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Jesus as a Young Boy (in the Temple)

Cooking Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Make unleavened bread. Recall Jesus’ celebration of Passover and his experience in Jerusalem where he felt most at home in his “father’s house.” Discuss our priority to learn in God’s house. [Note: 4th – 6th graders visited this workshop.]

Scripture Reference:

Luke, chapter 2, verses 41-52.


Leader Preparation:

  • Read the scripture for this lesson.
  • Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
  • Gather the materials.

Supplies List:

  • In the kitchen: Mixing bowls, measuring devices, forks, cookie sheets, Napkins and Clean-up supplies
  • Items in refrigerator: Butter (marked “Sunday’s Cool Disciples")
  • Purple Adventure Bibles; one with tabs (Law, History, etc.)
  • Bible tab writing kit: tabs, fine-line Sharpie pen
  • Aprons
  • Unleavened bread recipe (see end of lesson)
  • Whole wheat flour, oil, and salt
  • Rolling pins
  • Parchment paper
  • A loaf of bread made with yeast
  • Copies of key Bible verse printed on card stock bookmarked sized paper
  • Zipper storage bags

    Before Start of Class:
  • Wash the metal table.
  • Prepare a pitcher of ice water.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Melt butter in microwave.


Presentation

Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction
Gather everyone around the tables in the Social Hall. Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Cooking Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults.

[Note: The Shepherd will quietly take attendance, etc. while you are starting your lesson.]

Ask:

  • Who recently had a birthday?
  • How old are you?

Say: Today we will learn more about a story in the Bible when Jesus was a young boy at the age of 12.

Ask:

  • What do you suppose Jesus did for fun as a 12 year old?
  • Do you suppose that Jesus had to learn things just like we do?
  • Do you suppose that Jesus went to birthday parties and other celebrations?

Say: It is interesting to think of Jesus as being close in age to you. Today we will be talking about a story where Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. We will be making the type of bread that Jesus would have eaten at a Passover celebration. Before we start our cooking project let’s have a time of prayer.

Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Be prepared to say a prayer yourself, working in prayer requests. Use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending. A suggestion: “Heavenly Father, we ask your blessings on our class today. As we make bread today help us to think of Jesus. Help us to search for the meaning of our Bible story. Help us to relate it to our lives and our search to include you as part of our lives. (End with the Lord’s Prayer) Amen.”

Dig- Main Content and Reflection
Ask:

  • Who can tell me about the celebration of Passover?
  • Do you recall learning about how Moses and the Hebrew people marked their doorposts with the blood of a lamb?
  • What happened to those people whose doorways were marked?

Say: Passover was a time when the Hebrew people celebrated being “passed over” by the 10th plague on the Egyptians – the plague of the death. Their families were saved. Every year they remembered this occurrence and celebrated it in a festival called Passover.

Ask: Who remembers what type of bread was eaten at Passover? (unleavened bread)
Say: Let’s go make some unleavened bread. While it is baking we will come back to talk more about our Bible story.

Make Unleavened Bread:
Have everyone put on aprons, wash their hands, and gather around the metal table.

The recipe at the end of the lesson makes 8-10 servings. Divide the class into teams and make two batches of bread. Make sure everyone has a role and gets a chance to knead.

Discussion: (while the students are working)
Ask:

  • What does unleavened mean? (made without leavening, without yeast)
  • If you add yeast to bread dough what does that do? (makes the bread rise)

Show the students a loaf of bread made with yeast.
Say: When God told the Israelites to get ready to leave Egypt, he told them not to put any yeast in their bread.
Ask: Why God would not want them to use yeast?
Say: If you use yeast it takes a lot of time, an extra hour or more, to make bread. God knew the Israelites would have to leave in a hurry. He wanted them to be ready to go. When the Israelites were allowed to leave Egypt it was an important day. God said, “remember this day forever”. Even now, 3000 years later, Jewish people still celebrate Passover.

Bake the bread for 8-10 minutes. Place the Shepherd in charge of watching the bread. While the bread is baking, return to the Social Hall.

Discussion while the bread bakes:
Distribute purple Adventure Bibles.

