Last Judgment
THE LAST JUDGMENT
Objectives:
- Children should know that Jesus is coming again as judge.
- Children should be able to list some of the characteristics of goodness.
Possible Lesson Plan:
- Open with prayer.
2. Tell the parable of the Last Judgment: Jesus said, “When the Son of man comes, he will be like a king sitting on a throne. All around the throne will be angels and in front of the throne will be all the peoples of the earth. Then the King will judge the people. He will separate the good people from the bad people. He will have the good people stand on his right side and he will say to them, ‘ Come, O good children of my Father. Receive the beautiful Kingdom that God created for you in the beginning. You have lived as my Father wanted you to live, for when I was hungry, you gave me food to eat, when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink, when I came as a stranger, you welcomed me, when I was naked, you clothed me, when I was sick, you visited me, when I was in prison, you came to see me.’ Then the people will answer the King: ‘ Lord, when did we see you and do all these things for you?’ And the King will answer, ‘If you were kind or helped anyone who needed help, you helped me. The good things you did to them, you did to me.’ Then the King will say to those at his left side, ‘Because you didn’t help anyone, or weren’t kind or generous to anyone, you didn’t show kindness to me.’ Therefore the King will send them away to be punished forever, but to the good people, he will give life forever in his kingdom.”
- Instead of True/False Questions, have the children try to list the characteristics of goodness, as stated in the parable. Discuss each one: Have we done any of these things? When? Have children tell stories from their own lives.
- Review some Old Testament stories of judgment: Adam and Eve and the Garden, Noah and the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s wife, Pharaoh and the plagues of Egypt, etc. Each of these can be looked at again in the Read with Me Bible.
5. Play a learning game: Print your Pre-Lenten Path perhaps a bit enlarged on cardstock. If you do it in 4 pages instead of one, it should be nice and big to place on the table. Use markers from any game for the children. Place sheep and goat cards on the blank squares of the gameboard. Children roll dice and move spaces. If they land on a sheep or a goat, they must take it. Winner is the one in the end who has the most sheep, not goats!
6. Make a Last Judgment Booklet: Print the next 4 pages, double-sided, flipping on long edge to make 2 booklets to cut apart for each copy. Review the story and discuss concrete things we can do in each situation: Have the children staple a tiny “bag” of plastic wrap filled with rice or a cheerio on the hungry page, a silk flower or band-aid on the sick page, tape a small paper cup cut in half or a bottle cap on the thirsty page, draw a face behind the bars on the prison page and staple a tiny dress cut of felt or fabric or simply a button on the clothing page. Fold the pages and to make a book
- Close with prayer. Have each child specifically select a Last Judgment good deed to do this week.
- We are about to begin the Lenten Season. Print the Lenten Path and mark off each day at home.
