𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧

It’s time for some physical activities. Think of some physical activity you can do with your kids. If you are out of ideas, you can check out this page:

https://www.familyfuntwincities.com/physical-activities-for-kids/

Physical activities are a great way to spend time as a family. In our Bible story today, a man named Zacchaeus climbed a tree. Let’s check out this story.

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus and Zacchaeus

1 𝐻𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ. 2 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑒𝑢𝑠. 𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑡𝑎𝑥 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ. 3 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒. 4 𝑆𝑜 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑠𝑦𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑦. 5 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒, ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑚, “𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑒𝑢𝑠, ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐼 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦.” 6 𝑆𝑜 ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦. 7 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑖𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑, “𝐻𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟.” 8 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑍𝑎𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑒𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑, “𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑, 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝐼 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑜𝑟. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑑.” 9 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑚, “𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑏𝑟𝑎ℎ𝑎𝑚. 10 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡.”

In today’s language, Zacchaeus would have been considered canceled by others. As a tax collector, he was not liked by his countrymen. They felt he was a traitor and looked down on him as a sinner. But nonetheless, Jesus extended himself to Zacchaeus and Zacchaeus responded. He repented and set out to restore fourfold whatever he defrauded and he gave away half of what he had to the poor.

Cancel culture is nothing new. Jesus Himself experienced this. During His ministry on earth, He was gaining influence and many religious leaders felt threatened. They wanted to cancel Him, if not His influence, then His life through false witnessing and accusations.

God teaches us to love others the way He loves us. It means that we will not love a person more or treat him better just because he has a better status or can wield more influence. At the same time, we will not love or treat a person less just because he does not have as much influence as others. God wants us to love others regardless of their status or position in life.

𝗛𝗨𝗗𝗗𝗟𝗘

Parent to Kid/s

2-6 years old

What did you like best about the story of Zacchaeus?

7-12 years old

Have you ever thought of yourself higher or lower than others? Why or why not?

Kid/s to Parent:

How do we help someone being mistreated or looked down by others because of their status?

How can someone use his status to help others?

Our culture today makes it easy to look at and treat others according to their status - whether a celebrity, royalty, powerful people in government or industry and even outcasts or losers. The higher one’s status is, the more importance you attach to that person and vice versa. That was how Zacchaeus was treated. But Jesus does not look at us that way. When He died on the cross for us, it was for everyone no matter their position in life. He offered to take away the worst status we can have as sinners - because He loves us. May His love for you penetrate any label that has been attached to you by others or yourself.

𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗬

Dear God, thank You because You love me regardless of my position or status in life. Open my eyes to see how I treat every single person I meet and teach me to love them the same way You love me. Change my heart and mind to be more like Yours Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen.

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥

Many kids today are stuck with their gadgets and don’t get enough physical activities. Do you think you will be ready and be able to climb a tree like Zacchaeus? There are many benefits to being physically active - better health, strong bones, deterrent for sickness and disease, better mood and self-esteem and even performing better in school.

Make time for physical activities with your family. While needing some thought and preparation, their benefits will outweigh the efforts and time required in preparing for them.