Ox yoke
For families with little ones (preschool age), this could be a 3-5 minute talk! It doesn’t have to be much. For older children, you can opt in for more of these options to extend your study time together. I recommend doing this with (especially little) children over a meal – whichever meal is the least chaotic in your home (for my family right now, that’s lunch), or saving the questions for while you’re on a walk or playing outside together. Have fun!
1. Read the scripture together: Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30 The important thing is that you’re reading scripture together! If you’re looking for different ways to engage your children while reading, here are some fun ways to read scripture as a family
Every Reader takes a verse
Ask each child to pick two words they don’t understand to talk about after you read it. (For longer scriptures and younger children, you may need to split up the reading in order to do this.)
Draw a picture of what you read
Act it out as a family (And please send documentation of this to children.sjumc@gmail.com because we could all use a laugh right now!)
Sing it!
Use Legos or dolls to tell the story
2. Tell your kids this scripture was written by Matthew, who was likely writing to the Jewish people of his day, and we can learn something from what he has written to them.
3. Discussion Questions (as always, pick and choose which questions you’d like to discuss!):
In the first section, Matthew says that wisdom is proved to be right by her works. What do you think that means? Do you think it means you have to work to have wisdom? (Hint: I don’t! I think it means that we will see if someone is being wise and truthful by what happens in their lives. And we can see what happened in Jesus’ life was truth, and miracles, and love!)
In the second part, Matthew remembers Jesus saying that God has taught things to babies! What do you think about that? Sometimes I think babies know and understand God more than I do! I think maybe Jesus is saying that (through Jesus) God made Godself available to EVERYONE!
When Jesus says “put on my yoke, and lean on me …” did you think of egg yolks? I always do. A “yoke” back then was a tool used on animals to help them carry heavy loads. What we are told here is that when we are worried, God will help carry that worry with us.
When is a time you have been worried or scared, and someone helped you?
4. Close in Prayer: God, thank you for making Yourself available to all of us!! When Jesus teaches us about you, we learn that you love EVERYONE and want ALL of us to know you! When I am scared or worried, I will try to remember that you want to help me with that. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
~ Erynne DeVore, director of Children’s Ministry