Calling of Matthew

  1. CALLING OF MATTHEW

Objectives:

  1. Children should know that Matthew was a tax collector.
  2. Children should know that Matthew was one of Jesus’s disciples.
  3. Children should memorize the four fishermen and Matthew.

 

Possible Lesson Plan:

  1. Open with prayer.

 

  1. Read the story of Matthew in the Beginner’s Bible, pages 311-313, the Read with Me Bible, page 294. Supplement with the Golden Children’s Bible, pages 370-371 or the Arch book, “The Man Who Learned to Give”. What was Matthew’s job? Was he liked by most people? Why or why not?

 

  1. Feed the Elephant True/False Questions:

True                                                     False

            Matthew was a tax collector.                          Matthew was a doctor.

            Jesus went to Matthew’s house.                     Jesus hated Matthew.

            Matthew was Jesus’s disciple.                        Matthew hated Jesus.

            Matthew gave back the money he stole.         Matthew stole Jesus’s money.

 

Add Matthew, the tax collector, to your timeline:

  1. Talk a bit about liking people: What makes someone a good friend, a nice person? Have the children come up with some characteristics. What makes someone a “bad” person? Did most people think Matthew was a nice person or a bad person? Why? Did most people like Matthew? Did they visit him? Were they nice to him? How did Jesus treat Matthew? Do you know some people who are not so nice? How do we treat people who are not so nice? Are we being like Jesus?

 

  1. Make the Followers Footprints: Begin with a pillowcase for each child. Loosen a small area of hem at one seam and insert a piece of clothesline, tying the ends together as a drawstring. In class, place acrylic paint, thinned with fabric medium if desired, in shallow pan. Have each child step in the pan, or paint the child’s foot with a sponge. Make each child’s footprint on each pillowcase; add the name of the child “disciple” in permanent marker. Sort of a footprint autograph duffelbag!

6. Too messy? Try this one instead working on the 12 disciples, now all called by the Lord. Just write the names on ahead of time with a sharpie, let the children draw on faces and color, use glue dots to attach to carrying rod to make a nice display at home or in the car. 

7. Close with prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to love even people who are not nice to me and to be like You.