Trial and Crucifixion

A Music and Movement Workshop Lesson

Summary:
Children will respond to and tell the story through music, movement ,and sound effects connected to the story of the Crucifixion and John 3:16. In addition to a music video and retelling of the story, a reflection music video is added at the end of the lesson for those who have the time to enjoy the energetic and profound, "This is Amazing Grace."

Scripture References:

John 18-19 (paraphrased below in the sound effects script)
John 3:16

Materials List:

• A large screen or TV to show the YouTube music video, including an internet connection to view it.
• A printed copy of The Crucifixion Story with Sound Effects script seen below in this lesson.

Here is the John 3:16 video you'll be using.

Note that the Seeds Family Worship ministry requests on the video screen that you go to their website and make a donation. Publicly posted YouTube videos and music may be used in face-to-face teaching situations without requiring a license or payment, so use your own discretion. Please note that use in "worship" is not considered a teaching situation by copyright law.

Lesson Plan

Opening Video Motions and Song:

Welcome the children and explain what they'll be doing today and what you hope that they will learn.

Rather than simply jumping into the John 3:16 video, you're going to play a bit of a game with it and your students.

Begin by SILENTLY acting out the "John 3:16" video motions (without the video being on) and asking them if they can tell what Bible verse you are acting out. (Of course they won't know, so do the next step to create some fun anticipation.)

PLAY the first 30 seconds of the John 3:16 video so they can only hear the music and the video is FACING AWAY from them. Do the motions as best you can as the music plays for a few moments, then STOP the video and ask students "who wants to come up and see if they can do it better than me?"

Invite the volunteering student(s) to come forward to WATCH THE VIDEO and do the motions, but continue NOT SHOWING the video to the rest of the class. Invite everyone to follow along. Let this play for about a minute.

Stop and ask "where does this come from? What is John 3:16?  (You'll get to discussion questions in a few minutes but for now, mention that these are the words Jesus taught an old man named Nicodemus, and they have become the most famous words in the Bible.)

Now that you have everyone's attention! --- Turn the video screen around, have everyone gather in front of it, and play the full video. Have your student volunteers and a teacher stand by the SIDE of the video so that they can see it and BE SEEN by all the rest of the students. (This helps the shy kids get in on the action.)

Tip: It will really help if you have a strong leader and bold volunteer student to sing and act out the video and then lead the class in singing and acting it out.

Questions about John 3:16 to ask after showing the Video:

Who is God's only "begotten" son?

How did God "GIVE" his only begotten son?

Who can "believe" in Jesus?   (And really, who can believe well enough? Aren't we all sinners?)

What is the "eternal life" John 3:16 promises?   (Life forever with God)

When does this eternal life being?  (Right now...you're living in eternal life!)

The Crucifixion Story with Sound Effects

As you read the following story, the leader does what's in parentheses and the students COPY YOU. Meaning: if you snore, they snore. As you retell the story, use voices and dramatic actions.

Say: God gave the life of his "only begotten son" on the cross, and it's that story we're going to read today and put some sound effects to it as we read it so that we can relive some of its passion and danger, and remember it.

It was late at night. Jesus had been praying in the garden of Gethsemane for many hours. His disciples had all fallen asleep, even though Jesus asked them to stay awake and pray with him on his last night.

(SNORING)

Suddenly, the chief priest’s soldiers came looking for Jesus. They were holding torches, lanterns, and weapons.

(MARCH WITH YOUR FEET)

The disciples woke up now! Peter tried to defend Jesus. He took his sword and cut off the ear of one of the servants.

(INSERT PAINFUL CRY! HOLD EAR!)

Jesus healed the man and told Peter not to fight.
The commander and Jewish officials had their soldiers arrest Jesus and tie him up.

(WRAP ROPE AROUND WRISTS)

So, Jesus is arrested by the guards of the Sanhedrin, the religious rulers, and taken to the house of the high priest, Caiaphas. There the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas their leader were waiting to put Jesus on trial.

The Sanhedrin questioned Jesus about who he truly is. He said, “I’ve been teaching out in the open and in the synagogues and in the Temple. Why are you asking me these questions now??  This made the Sanhedrin mad, so they hit Jesus and were more determined to find a way to kill him.

(SMACK YOUR HANDS TOGETHER)

Caiaphas commanded Jesus to respond to the charges. “Are you the Christ, the Son of God?”
Jesus replied, “I AM... and soon you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the God.”

This outraged the high priests because Jesus was saying that he was equal with God and anyone who claimed to be God was sentenced to death! Then the soldiers spit on Jesus, hit and slapped him.

(SPIT, SMACK)

And they took him away and beat him.

(MARCH)

The next morning, the priests took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor because he was the only one who could sentence Jesus to death.

Pilate asked, “Why do you bring him here?”
“He’s a criminal,” they said, “He says he is a King.”
Pilate asked Jesus if he was the King of the Jews and Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world."

Pilate thought Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong and wanted to let him go. so he decided to use the tradition of letting a prisoner go during Passover, but the crowd led by the priests, shouted, “No, GIVE US BARRABAS."

(CHANT: GIVE US BARRABAS! WE DON'T WANT JESUS!)

Pilate had Jesus whipped, and then soldiers put a crown of thorns and a purple robe on Jesus and struck him saying, “Hail, king of the Jews.”

(SHAKE FIST AND CHANT: CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM.)

And so Jesus was taken to Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, and there he was crucified on a cross between two robbers. And at noon, darkness fell over the land and lasted for three hours. It was 3:00 p.m.

And then there was a crack of thunder.

(CRACK!)

And the ground shook with a violent earthquake.

(SHAKE)

And the curtain in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

(RIPPPPPPPP)

And Jesus breathed his last breath, saying "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," and died.

A Roman soldier seeing and hearing all these things said, "Surely this man was a son of God."

(QUIETNESS)

Then Joseph of Arimathea a friend of Jesus took Jesus' body down off the cross and wrapped it in a long linen sheet, and placed it in an empty tomb carved into the rock. And there they set a heavy stone against the opening.

(ROLLLL... THUMP!)

And all the world waited for what would happen next.

Would God let this be the last word about Jesus?

Would Jesus rise from the dead as he predicted he would?

And what would he do when he came back to life?  Punish his murderers and faithless disciples?

(HUH!)

I GUESS WE'LL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL EASTER TO FIND OUT!

(WHOA!  YAY!   ALRIGHT!  THE END   OR IS IT?)

Reflection:

For older children and youth, share this terrific song by Phil Wickham titled, "This is Amazing Grace." The lyrics tell the story and meaning of the cross -- that God so loved the world...

A lesson originally posted by Jaymie Derdenfrom: State Street UMC, Bristol, VA
and updated by members of the Rotation.org Content Team