“Friends of Jesus” Edition 6

The Parables of Jesus Matthew 13:24-33 The parables are stories, with important lessons, that Jesus told. The parables teach uswhat heaven is like, what God is like, and how we should live our lives as God wants us to.The Parable of the Sower taught us that everyone reacts differently to hearing the word ofGod and that we have to tell everyone the Good News about Jesus. The passages we will look at next, take place directly after Jesus tells the people about theParable of the Sower. There are six parables that tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven andwhat it is like. Read the next parables in Matthew 13:24-52. In these parables, Jesus says “The Kingdom of heaven is like…” and he goes on to comparethe kingdom of heaven to something we can understand and know about. He talks aboutthe weeds that are sown along with the wheat; he talks about the mustard seed that is thesmallest of seeds but grows into the biggest of trees; he tells of the yeast used in makingbread that starts off as tiny little beads that are mixed with flour and water and causes thedough to rise into beautiful big loaves; he describes the treasure and the pearl and hetalks about the fishing net. Jesus explained these parables for us to see that Jesus is the sower of the good seed, the

wheat and the mustard seed. He shows that the soil/field is the world and that the seedsare us, the people. The weeds are the sins in the world. Jesus will send angels to separatethe good and the bad in the world and we, Jesus’ followers, will be with Jesus and God inthe Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus describes the treasure and the pearl as the kingdom ofheaven; that people will give up everything they have in order to own the treasure or thepearl. He says that just as the fishing net can bring in many, many fish, so the kingdom ofheaven will bring in many, many people. But we hear, that only those that believe in Godand follow his ways will be brought into the kingdom of heaven. The angels of heaven will find the wheat, the mustard seeds, the treasures, pearls andgood fish to bring to Jesus. So we need to do our best to be all of those things if we wantto be part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Quiet Time

1. How can we know, love and follow Jesus?

2. Who does Jesus want us to love?

3. How does Jesus want us to live our lives?

4. What does it mean to be the treasure or pearl or good seed or

fish that Jesus asks us to be?

1. Treasure hunt

a. Look for the following things:

i. A beautiful leaf

ii. A flower

iii. A feather

iv. A stone

v. Something red

vi. Something shiny

2. Treasure chest

a. Colour the treasure chest and then fill it with treasure.

b. You can use anything that you have that can represent

treasure like sequins, bits of tin foil or coloured paper, coloured

beads.

Fun Time

3. Baking bread

a. Ask an adult to help you to make your own bread.

Equipment:BowlSpoonLoaf tin

500g bread flour

1 pinch salt

1 packet quick action yeast

2 tablespoons sunflower

oil (vegetable oil will work as well)

240 ml warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Make a well in the centre of the bowl.

Add in the vegetable oil and the warm water.

Mix with a spoon until a dough is formed.

Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface.

Knead for 5 – 10 minutes until smooth.

Make into shapes or put in a loaf tin.

Leave in a warm place for around an hour until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Bake 15 – 20 minutes for shaped rolls or 20 – 30 minutes for

loaves.

Test to see if cooked by tapping the bottom with your knuckle –

hollow sound = cooked.

Leave to cool and enjoy.

4. Fish in a net

a. Colour in or paint the fish and cut it out.

b. Use a vegetable bag from onions or gem squash as a fishing

net.

c. Place your fish in the “net” as a reminder to be a good fish that

follows Jesus.

5. Beaded bracelet or necklace

a. You will need a pipe cleaner or piece of wool or string and

some beads.

b. Thread your beads onto your “chain” (pipe cleaner/wool/string).

c. If you don’t have beads, you can cut a straw into different sizes

and thread those or even use pasta.

PrayerTime

Dear God,

Thank you that you choose the best of people to be a part of the

kingdom of Heaven. Thank you that the kingdom of Heaven is

open to everybody. Help us to be the treasures, the mustard seeds,

the good Christians you ask us to be.

Amen.

Treasure chest

Fish

www.jesuitinstitute.org.zaadmin@jesuitinstitute.org.za