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The story of the first 4 disciples is pretty typical of Jesus’s style. He calls out, asks to follow, and promises more. Nowhere is that clearer than in this first invitation.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main Passage :Mark 1:14-20

Biblical retelling of The first 4 Disciples (Mark 1:14-20) for youngsters.

This is part of a single lesson pack, all ready to print and go.

Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee one day when he spotted some fishermen in their boats. Some were casting their nets out into the shallow waters; others were mending their nets, perhaps having already caught some fish, perhaps about to start.

As he got near the boat of Simon and Andrew, he called out, “Follow me and I will teach you to fish for people.” So they left everything to go with him. Further along were two brothers, James and John; Jesus called out the same words and they too left their boats behind.

HOLD ON! HUH?

What’s going on here? A single sentence and 4 men leave everything behind to follow a stranger? Really? Perhaps there is something more to this story. Lets go backwards.

Children in Jesus’ time would study scripture, memorising long passages from a rabbi at the synagogue. Only the best, not only in remembering but also in how they acted, would be sent to the school when they were older. Sometimes rabbis would come to the schools. The rabbis would call the best students to ‘follow them’. It was a great honour to be called. Following a rabbi didn’t just mean travelling with them. It meant studying everything about the rabbi. Learning how he understood the scriptures, how he lived everyday, even how he tied his sandals. The students’ job was to become like the rabbi so they could one day become a rabbi too.

Back to the beach and the boats and the men. This isn’t the first time Andrew had seen Jesus. Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist and had seen when Jesus was baptised. He’d heard the word of God from Heaven as Jesus came out the water that day. If Andrew knew, then all the fishermen along the banks of the Galilee knew. Whoever this Jesus was, he was special.

So when someone spots Jesus walking along the shore, the whispers start. “Isn’t that Jesus from Nazareth that John baptised?” They whisper.

“John the Baptist has been arrested. Perhaps he’ll continue his work.”
“Or do something even bigger.”
“What can be bigger than baptising hundreds?”
“I’d love to find out!”

So, when Jesus chose 4 fishermen and said ‘follow me’. WOW! It was like getting picked for the best team ever. They had probably dreamed of a day they might hear a rabbi say those words to them, but fishing out in the boats they didn’t have a chance, or did they? Jesus calls, and the men run. They got picked! They got chosen! Chosen not to gather fish but to gather people. To us it’s just a few words, but they knew deep down what those words meant.

The story of John the Baptist has many elements that be drawn out. There is the survivalist, wearing skins and eating honey, the prophet, a new Elijah, the rabbi, whose disciples join Jesus, the transformer, baptising people in repentance, and the humble, who recognises Jesus before many of the others. This story focuses on the last, though any of the themes could easily be given more emphasis.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main passage: Mark 1
Additional Passages: Matthew 3, John 1

This is part of a single lesson pack, all ready to print and go.

John’s life was amazing. His dad, Zechariah, had been an old priest in the temple and his mum, Elizabeth, was old when he was born too. It’s not surprising that John wasn’t like other kids. When he got old enough, he set off into the wilderness and desert. He made himself clothes from camel skins, he ate locusts and wild honey.

John knew God had a plan for him, and that was to get people ready for what was coming. So, John started telling people that they needed to change their lives, to think differently, to turn around and face towards God, to get rid of all the nasty stuff in their lives, to act right. “Someone special was coming”, said John, “someone who would change everything.”

Lots of people were impressed with John the Baptist and would go and listen to him. John used a symbol to show that people agreed to change. He would walk out into the cool river with them and dip them under the water. This was called a baptism. He did this to show that their old ways of living life were washing away with the water, and they could start living a new kind of life with God.

One day, Jesus came to see John. John saw him coming and knew exactly who he was. He told his disciples, “This is the one I meant when I said, ‘One who is more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’”

Jesus walked up to John and asked to be baptised. John was amazed. Jesus didn’t need to be baptised. Jesus already had the new kind of life with God. John tried to say no. John had a special quality called humility. Humility means that you recognise that you are God’s servant, that God is much greater than you, and you respect great things in other people. John said ‘no’ to Jesus because John thought he wasn’t worthy.

