Week 46 · about 45 minutes
The Table and the Towel
Luke 22 and John 13 · Memory verse John 13:34
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Queues the lesson plan, a coloring page from this part of the Bible (Love at the Cross), the related word search and answer key (Jesus Teaches Us to Pray), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a cup and a piece of bread
Hold up a cup and a piece of bread. In about five minutes, tell the class this: Jesus washes feet, shares bread and cup, and gives a new command to love. Show the prop and ask, “What does this have to do with The Table and the Towel?” Let two children answer. Then read John 13:34 together: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.” Close by asking one child to say the lesson back in their own words, using the prop.
Story script
On the night before he suffered, Jesus wanted to eat the Passover with his friends. During supper he got up, wrapped a towel around his waist, and washed the disciples’ dusty feet. Peter did not want the Lord doing a servant’s job. Jesus said that unless he washed them, they had no part with him. The King knelt.
He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them. “This is my body, given for you.” He took the cup and said it was the new covenant in his blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins. He was telling them, with food they could taste, that he would give his life.
He also said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The towel and the table belong together. People who receive Jesus’ love are sent to kneel in ordinary kindness.
You may not take communion yet, but you can understand the heart of it: Jesus gives himself for you, and he asks you to love in his way. A towel at home — helping, serving, forgiving — is practice for that love.
Group game
Sit on the floor. Pass the bread and the cup. Read the verse slowly. Wash one another's hands with a damp cloth if you have a bowl.
Craft
Draw the table, the cup, and a servant's towel. Write love one another.
Memory verse
John 13:34
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.”
Take-home prayer
Jesus, thank you for loving us to the end. Help us love one another the way you have loved us. Amen.