Zaccheus
ZACCHEUS
Objectives:
Children should be able to identify Zaccheus as the short man who wanted to see Jesus.- Children should know that Zaccheus’s life was changed by meeting Jesus.
Possible Lesson Plan:
- Open with prayer.
- Read the story of Zaccheus from the Beginner’s Bible, pages 413-417, the Children’s Bible Reader, page 224, or the Read with Me Bible, pages 356-357. Supplement with the Golden Children’s Bible, page 422, if desired. What did Zaccheus do for a living? Do we know another tax collector in the Bible? (Matthew, the disciple) Why couldn’t Zaccheus see Jesus? What did he do? What did Jesus say to Zaccheus? What did Zaccheus do for Jesus?
- Feed the Elephant True/False Questions:
True False
Zaccheus was a tax collector. Zaccheus was a priest.
Zaccheus was a short man. Zaccheus was the tallest man in town
Zaccheus climbed a tree. Zaccheus flew in a balloon.
Jesus went to Zaccheus’s house. Jesus walked right by Zaccheus.
- Sing the song “Zaccheus was a wee little man…”
- Look around the room: Who is tall? Who is short? Who has blond hair? Who has dark hair? Who has blue eyes? Who has brown eyes? Have children brainstorm other physical characteristics that make us uniquely ourselves. Does God love only tall people? Brown-haired people? Blue-eyed people? God loves everyone! God loves each of us, just like we are!
- Make a Finger Paint Zaccheus Tree: Take a piece of white construction paper. Cut out a brown trunk for each child and let them glue the trunks on. Copy and cut out the Zaccheus and Jesus figures. Let the children color them. Add leaves to the tree with green finger paint and glue on Zaccheus in the tree and Jesus on the ground talking to him. Retell the story using the picture; be sure each child can tell it in his own words.
- Print the Pre-Lenten Path for the children to take home to color one square each day until Great Lent.
- Close with prayer.