using this resource. I will admit, it’s a lot of work for me, at least this first year. All of the felt patterns need to be cut out and glued together, and felt and I do not get along! But once the work is done, this is something we can use year after year, and I’m so excited to have found something for Lent that’s the same caliber as one of our favorite, and most meaningful, Advent activities. Now if only there was a Lenten equivalent of the Advent Wreath, we’d be all set…