THE RAISING OF LAZARUS

Objectives:

1. Children should be able to tell the story of Lazarus in their own words.
2. Children should know the names of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Possible Lesson Plan:

1. Open with prayer.

2. Read the story of the raising of Lazarus in the Beginner’s Bible, pages 418-422, the Children’s Bible Reader, pages 227-229, or the Read with Me Bible, pages 329-339. Supplement, if desired, with the Golden Children’s Bible, pages 423-425. Where was Jesus when Lazarus became sick? Who were the sisters of Lazarus? How was Lazarus by the time Jesus came? What did Jesus do? Why did Jesus cry? What happened to Lazarus after Jesus prayed? Review the story with the icon, identifying Jesus, Lazarus, Peter, and the sister.

3. True/False Questions:

True                                                     False

            Mary liked to sit at Jesus’s feet.                     Martha sat and listened to Jesus.

            Martha was very busy getting things done.    Mary was busy getting things done.

            Lazarus was very sick and died.                     Lazarus had a little cold.

            Mary and Martha were Lazarus’s sisters.        Elizabeth and Anna were Lazarus’s sisters.

            Jesus told Lazarus to come out.                      Jesus told Lazarus to take a bath.

4. Play-act the story with one student wrapped like Lazarus in toilet paper. Another student plays Jesus, with students as Mary and Martha and the disciples watching. Jesus prays and shouts, “Lazarus, come forth!” Lazarus enters the room. Jesus tells the others to untie him and the toilet paper is unwrapped.

5. Discuss death a bit: What is death? Have the children ever known anyone who has died? Why are we sad when someone dies? Mary and Martha knew that Lazarus would rise again someday, but they were still sad. They would miss their brother. Even Jesus cried. Remind the children that Jesus knew that He would also soon die. Is Jesus stronger than even death? (Yes) How did He prove this even before He Himself rose from the dead?
6. Need an edible craft? Try "pigs in a blanket" mummy style with thin strips of crescent roll dough wrapped around the hot dog. The craft can bake in the oven as the lesson continues. 
7. Make the Holy Cross News: Take a newspaper. Have the students cut out words to form the headline they would write if they were reporting on the miraculous event of Lazarus’s resurrection. Glue the words onto a piece of paper and roll into a scroll, tying with a ribbon.
8. Begin the Lenten Path Journey. Print the Lenten Path, adapted for Orthodoxy from the Catholic Icing website, on cardstock for each child. Then color or mark off the days already past. Take home and continue to mark each day until Pascha. 
7. Close with prayer.