Early Childhood Education: February 2009

Getting to Know Jesus

By Anne Neuberger

Pope Benedict writes, “May Lent be for every Christian a renewal experience of God’s love given to us in Christ.”

For preschoolers, experiencing God’s love through Christ may be more of a first time event than a renewal. Many know the Nativity story well, but are less familiar with the loving adult Jesus.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, the subject of love comes up. Use this to help children understand that Jesus himself is the ultimate example of love. Listed below are suggested Scriptures, and how each shows Jesus’ love. You can paraphrase them for young children to understand, or use a good children’s bible to read them.

Jesus shows his love by healing people:

Matthew 14:13-19, the miracle of the loaves and fishes: Jesus sees the crowd waiting for him, and ‘his heart was moved’. First he cures the sick among them and then, concerned about hunger of everyone, performs a miracle to feed them.
Mark 1: 40-41, the cleansing of a leper: Jesus is ‘moved with pity’ when the man approaches him.
Mark 7: 53-56, Jesus goes to Gennesaret: there many sick people are brought to him and he heals them.

Jesus’ story that teaches us to love each other:

Luke 10:30-37, the parable of the Good Samaritan: This is perhaps the easiest parable for young children to understand, and it is all about loving and not loving.

Jesus’ story about how God loves and watches over us:

Luke 15:3-6, the parable of the Lost Sheep: Children seem to intuitively understand Jesus’ analogy of people as sheep and God as the loving shepherd.

Jesus shows how to forgive:

Luke 19:1-10, the story of Zacchaeus: Preschoolers love the story about the short man who was bad sometimes! Help them understand that Jesus loved him and forgave him.

Jesus loves children:

Matthew 19:13-15, the blessing of the children: Perhaps the Scripture that most reaches children is the one in which Jesus himself reached out to little ones.

Anne Neuberger