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March 31, 2015 -- Issue #11

Have an idea for children's ministry?  
Share it at: submissions@SundaySchoolNetwork.com.
(Please review our copyright page before submitting your ideas or articles.)

Good Friday Skit?

Were a women's group looking for good friday skits

thanks
Mereia

--from SSTN: check out our Easter skits page: 
http://www.sundayschoolnetwork.com/skits-Easter.html 
and since the time is short to prepare, you might find our narrated skit, 
The UN-Passionate Christ, to be your best option.

Good Friday to Easter: "Whipping Boy"

Choose two children, one to be the whipping boy (or girl) and one to be the prince or princess. Teacher plays the King or Queen. Have the “royal” actors wear crowns. Explain to the class that in medieval days, in the days of kings and queens when princes or princesses disobeyed, they were not whipped, but their whipping boy (or girl) was punished in their place. It may have looked and sounded something like this:

King or Queen: (looking at the prince or princess) You were a very bad child today! And because you behaved so poorly I’m going to whip your Whipping Boy!

(King / Queen pretends to whip the Whipping Boy.)

Teacher says, “Does this seem fair? (Discuss) 

But wouldn’t it be great to have someone take our punishment when we do something wrong?

The Bible teaches us that in order to go to heaven we must be perfect (Matthew 5:48). It also tells us that the punishment for sinning is death (Romans 6:23). This means we are all in trouble, because we cannot be perfect; all of us sin.  We all need someone to be our substitute, like the “Whipping Boy” in our skit! 

(Have actors sit down and continue with the lesson.)

Before Jesus came to earth people could sacrifice (kill) certain animals to be punished in their place. The sacrifice of the animals made them right with God. The animal was substituted for them; it died instead of them. The animal suffered the death penalty they deserved for sinning. Lambs were often used as sacrifices. In fact, when God’s people escaped from slavery in Egypt, God instructed them to kill a lamb and mark their doorways with it’s blood. Because they did this, the death angel passed over their homes. But the people in the homes that weren’t marked with the lamb’s blood were punished by having all of their firstborn males killed (children, adults and even animals).

Animal sacrifices were only a temporary situation until Jesus came to earth. When Jesus Christ came to earth and suffered and died, it was once and for all (Hebrews 10:1-14). Jesus became our substitute, our Passover Lamb (sort of like our “Whipping Boy,” but eternally better!). Jesus suffered the death penalty we deserve for sinning. We needed a substitute because we couldn’t be perfect. Now God’s punishment passes over anyone who trusts in Jesus. Jesus took our sins when he died on the cross, and in exchange we are able to take his goodness. In this exchange all of us get the better deal! We don’t work to earn Jesus’ goodness (Ephesians 2:8-9). In fact, we are unable to earn God’s forgiveness, it is a free gift that we exchange---our lives for Jesus’ life. The best news of all is that Jesus didn’t remain dead. He rose from the grave! The Bible tells us that if Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead we would still be in our sins. And because Jesus lives, we too can live in heaven when we die (1 Corinthians 15: 13-17). We can exchange our sinful bodies for perfect bodies that never die!

Why do you suppose Jesus did this for us? The Bible says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). When we trust in Jesus and believe that he died for our sins and rose from the dead, in exchange we become God’s children (1 John 3:1).

Copyright 2004 S. A Keith 


This is one of the enrichment ideas from chapter 10 of 
"Tell Me the Story of Jesus" Bible curriculum.

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