Computer Lessons, Ideas, Activities, and Resources for Teaching Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane.

Post your Sunday School computer lessons, ideas, activities, and resources for Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane.

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Software Suggestions for Teaching About Jesus in Gethsemane

I do not know of a software program that specifically covers the story of Jesus praying in Gethsemane. Life of Christ CD for your older children and youth only briefly mentions it in Lesson 32. Arrested, Tried, and Tortured (Luke 22:47-23:45) Jesus, the crowds, the priests, the soldiers, and Pilate. Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do?   But as always in the computer workshop, we have "utility" software to help us.

Supporting Members can access the Writing Team's Gethsemane Lesson Set and see the computer lesson there.

In fairness to the Rotation.org WT and Board, I dont' want to duplicate that lesson here. My WT lesson after studying the passage, students will create a multimedia reflection using Kid Pix 4 (or 3D) software that focuses on the meaning of Jesus' prayerful response in Mark 14:36, "not what I want, but what you want."

Jesus in Gethsemane

COMPUTER LESSON IDEA #1:

"They are Sleeping, Jesus is Awake" using Let's Talk

"Let's Talk" software program is now free to the supporting members of Rotation.org!  Learn more

The entire Gethsemane episode can be boiled down to just a few words. "Disciples asleep, Jesus awake", and "My Will or Thy Will?" As a teacher, I love it when we take a seemingly complex story and boil it down to the memorable essentials. These two statements not only condense the story, they illustrate the essential difference and issues between us and God: Asleep vs Awake, My vs Thy.

I have a really good computer teaching technique for "boiling down" passages like this to their essentials. See my Let's Talk for a technique I call "How Few Can You Do" or "How Low Can You Go".

How do we 'stay awake' as Christians? What things make us go to sleep as followers of Jesus? It's a dichotomy and metaphor most kids can relate to.

Start a two column list titled "Awake" and "Asleep." What attitudes and peer pressures try to get us to shut our eyes?  And...I always found it interesting that Jesus was rather compassionate about their sleeping. What does that say about Jesus' understanding of what was about to happen? (it's need, its inevitability, our weakness, he need to go it alone)

Additionally, you can turn the verse into a scripture memory verse using Cal and Marty's Scripture Memory Game.

Jesus in Gethsemane

COMPUTER LESSON IDEA #2:

"Thy Will - My Will" Talk Bubbles using Kid's Pix 4 (or 3D)

We can safely assume that conversations in the Gospels, including the words of Jesus were more detailed in their original occurrence, and have been shaped and pared down by the gospel authors to their essential elements. Thus, it's often productive to IMAGINE the dialog that got left out. Such is the case in Jesus' Gethsemane struggle.

Let's imagine that there was indeed a LONG PAUSE IN THE MIDDLE of Jesus prayer of anguish. A pause between "take this cup away from me," and "nevertheless, thy will...."   That Jesus' prayer that night was more extensive. That like most prayers, there is "the long pause of listening."

Working at the board, walk through this possible conversation. Then students will turn on Kid Pix and illustrate what they think God might have said, using "talk bubble" graphics.

Here's a set of questions to work through before turning to the software:

• On that night, what was Jesus afraid of?  What was God hoping for?
• What were Jesus' options? What were God's options?
• What would Jesus' life had looked like if he had refused to allow himself to be arrested?  How would God have continued with Jesus if Jesus had chosen to leave the Garden and not be arrested that night?
• What did God say to Jesus in that prayer that helped change Jesus' mind, or bolster Jesus' confidence?  

Your students may be startled by the idea that Jesus had a choice, that he COULD have chosen to leave the Garden. This is a good time to discuss the fact that Jesus was both human and God in the flesh. It is certainly mysterious exactly HOW that worked, but this story gives us a glimpse of God's heart in the matter, Jesus was not a puppet. Jesus had a choice. Humans are not puppets. Humans have a choice. God does not force his desire on us. That's not what love does. Love finds a way. God's plan will find a way.

Disclosure: Neil MacQueen is the author of  "Let's Talk" software. The Rotation.org Board has encouraged Neil to post his lesson plans and to create new lesson plans for this site. Often those lessons will make use of software that Neil sells. Neil’s work with computers in Christian Education grew out of his work in developing the Workshop Rotation Model.