Doubting Thomas Lesson At-A-Glance Scripture Reference John 20:19-31 Church Season Easter 2 Lesson Focus No eyes needed we believe! Gather (10 minutes) Arrival Time Kids take turns doing a trust walk and do an Activity Page. Activity Pages, blindfolds (1 or more) Circle Time Kids gather in a circle to greet each other, hear about the lectionary season, and talk about the trust walk. Leaflet Prayer Time Kids do an echo prayer. Open the Bible (15 minutes) Doubting Thomas Storytelling Leader or kid reads aloud from the Spark Story Bible and kids hide under a sheet. Peace Be with You! Kids use their hands to interact with the story. Jesus Loves Me! Kids draw a picture of Jesus inside a large heart shape. Spark Story Bibles, Lesson Stickers Large sheet or blanket, flashlight, markers Doubting Thomas 79
Lesson At-A-Glance Activate Faith (15 minutes) Jesus Message Kids crack a secret code to find out what Jesus said to Thomas. Hiding in a House Kids learn about houses from Bible times. Jesus Lives Here Door Hangers Kids make door hangers with a message on them. Whiteboard, dry-erase marker, craft sticks, unlined index cards, craft glue, yarn, markers, scissors, glitter glue (optional) Send (5 minutes) Good-Bye Time Kids pray while opening and closing their eyes at different points in the prayer., scissors Prayer Time Kids use water as part of a prayer., Family Pages Visit www.sparksundayschool.org for more Spark content! Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to explore this Bible story with the kids you are leading. You will also find four downloadable resources for this lesson: an Activity Page, a Family Page, and two additional in-class activities. 80 Doubting Thomas
Gather (10 minutes) Arrival Time Set out copies of the Activity Page for this lesson, and pencils on a table. After two or more kids have arrived, say, We re going to play a game together. In this game one of you will be blindfolded. Then one or more kids will take the blindfolded player on a trust walk around the classroom. The helpers will make sure the blindfolded player stays safe. Who would like to be blindfolded first? Tie the blindfold over the first player s eyes. Then, invite the helpers to take the first player on a trust walk around the classroom. The helpers will walk beside the blindfolded person, without touching him or her. Instead, they will use their voices to tell the blindfolded person what to do. Activity Pages Blindfolds (1 or more) After one kid has done the trust walk, invite others to take turns doing the same thing. Encourage kids who do not want to be blindfolded to be helpers instead. If verbal commands are too difficult, helpers may guide blindfolded players by holding hands. Invite kids to do the Activity Page. Circle Time Invite the kids to stand in a circle, facing outward. Hold each other s hands up high. One at a time, turn 180 degrees to the left, crossing your arms so that you are facing into the inside of the circle with, your right arm over your left. Each person says, My name is [name] and I m in God s family! Invite the next kid to your left to turn in to the circle in the same manner. Go around the circle until everyone is facing in. If you do this each week, make sure the kids stand in a different order each time so that no one is last every week. Gather kids to sit in a circle, in a small group on the floor, or at tables. If the kids in your class tried the Faith on the Go! activities from last week s leaflet, be sure to invite kids to share what they did. Ask everyone how they showed love to someone or helped another person during the last week. Hold up the leaflet, and point to the cross on the gold background. What holiday did we celebrate last week? Let kids respond. Yes, last Sunday was Easter Sunday. So what does that make this Sunday? Let kids guess. The gold on our leaflet shows us it is still a special time in the church year, and the cross reminds us of Jesus. It s still the season of Easter! But since Easter was last week, we say today is the second Sunday after Easter. Leaflet Doubting Thomas 81
Today, when you came to class, we played a game called a trust walk. How did it feel to walk without seeing anything? Let kids respond. In order to walk around the classroom, you had to trust your friends. What does trust mean? (to believe that someone is telling you the truth and to depend on someone to do what is best for you) One opposite of trust is doubt. To doubt means to wonder whether or not something is true or real. For example, if I doubt that you re telling me the truth, it means I don t believe you. Today s Bible story is about a time the disciples saw an amazing thing. But when they told their friend Thomas about it, Thomas did not trust that their story was true. Instead Thomas doubted and said he would believe when he saw the amazing thing for himself. What happened next? Let s pray, and then we ll read the story of Doubting Thomas in our Spark Story Bibles to find out! Prayer Time As I say this prayer, repeat each line. Ready? Pause. Let s pray! Please help us, O God, To always trust you, Wherever we go, In all that we do! Amen. Open the Bible (15 minutes) Doubting Thomas Storytelling Today s story is called Doubting Thomas. It takes place in a house at night. Let s make a house of our own, and imagine we re there! Drape the sheet over a large table, and invite the kids to crawl under the table. If the table is not large enough for everyone