Ask:

  • The Bible is divided into two sections, what are they? (Old & New Testament)
  • If we want to read a story about Jesus, where would we find it? (in NT)

Say: Besides being divided into two testaments, the 66 books in the Bible are further divided into collections. Where our story today is found, we call this collection of Bible books, the Gospels. If you have your own Bible today, be sure you receive a tab for the gospel section of your Bible. [Show the classroom Bible with tabs. Have the Shepherd do tabs for students who bring their Bibles. Use the classroom Bible with tabs as an example.]

Ask: What does the word “Gospel” mean?
Say: The word gospel means “good news.” These first four books of the New Testament tell the story of the good news about Jesus’ life on earth and how Jesus died so that our sins are forgiven.
Ask: What are the names of the first four books of the Bible?

Have students find the story in Luke, chapter 2, verses 41-52.

Early on in the Rotation, have kids take turns reading verses. In later weeks of the Rotation, invite the students to share what they already know about the story. Fill in any missing details using their Bibles.

[When the bread is ready, serve it but continue discussion.]

Ask:

  • Why did Jesus’ family go to Jerusalem? (to celebrate Passover)
  • Why do you suppose Jesus went to the Temple?

Say: The Temple would have been not only a place to worship but also a place of learning. Learning took place by asking questions. Since it was Passover, all the important rabbis – the religious leaders of the time – would have been there.

Ask:

  • What questions do you suppose they talked about?
  • Do you suppose they talked about the Messiah that was to come?
  • Do you suppose that Jesus knew at that age that he was the Messiah?

Say: We don’t know for sure what Jesus thought about his calling in life. From this story we do know that he considered it important that he spend time in what he called “his father’s house.” Perhaps it was his experience talking to the people in the Temple that helped him to see his purpose. It has been said that the original purpose of education for students in Jesus’ time was to teach kids to better understand their relationship with God.

Ask: What about for you, do you suppose that learning and talking to people in our religious community can help you to better understand your relationship with God?

Closing
Say: Jesus felt that he belonged at the Temple, learning about God and teaching others about God. The Bible tells us that after Jesus was found in the Temple, that he went home with his parents. Jesus was 12 in this story so he had lots of growing to do – both growing taller and wiser and in his knowledge about God. Our Bible key verse tells us this.

Pass out the key verse bookmarks. Have everyone repeat the key Bible verse together.

Have everyone share a way that they have grown (allow repeats):

  • in body (example: perhaps their shoe size changed recently, or they grew taller)
    or
  • in spirit (example: by trying to pray every day or read their Bible).

If you have extra time:
Distribute bookmarks.
Practice the key Bible verse… Pick one student who will start off by saying the first word in the verse. Then go around the table having each student say one more word to the verse. If one of the students doesn’t know the next word, they have to start over with the first word. Have them try this once or twice with the bookmarks facing up. Then turn the bookmarks over so the verse is hidden.


Resources:


Recipe for Unleavened Bread
Serves 8-10

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp oil
1/4 cup water

Directions:

  1. Mix flour, salt, and butter (best if melted) in a bowl.
  2. Mix oil and water into the bowl until it leaves the side of the bowl, and forms workable dough. If the dough is too crumbly, add a small amount of water (1/2 tbsp) until pliable. If the dough is too sticky, add a small amount of flour.
  3. Put a small amount of flour on the metal table and knead the dough lightly.
  4. Flatten the dough until it’s thin, about 1/8 of an inch thick. Pick it up, turn it over and roll out thin again.
  5. Perforate with a fork and place on a lightly greased (or parchment paper-covered) cookie sheet.
  6. Bake 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees until light brown

For the curious: What does yeast do for bread?
Yeast feeds on the starches in flour, producing carbon dioxide.
The carbon dioxide expands the gluten proteins in the flour.
The gluten proteins cause the dough (of which flour is a main ingredient) to expand and rise.

From the web site of Fleischmann’s yeast: http://www.breadworld.com/education/Yeast-Basics


Written by Carol Hulbert for First United Methodist Church
Ann Arbor, MI

Copyright 2008 First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI.
Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this materia
If you use this material, even in a modified form, please include the following reference:
Hulbert, Carol. "Jesus as a Young Boy (in the Temple): Cooking Workshop." Jan. 2008. Place URL where lesson found inside angle brackets<>.

