The Shepherd and the One

Five-minute object lesson

Prop: a cotton sheep

Hold up a cotton sheep. In about five minutes, tell the class this: Jesus says heaven rejoices when one lost person is found. Show the prop and ask, “What does this have to do with The Shepherd and the One?” Let two children answer. Then read Luke 15:6 together: “When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” Close by asking one child to say the lesson back in their own words, using the prop.

Story script

Some religious people grumbled because Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. Jesus told them a story a child could picture. Suppose a shepherd has a hundred sheep and loses one. Does he shrug? No. He leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it.

When he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. He calls friends and neighbors. “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” Jesus said there is the same kind of joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

God is not annoyed that he has to look for you. He carries you home on his shoulders. The party is his idea. Being found is the happiest part of being lost.

If you have wandered — in a lie, a habit, or a lonely feeling — you are the one he is walking out to find. You can turn toward him tonight. Heaven knows how to rejoice.

Open the bedtime version