But Jesus had other plans. He led John into the water and whispered, “It’s part of the big plan, John. Please baptise me.” John dipped Jesus into the water and then stood back as Jesus stood up, water dripping from his hair and his clothes. The clouds in the sky seemed to disappear, the light got brighter and something seemed to be falling from the sky onto Jesus. Like a bird, a dove, it floated down and rested on him. Then a voice came, not from John, or Jesus, or the crowd, but from Heaven:

“This is my son,” said the voice, “and I am very happy with him.”

John shows us the gift of Humility

The introduction to John’s gospel can read a little abstract and symbolic for many. Who is this ‘Word’ that John is referring to? What knowledge is John building on, and why does he use this convoluted tone as an introduction to a book about a man who talked of sparrows, sheep, and stone? This retelling looks at the reasons why John started the book with these now famous lines.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main Passage : John 1: 1-10

A retelling of The Word (John 1) for youngsters

This is part of a single lesson pack, all ready to print and go.

John sat in front of a long blank roll of papyrus and wondered how to start telling his readers about the man named Jesus, who was also God. He didn’t know how long these words would last, but he knew that there were already some writings being sent between the churches. Why did God want him to write another account?

The story of Jesus was the most exciting and life-changing story John had ever known, almost as amazing as the whole story of God starting with God creating the world. John remembered hearing the story of the beginning as a child, how God had made everything and everyone we see. Everyone knew the famous first words, ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.’ John smiled as he remembered it. He glanced out his window to see God’s creation and realised that that was the perfect way to start.

“In the beginning was the Word” John wrote, soon his readers would know that the word was Jesus, but first he would make some things really clear. “And the Word was with God” he continued, “and the Word was God”

John sat back and looked at his sentence. Yes, that was perfect. What next?

“All things were created through him.” Jesus didn’t just appear, thought John. He had always been there, waiting for the time to come to earth.

“In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” Yes! Thought John, that was very Jesus. He liked to talk about life, eternal life, full life, amazing life.

“That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.” That was the story of Jesus, as simple as light, shining into the darkness, and no matter what the darkness tried, nothing could stop the light from shining.

John was on a roll now. He knew what to do. He needed to tell the whole story of Jesus, from the cries of John the Baptist in the desert to the frustration of the religious authorities that led to their anger and Jesus’ death. Then the amazing, miraculous, story of how Jesus beat death and returned to be with us forever. John stopped wondering and started to write, words flowing out in smooth lines over the papyrus. How did he ever doubt he could find the words for this story? It was God’s story and God was helping him write it!

Today’s bible hero is John because he shows us the gift of The Word

This passage about separating the sheep and the goats, about putting your faith into action, about treating ‘the least of these’ like the king of all Heaven and Earth. It’s a beautiful if challenging passage and while I’ve written out a child-friendly version, it’s one of the passages that you could easily have your older kids read straight from scripture.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main Passage : Matthew 25

Biblical retelling of The Least of these (Matthew 25) for youngsters.

Jesus was teaching his followers about what would happen in the future. He had asked them to be prepared, he had asked them to use their talents wisely, and he had one more big instruction.

“One day everyone will be separated.” said Jesus, looking around his followers. “Have you seen the shepherd in the fields, they sort the animals putting the sheep to the right and the goats to the left, people will be separated just like that.

“The king will turn to those on his right and say, “Come, join me in my kingdom.

“Come good servants for when I was hungry, you fed me, when I was thirsty, you gave me a drink, when I was a stranger you welcomed me. You clothed me when I was naked, cared for me when I was sick and visited me when I was in prison.”

The people on the king’s right will look confused, when did they feed the king? When did they welcome him as a stranger or care for him when sick?

The king will smile at the confusion and with great joy tell those on his right, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Then the king will turn to those on his left.

Leave here bad servants for when I was hungry, you didn’t feed me, when I was thirsty, you didn’t give me a drink, when I was a stranger you didn’t welcome me. You gave me no clothes when I was naked, no care when I was sick, and no visits when I was in prison.”

The crowd will protest. They had never seen the king hungry or thirsty, naked or sick, a stranger or in prison.

The king will turn in anger at them. “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did not do for me.”

Jesus looked at his friends, did they understand? They were not supposed to just serve Jesus but serve each other as if every person they met was Jesus. They could believe in Jesus’ words, but they needed to act on them too.

The use of the word talents in this story allows a beautiful double meaning. We are all blessed with talents and yet not equally, or at least not equally in our eyes. This story tries to keep to the idea that a talent was an actual sum of money and that is how Jesus’ listeners would have heard it, only bringing in the double meaning at the end.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main Passage : Matthew 25:14-30

Biblical retelling of The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25) for youngsters.

