Week 32 · about 45 minutes
Jesus in the River
Matthew 3:13–17 · Memory verse Matthew 3:17
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (A Dove at the River), the related word search and answer key (Names of Jesus), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a blue cloth for water
Hold up a blue cloth for water. In about five minutes, tell the class this: Jesus is baptized, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father speaks love. Show the prop and ask, “What does this have to do with Jesus in the River?” Let two children answer. Then read Matthew 3:17 together: “Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”” Close by asking one child to say the lesson back in their own words, using the prop.
Story script
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to stop him. “I need to be baptized by you,” he said. Jesus had not sinned. He still stepped into the water. He was standing with people, beginning the work he came to do.
When Jesus came up out of the water, heaven opened. The Spirit of God descended like a dove and rested on him. A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Before Jesus preached a sermon or healed a crowd, his Father named him and loved him. The pleasure of God was not a prize at the end of a busy day. It was the truth at the start.
If you belong to Jesus, the Father’s love is the truest thing about you too. You do not have to earn the sentence “with you I am well pleased” by being impressive tomorrow. You receive it in the Son, and then you live from it.
Group game
Jesus steps onto the cloth. A dove is raised overhead and the class says together, You are my beloved Son.
Craft
Draw the river, Jesus, John, and a dove. Write beloved.
Memory verse
Matthew 3:17
“Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for loving your Son and for loving us in him. Help me live like someone who is already loved. Amen.