Week 997 · about 45 minutes
Mark 8
Mark 8 · Memory verse Mark 8:17
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Mark 8), the matching word search and answer key (Mark 8 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read Mark 8 in about four minutes, stopping at Mark 8:17: “Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened?” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Mark 8?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Mark 8 is a real chapter from the New Testament. It starts, “In those days, when there was a very great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to himself, and said to them,” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, ““When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”” Mark 8 opens with these words: “In those days, when there was a very great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to himself, and said to them,” The line to keep is Mark 8:17: “Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still…” Carry the word “jesus” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Mark 8:17: “Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened?” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Mark 8? Then try this: Read “Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Mark 8. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Mark 8:17. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Mark 8 and write Mark 8:17 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Mark 8:17
“Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened?”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Mark 8. Help us remember Mark 8:17 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.