Mark 10:42-45, New International Reader's Version

²Jesus called them together. He said, “You know about those who are rulers of the Gentiles. They hold power over their people. Their high officials order them around. ⁴³Don’t be like that. Instead, anyone who wants to be important among you must be your servant. ⁴⁴And anyone who wants to be first must be the slave of everyone. ⁴⁵Even the Son of Man did not come to be served. Instead, he came to serve others. He came to give his life as the price for setting many people free.”

Children’s Sabbaths Themes:

Liberation and transformation

Objects:

King and queen crowns. (Decorate Burger King crowns if you have access to them). Use other objects that suggest royalty.

Message:

Today, let’s pretend we are in a royal court. Will you help me have a royal kingdom? (Allow children to answer.) Great! I will need a king, queen, some princes and princesses, dukes, and duchesses. And I will need a servant to wait on all the royal people. Who would like to volunteer to be in our royal court? Who would like to be the king? (Select one child to be king.) Who would like to be the queen? (Select another child. Continue this way until most or all have been selected. You can have several princes, princesses, dukes, and duchesses. Have the children line up and introduce them as King Name, Queen Name…. Allow them to step forward and give a royal wave.) Uh, oh, I almost forgot to give the servant role to someone. Who would like to play the role of the servant? (Wait for someone to volunteer or assign the role of servant to one of the children. The children most likely will be less interested in this role.)

Can someone tell me which one of these people is the greatest? (Allow children to answer.) Is the king the greatest? Is one of the dukes the greatest? (Wait for answers.) Which one is the greatest in God’s eyes. (Allow children to answer again.) In the eyes of God, the servant is the greatest of all. Servant, could you come to the front of the line and stand in front of everyone? (Have the servant stand up tall in front of everyone else.) In God’s kingdom, the lowliest servant is the greatest because that person helps everyone else.

(Have everyone sit down before you continue.) I am reading from the Gospel of Mark. Chapter 10 tells us that two of Jesus’ disciples, James, and his brother John, wanted to be important people in heaven. They wanted to sit next to Jesus, right next to Jesus’ heavenly throne. The other disciples became angry with them. “Why should James and John have the best seats?” they complained. So, Jesus took a moment to explain something to all the disciples.

“And anyone who wants to be first must be the slave of everyone,” Jesus explained. ^45“Even the Son of Man did not come to be served. Instead, he came to serve others. He came to give his life as the price for setting many people free.”

Jesus is the almighty king, but he didn’t come to earth to demand that people serve him. Jesus came to be a servant to all and to give up his life, so that we might have eternal life—life in heaven with him. Serving others is great exercise. When we serve others, we put their needs before ours. We think of other people first. Walking with Jesus isn’t a race with Jesus; it’s following him. It’s learning from him. It’s using him as an example. Walking with Jesus means we are to be more like Jesus.

I hope that all of you will become great in God’s kingdom by serving others. Serve them with all your heart. When you walk with Jesus and serve others, you, too, will become great in the eyes of God.

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for leaving your throne in heaven to come here to earth as a servant. Help us to be servants in your kingdom by serving those around us.