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Last edited by Luanne Payne

Jesus has "the Right Stuffing"

  • What is the boy Jesus "made of" ?
  • What are the ingredients that make him want to celebrate, worship, learn and teach?
  • Based on what we know about him, how he treated others, and what he did for us, what might his personality be like?

Students will make a "CALZONE" (essentially a stuffed pizza turnover) using a wide variety of ingredients provided on a table.  

A tasty calzone is composed of three cheeses (ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella) mixed together with an egg, then additional ingredients can be added, the thin dough folded like a turnover and baked for 13-15 minutes. It can be brushed with garlic butter and dipped in sauce.

calzone

After the study, the teacher places all the ingredients in front of the kids.  BUT....sneaky, sneaky! In order to get each ingredient for their calzone, they must come up with a unique reflection about Jesus that starts with the FIRST LETTER of that ingredient or reflects something about Jesus or something from the story, or something the kids want to say about the story. (You choose how hard you want them to work for the ingredients).

Examples:

C, Cheese is for Celebrating the Passover, which is what Jesus was doing at the Temple.

or C, Cheese  is for Caring about God's Word by spending time with his teachers.

M is for Mozarella, because Jesus' mom Mary missed him when he stayed behind.

S, Sauce is for Search. His parents searched for him and when they found him, Jesus responded, see I'm in my father's house.

B, "B" is for the Bread Dough --the Boy who at ate bread at that Passover, and became our Bread of Life.

Other Ingredients provided that the kids can use IF they come up with a reflection for that ingredient. You do not have to make the "first letter" rule. You can tell them that they can have the ingredient if they can say how "Jesus is like (that ingredient." Or they can come up with a statement about Jesus that uses the ingredient's first letter or how that ingredient is "like" Jesus (spicy!)   Feel free to give them hints, but don't give in too easily. Place all the ingredients in front of them, offer suggestions, and then have them write down on a sheet of paper their "reflections for ingredients."

Brainstorming ingredients and example reflections-connections to the story:

  • Spinach = Because Jesus was unafraid to Show his faith as a young boy. Or because Jesus' example makes us strong.
  • Bread dough  (pre-made thin pizza dough to make the pizza calzone or "turnover.")
  • Pepperoni, "P" because Jesus had two wonderful parents who dedicated him to God.
  • Olive oil  O is for only Son of God.
  • Oregano    Oregano is a spice. Jesus is not bland. "O" is for "O hey, where's Jesus?"
  • Garlic Butter (brush on calzone before baking)   G is for generous, good, God's House.
  • Garlic Salt is for G-od's S-on, or for "Great Student" or....
  • Ricotta (this item is required of all calzones)  Jesus what we need for our faith.
  • Parmesan (to mix with the ricotta and egg)  P is for parents, People in Temple, Priests.
  • Egg (to mix into the ricotta and spoon onto the calzone pizza dough.
  • Pre-cooked sausage crumbles.

The teacher might also related the process, mixing, baking to things Jesus taught us in this story:

Fold the Calzone dough = like hands in prayer to remind us that Jesus wanted to worship in the Temple.

  • Bake the Calzone = Perhaps the Holy Spirit makes our faith come alive and feel like fire.
  • Eat the Calzone = like we do in the Lord's Supper. Even share our calzones with each other, because we each bring something unique.

A Calzone takes about 10 minutes to make and 15 minutes to bake.  The thinner the faster, the wider the more you have to share.

Work in teams of TWO. If a child doesn't like a certain ingredient, they can keep it off their half of the calzone.

Who's hungry!

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Last edited by Luanne Payne

Fun ideas in Neil's Jesus has the "Right Stuff"ing lesson idea!!!

More brainstorming:

Bread dough to make calzone: Jesus is the Bread of Life!

I like to dip my calzones in sauce (you can buy a jar of marinara sauce): either tie it into the baptism (dipping) or the first letter S for savior, servant....

Onions: slicing them makes us cry, but Jesus will wipe away our tears.

Green peppers (bell peppers, sweet peppers): Good shepherd leads us to green grass; rejoice in the Lord always = ring my bell (pepper)  ; Jesus stayed in the Temple to learn because the word of the Lord is sweeter than honey

 

I'm hungry!

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