Birth of John the Baptist

BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

Objectives:

Students should be able to tell the story of Elizabeth, Zachariah , and the angel.
Students should be able to identify John as the child of Elizabeth and Zachariah.

Possible Lesson Plan:

First review the stories of other “gift babies”: Mary to Joachim and Anna, Isaac to Abraham and Sarah, and Samuel to Hannah and Elkanah. You can even review the stories in Genesis 17:15-21, 21:1-3 and I Samuel 1:1-20. What gift did God give to Elizabeth and Zachariah? How did they feel? What did Zachariah say to the angel? Did he believe God? Do you always believe God? Is it hard sometimes to do what God says? Why couldn’t Zachariah speak? What were his first words? Did he obey God in the end? Who visited Elizabeth before John was born? Remind the students that Mary and Elizabeth were cousins.

Play a learning game: Make a “Question and Answer Viewer”. Seal a business-size envelope. Cut off both ends, leaving a 6-inch section. Cut two square windows in the front. Label the right window “Question” and the left “Answer” Take a long strip of paper, 3 ½ inches wide and 2 feet long (tape together several shorter lengths). Draw rectangles the same size and distance apart as your windows. In each pair of rectangles, write a question and its answer. Have each student come up with one question for all. Finally, insert the strip into your viewer. As you pull it through, the questions and answers will present themselves!

Close with prayer. Use the prayer that Elizabeth prayed when she saw Mary coming: “Rejoice, O Birthgiver of God, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb. For you have borne the Savior of our souls!”