Key Question: U2.2 What would Jesus do? Can we live by the values of Jesus in the twenty-first century?

LO: I can outline Jesus’ teaching on how his followers should live

The Widow’s Generosity
• Work with the Bible story of the poor widow who impressed Jesus by giving all she had (2p), while those who were rich gave much more, but kept a lot! Mark 12:41-44. Talk about generosity: it is not just about money, but also time, love, kindness, ‘thank yous’ and compliments. Ask each child in the class to write an example of generous behaviour in a paragraph. Collect these, and use ten varied ones for a ranking discussion: what do we think are the most generous things?
The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus, Luke 19:1-10. A musical strategy.
• Read the story, and provide 5 classroom groups with a copy on paper. Ask the groups to develop a list of words that apply to Zacchaeus, Jesus and the ‘negative voices’ of the crowds. Groups do this for Zacchaeus at the start and end of the story, the crowds at the start and end, and Jesus.
• The next stage is to turn some of these phrases into chants. Get each of the 5 groups to select their best 5 words or phrases, organise them into a chant and practice this all together, loud and quiet.
• Assign a leader or conductor to direct the group, or do this yourself. They could vary the dynamics (or volume) from a whisper to a shout by raising and lowering their arms, or vary the speed. Have all the 5 groups chant in turn, overlap, shout against each other, to retell the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus.. Call the whole thing ‘The Class 5A Zacchaeus Meets Jesus Opera’, or something similarly grand! Perform it to a class of younger children if you can.
• This activity tackles the question of how Jesus won a person who was mean to become generous and a follower. Discuss this through a Philosophy for Children (P4C) or other method of class analysis.