to fit, move chairs out from the table and use them to hold up part of the sheet too. Since the story takes place at nighttime, we ll use a flashlight to help us read our story. Pass out the Spark Story Bibles and invite everyone to find Doubting Thomas on pages 492-495. Wait until all kids have found the story, assisting those who may need help. Invite one kid to shine the flashlight on the text while you read the story aloud to the kids. Encourage kids to follow along if they can see well enough. Why do you think the disciples were huddled together, hiding in a room? Let kids respond. Jesus had just died, and his friends were afraid the same people who killed Jesus might come for them too. Everything seemed dark and hopeless. But then something surprising happened. What was it? Let kids respond. Jesus came back! Let s throw off this sheet and jump up and down for joy! Toss the sheet aside, stand up, and jump a lot! Set the sheet aside and return to the circle. Spark Story Bibles Large sheet or blanket (1 or more) Flashlight 82 Doubting Thomas
Unfortunately, Thomas wasn t there to see all of this. So when he got back and heard what had happened, he doubted the story. What did he say? ( I don t believe you! ) Thomas wanted to see Jesus for himself. That s why he is still known, to this day, as Doubting Thomas. Thomas had to learn to trust and believe even when he couldn t see. Have a brief conversation about the story. Ask the kids these questions: 1. Who visited the disciples when they were hiding in a house? (Jesus) 2. Which disciple was not there to see Jesus that night? (Thomas) 3. If you were Thomas, would you have believed the disciples story about Jesus? Why or why not? Affirm all responses. Peace Be with You! If kids are not already seated at a table, move to one for this activity. Give each kid a leaflet. When the disciples told Thomas that Jesus was alive, he did not believe them. What happened to change his mind? (Jesus came back, and this time, Thomas saw him.) After Thomas saw Jesus, his eyes popped in surprise, and he said, My Lord and my God! Let s complete the picture by adding the big sticker. Wait! Are Thomas s eyes opened? Pause for responses. No! Thomas s eyes are closed tightly. What do you think will be on our large sticker? (Thomas s opened eyes.) Give kids their large stickers and time to place the stickers. Lesson Stickers Look at the story on page 1 of our leaflets. It s written on a hand! Why might that be? Let kids respond. Thomas said that he wouldn t believe Jesus was alive unless he saw the wounds in Jesus hand. And did that happen? Let kids respond. Yes! In this story, each finger has a sentence spoken by either the disciples, or by Thomas. In one of the sentences, some people are worried. In another, someone is filled with doubt. Some are sentences that people today might say. But to each of them, Jesus has the same response: Peace be with you. Let s read this story together. But first, I need five volunteers. Choose five kids to be readers. Okay, each of you will read one sentence on a thumb or finger. After you read your sentence, we will all hold our hands over the hand on the leaflet. Then, we ll say, Peace be with you! Ready? Let s begin! We re scared! [thumb] Peace be with you! Lock the doors! [pointer finger] Peace be with you! Are you sure Jesus was here? [middle finger] Peace be with you! I don t believe you. [ring finger] Peace be with you! I need to see Jesus for myself! [little finger] Peace be with you! Peace be with you! [palm of hand] Doubting Thomas 83
Go through each excuse and response once. Then, see if kids can close their eyes and do the whole thing all over again, without looking! Great! Now your fingers and hand will help you remember and tell the story of Doubting Thomas. Let s look at the bottom of the page to see where we can find this story in the Bible. Today s Bible story, Doubting Thomas, is from the Gospel of John. John wanted people to know and believe that Jesus was God s Son even if they had never seen Jesus before! So John wrote many amazing stories about Jesus and how he shared God s love. Give kids the three word stickers. Now look at the bottom of the third page in your leaflet. It has the same words that we just read, but it s missing some important words. Use the word stickers to fill in the blanks. Which word do you think goes where? (believe, Son, seen) After attaching the stickers, read the statements together. If you are interested in teaching your kids a Bible Memory Verse from this story, use this one. Teach it to them by inviting them to echo what you say, one phrase at a time. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. John 20:21 Jesus Loves Me! Invite kids to open to the second page of their leaflets. Who knows the song Jesus Loves Me? Let kids respond. Your parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents might have sung this song when they were kids. Now it s our turn to sing it! Lead kids in singing these words: Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so. Markers How do we know Jesus loves us? Let kids respond. The song gives us a hint: the Bible tells me so. Do we have to see Jesus to know he loves us? Let kids respond again. No, because we trust what the Bible tells us about him. No eyes needed we believe! Let s draw a picture of Jesus. We ll draw it inside the big heart on page 2, because Jesus loves us and we love him! Give kids time to complete the activity. Invite them to show and tell about their pictures of Jesus. 84 Doubting Thomas
