The People Praised Jesus, Their Friend

Matthew 21:1-16

Our true story comes from a book of the Bible called Matthew. Matthew was one of the helpers of Jesus.

On Palm Sunday, we remember the day when Jesus came riding into the town of Jerusalem. When all the people heard Jesus was coming, they got so excited they grabbed palm branches and stood by the road so they could cheer for Jesus when He came by.


When they saw Jesus, they waved their palm branches in the air and said, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Yay, Jesus!”


The word “hosanna” means many things. Long ago, it meant “Save, please!” and was said about the special One that God would send. On this day in Jerusalem, the people knew Jesus was the One! And so, they shouted, “Hosanna!” to praise Jesus and to tell Him how special He was.


The people thought Jesus was amazing because of all the amazing things He had done. Jesus had calmed a storm. Jesus had made sick people better. Jesus had even fed a whole lot of people with only a little bit of food. The people knew Jesus could do things no one else could do!


The people also knew that Jesus was the One who had been teaching people how to love God and love people. Jesus taught them what to do with their money. Jesus taught them to obey their parents. Jesus even taught them how to be a good friend by being the best friend ever!


Jesus is your friend, too! And He is such a great friend! Jesus listens when we pray. Jesus forgives us when we mess up. Jesus is always, always there for us! And like the people, we, too can praise Him by saying, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Yay, Jesus!”



Bible Paraphrase: A friend loves at all times. – Proverbs 17:17, NIrV

Text Truth: We can praise Jesus.


Family Devotional

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
– Matthew 21:9
In our Bible story we learned that we can praise Jesus like the people in our Bible story did. We can tell Jesus how much we love Him anytime we want. We love Jesus because He is our good friend.

A friend loves at all times. – Proverbs 17:17

A good friend loves at all times. Jesus is a good friend because Jesus loves us at all times.

With your family, make a list of reasons you want to praise your good friend Jesus. With each reason, write down the name of your family member who said it.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. Acknowledge to God you want to praise Jesus for being such a good, good friend. And acknowledge there are so many reasons to love Jesus: "We praise Jesus because (read through the reasons in your list)..." Thank God for sending Jesus to be your friend forever.


Activities You Can Do at Home


Make a Praise Palm Branch

You’ll Need: green construction paper, a glue stick, crayons or washable markers, safety scissors

  • Cut the construction paper into rectangles about six inches wide and two inches tall.
  • On each rectangle, write one way to praise Jesus, our King.
  • While you work, talk about the Bible story and how the people praised Jesus.
  • Glue the rectangles onto another piece of paper in the shape of a palm branch.



A Praise Parade

Invite friends over and have a praise parade. Before the parade, talk about different ways that they can praise Jesus, their King, during the parade. Take turns leading your parade inside and outside.

-
Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Early Christians Shared Everything

Image
Acts 4:32-37 Our story comes from a book of the Bible called Acts. That name is short for “the Acts of the Apostles.” The word "Apostle" is another word to describe a helper of Jesus. Our Bible story tells us about some people who loved Jesus. The people were gathered together in a room. Buzz, buzz, buzz. The room filled with talking and laughter. The people called themselves Christians because they did what Jesus Christ said to do (Christian means "follower of Christ"). The Christians knew that Jesus was God’s Son. They wanted others to know about Jesus, too. Grandmas, grandpas, moms, dads, and children met together in homes. They would pray, sing, and learn about Jesus together. All these people loved Jesus. They were like one big, happy family. Because they loved Jesus, the Christians happily shared what they had more than others. Everything a person had was happily shared with the rest of the Bible-time Christians. They shared food so every
Read more

Abraham and His Family Moved to a New Land

Image
Genesis 12:1-9 Our story comes from the book, or part, of the Bible called Genesis. Genesis means "the beginning." A man and woman lived in a land called Ur. The man was named Abram and the woman was named Sarai. Abram and Sarai were husband and wife. God called Abram and Sarai and gave them new names! Abram means “nobel father.” But God changed his name to “Abraham,” which means “father of many.” Sarai” means “princess.” But God changed her name to “Sarah,” which means “mother of nations.” Now they were Abraham and Sarah, "father of many" and "mother of nations!" Abraham grew up in the land called Ur. When he was grown, Abraham moved with his family to a new land called Haran. But then, in the land of Haran, God appeared to Abraham and told him to leave his country. God told Abraham to move to a new land. God promised to be with Abraham and show him where to go. God also promised to give Abraham children, grandchildren, and many g
Read more

Isaac Did Not Fight

Image
Genesis 26:12-25 Take-Home Our story comes from the book, or part, of the Bible called Genesis. Genesis means "the beginning." The Bible tells us about a man named Isaac. God gave Isaac lots of land. God blessed Isaac by helping him have many animals and servants. When the animals needed water to drink, Isaac and his helpers took them to a well. A well is a hole in the ground that helps you reach water that is under the ground. The animals and people drank the water from the well. The people who lived near Isaac were upset because he had more animals than they did. They filled Isaac’s wells with dirt so the animals couldn’t drink the water. But Isaac didn’t fight. He knew fighting doesn’t fix problems. The people told him to move away. Isaac didn’t have to go, but he packed his things and moved. Clippity-clop. Isaac made a new home on his land for his family and animals. Diggity-dig. Isaac dug a well so his animals would have water to drink. But Isaac
Read more