Have you ever imagined what you would do if you were given a lot of money? That’s what happened in a parable Jesus told…

“There was once a rich man, and he was going on a very long trip. He wanted to keep his money safe, so he decided he would split it up and put it in many places. He called his three top servants to help.

The rich man had 8 bags of gold. Each bag measured one talent worth, that’s the same as 10 years’ wages. He gave the first servant 5 bags, the second servant 2 bags, and the last servant 1 bag, to look after. Then he left to travel.

The three servants looked at their money. What would they do with it? When the master returned, would he be pleased?

The first servant took his talent of money and went to work. He worked hard, using the money to make more money, the second servant did the same.

A long time passed and the master returned. He called the three servants and asked what they had done. The first presented the master with his five talents of gold and five more he had made.

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’

Along came the Second servant. He returned the master’s two talents and two more he had made.

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’

In came the third servant, carrying his one talent. He returned it to the master. He explained that he had kept it safe by burring it in the ground. The master was furious that the servant had not even tried to use the talent. He took the money from the servant and threw him out of the house.”

Perhaps we don’t have a talent for money, but what talents do we have? How can we use them?

This story is very simple, but the more you know about the culture of Jewish weddings, the easier it is to understand the odd reaction of the groom at the end. The wedding, started with a betrothal, usually years before. The woman would remain at her father’s house and the groom would be expected to prepare a place to live for his new wife, this could mean literally building a new house. Once everything was ready, the groom would set out for his bride, typically mid-week. The grooms party would collect the bride from her father’s house where the physical part of the marriage would take place, often while the guests partied outside the door. The whole wedding would then make a procession to the grooms house, this was frequently done at night and special torches and lamps would be made. The celebration would continue for days after, and the crowd may have been pretty huge. So imagine the groom, slightly tipsy, finding a group of girls arriving after the doors been locked. Why should he let them in? If they are friends, they have shunned the main event, if not, then they are interlopers hoping for a few days of free food and wine.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main Passage : Matthew 25

Biblical retelling of The Parable of the 10 Bridesmaids (Matthew 25) for youngsters.

Jesus’s friends asked what the end of time would be like. Jesus knew that only the father had all the details, but he wanted his friends to have just a glimpse, and so he started to tell many parables to try to give them some ideas.

“There were 10 bridesmaids” said Jesus, he saw the disciples sigh, they knew they wouldn’t get a straight answer. “These bridesmaids were waiting with the bride for the wedding” he continued

“They could be waiting a long time!” shouted a voice, and the other disciples chucked. It was true. The groom could be collecting the guests for the party that would follow him collecting the bride. Sometimes the bride and her friends would wait hours for the groom to arrive with the party.

“5 of these bridesmaids were wise and bought extra oil for their wedding lamps, but the other 5 did not. The night got late and in the warm room the girls started to fall asleep.”

The men were laughing out loud now, all those girls in their fancy clothes falling asleep on the rugs. While the groom was enjoying the time with his friends and family a little too much!

“In the middle of the night, the sound of the shofar horn woke the girls. The groom was banging on the door asking to be let in. Quickly they got up, straightened their clothes and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish bridesmaids had burnt almost all their oil and begged those who were prepared to share their extra. The wise bridesmaids knew that was a bad idea. They would not have enough oil to last all night if they gave it away now.

The foolish bridesmaids left to find more oil, and when they returned to the brides house, there was nobody there.

The party had danced their way across the town to the grooms house to continue the celebration. As the last person from the large crowd had reached the door, they had locked it shut behind him.

When the foolish bridesmaids came to the party, the groom sent them away, they were too late, the door was locked already.”

Jesus was telling his friends to be prepared because they would not be told the time the end would come

This passage is chock-full of symbolism, cultural norms and is a potential minefield to understand as a modern adult, let alone as a child. It’s also pure teaching instead of a person-based narrative, so to make it more identifiable, I’ve focused on how one Pharisee may have heard it. The word ‘Hypocrite’ is quite an adult term, and it’s worth spending a few minutes explaining the meaning to the kids. If you have a very young group, then simply omit that one reference in the retelling below.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main Passage : Matthew 23:1-12

Biblical retelling of Religious Hypocrites (Matthew 23) for youngsters.