Activate Faith (15 Minutes) Jesus Message Let s look at the third page of the leaflet. What did Thomas say when the disciples told him that Jesus was alive? Let kids respond. Thomas said he didn t believe them! He wanted to see Jesus for himself. Then Jesus came back to the house, but this time, Thomas was there. What did Jesus say to him? Let s crack the code together to find out! To crack the code, we will circle every third letter. This means we ll count 1-2-3 lots of times. Let s start counting and circling. One-two-three. What letter did you circle? (I) Yes. I! Who wants to count next? Have a volunteer count 1-2-3 and name the next letter. (T) Continue in this way until kids have circled every third letter. Now it s time for the next step. Write each of the letters you circled, in order on the lines beneath the puzzle. Give kids time to write. When they have cracked the code, they will spell out, IT S TIME FOR YOU TO BELIEVE. Let s read Jesus message to Thomas together: It s time for you to believe. Thomas had to learn to trust. He needed to believe. And this time, he did! Hiding in a House Turn to the back page of your leaflets. Where were the disciples hiding when Jesus visited them? (in a house) Where is your favorite place to hide in your home? Affirm responses. Look at the picture on the leaflet. If you were in this house with the disciples, where would you hide? Why? Let kids respond. Houses in Bible times were a little bit different from houses of today. For example, how many of you keep cows or donkeys in your basement? Let kids respond. In Bible times, that would have been a perfectly normal place to keep your animals! Let s see what other differences we can find between homes today and homes during Jesus time. Invite kids to take turns reading the different facts on the leaflet. Doubting Thomas 85
Jesus Lives Here Door Hangers Jesus visited the disciples in a house. Jesus told the disciples he would always be with them. Jesus is always with us, too wherever we live. Let s make a special door hanger to remind us of that! Let s begin by making a frame. (Demonstrate each step as you describe it.) Give six craft sticks and one index card to each kid. Take two craft sticks and lay them down on a table horizontally, like this. The sticks should be about an inch or two apart from each another. Next, take four craft sticks and lay them vertically, side by side, on top of the two horizontal ones, like this. For each kid, make sure the vertical sticks are centered. Glue your sticks in place. This forms the frame for the door hanger. Give kids time to complete this step. On the board, in large letters write, Jesus lives here. For the next step, write Jesus lives here on your index card. You may copy the words from the board. Give kids time to write. Decorate the card in any way you wish, using markers and drops of glitter glue. While the kids are decorating their cards, cut an 8-10 in. (20-25 cm.) piece of yarn, and glue the ends to the back of each craft stick frame to make a loop for hanging. When you have finished decorating your card, bring it to me. Center the kids cards on their frames, and glue in place. When everything is dry, hang the door hanger on a doorknob. It will remind your family and friends that Jesus lives in your home! Whiteboard Dry-erase marker Craft sticks Unlined index cards Craft glue Yarn Markers Scissors Glitter glue (optional) 86 Doubting Thomas
Send (5 Minutes) Good-bye Time Thank you for coming to class today! We heard the story of Doubting Thomas and learned what it means to trust. We don t need to see Jesus to know that he is alive, and that he loves us. The Bible tells us so! No eyes needed we believe. This week, share that message with your family and friends. Direct attention to the back of the Faith on the Go! slip on the bottom of the back page of the leaflet, and have the kids fill in the blanks with the name of someone they want to give this slip to, their own name, and today s date. Encourage them to mark one or more of the ideas or add their own. Have kids cut the slip off on the line, ready to give to someone else. After class, give this slip to someone you want to do the activity with. It s like a coupon for time with you. Next week, we can tell each other what we did to share God s love and remember our Bible story! Scissors It s time for our closing circle. Give kids time to stand with you in a circle facing in. Ask everyone to cross their arms, right over left, and hold hands with the person beside them. Squeeze your right hand, and then invite the kids to squeeze their right hands one at a time. (You will be going clockwise.) Say, God gives (name each kid as their hands are squeezed) a squeeze and a hug today! Then shout together, No eyes needed we believe! Lift your arms up together, turn 180 degrees to the right, and now you will all be holding hands in a circle facing out. Prayer Time Everyone, close your eyes. Listen carefully as I whisper this prayer. When you hear the word open, open your eyes. (whisper) Dear God, The Bible tells us that You raised Jesus from the dead. Help us to believe in your miracles, And trust you. (speaking voice) Open our eyes So that we can see All the good that you do In our world every day! Amen. Be sure to send leaflets, door hangers, and Family Pages home with kids. Family Pages Doubting Thomas 87