The Pharisee stood towards the back of the crowd, Jesus kind of fascinated him, but something about Jesus was dangerous. Now Jesus wasn’t happy and he wasn’t going to stay quiet.

“Just look at those men” said Jesus, staring at the small crowd of religious leaders. “Look at how they are dressed, with the tassels on their prayer shawls super long, as if that makes them holy?

The Pharisee looked at the long trailing threads that came from the four corners of his garment, they held the 5 religious knots. Pharisees would make the treads longer to show their importance, they didn’t need to be long, they got dirty easily, but it was sort of like a uniform, so people could see they were super religious.

Jesus was still talking, “They take the place of Moses in the community, making laws, reading scripture, telling you how God wants you to live your life. They share God’s truth but don’t act on it. Instead, they place the heavy load of keeping rules on God’s people and don’t do anything to help them. They love the place of honour at banquets, the front seats in the synagogues, they demand to be called ‘Rabbi’ by people.”

“Ha, Rabbi? — Don’t call these men ‘Rabbi’ or ‘teacher’ or even ‘instructor’ — you only have one teacher, the Messiah, you are all brothers and sisters the same. And you all have just one father, your Father in Heaven.”

The Pharisee felt like he’d been punched. God’s people needed religious leaders, his world had just been declared wrong. He’d spent years training to be something Jesus was against. How could he take this man seriously?

“Do you want to know who will be the greatest among you?” said Jesus, his voice calming. “The greatest will be the one who is a servant. Those who try to make themselves important will be made small, but those who are willing to serve even if it makes them look foolish, they will be praised and lifted high.”

The crowd quite liked that bit, but Jesus wasn’t finished with the religious leaders yet. Jesus wasn’t kind, he told them how they had got so many things wrong, he called them horrible names, he labelled them hypocrites. It was clear, whatever Jesus was planning, the Pharisees were going to lose if they didn’t stop it.

This passage shows two groups become unlikely allies. The Herodians are a bit of an unknown factor, we know they wished to restore a member of the Herodian dynasty to the throne in Judea, and they fought for political independence but little else. As long as Rome let them fully rule themselves, they probably would have been happy. The Pharisees would have found these terms totally offensive, nothing but an offspring of David should rule as king over the land and the only higher authority for their king would have been divine. Bringing the Herodians along for a political question concerning Rome was a clever play, they would have no problem getting Jesus arrested for not paying taxes.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main Passage : Matthew 22

Biblical retelling of The Greatest commandment (Matthew 22) for youngsters.

This is part of a single lesson pack, all ready to print and go.

Jesus was making a lot of noise. Lots of people were gathering wherever he went. People were chatting about him in the streets, passing on his stories and his teaching. It made the religious leaders very nervous.

There were lots of types of religious leaders. There were those who followed all the rules, even making up new rules; they were called the Pharisees. Some of the Pharisees liked Jesus, but most of them didn’t. Jesus broke the rules; so they didn’t want people to follow his example. If they started breaking some rules, where would they stop?

Another group of religious leaders were called the Sadducees. There weren’t so many of them, and they liked to think they were the most important. Being a religious leader made them rich and powerful. Some of the Sadducees were puzzled by Jesus’s wise teachings, but many hated Jesus because he made them look greedy for money and power.

Jesus had to be stopped. They had to find a problem with his teaching, one they could use to prove he was wrong and they were right. So, they made a plan. They would ask Jesus some questions that didn’t have a right answer.

First, a Pharisee tried to trap Jesus with a question on taxes, but Jesus was too clever to be trapped so easily. Then, a Sadducee tried to trap Jesus with a question about marriage, but Jesus made him look foolish! As the Sadducee had failed, another Pharisee tried once again. This Pharisee was an expert on scripture and the law. “Which commandment is the most important?” he asked.

Jesus smiled. He liked this question. There were hundreds of commandments to choose from and were all important, but he knew just two would cover everything. Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and most important command. And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’” The crowd was silent. Every single law could be simplified to one of these two sentences. Even the Pharisee looked impressed.

Jesus had had enough of them trying to trap him. He was happy to answer their questions, but they didn’t really want to know the answers; they wanted to trip him up. So, he asked them a question about the scripture, which nobody could answer. Embarrassed, they left him alone. I wonder what things about God you would like to ask Jesus?

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