For each passage, there is a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page. All other graphics are extra’s!
Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).
These images are NOT copyright free.
These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only. Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decorations, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group. You may not use them in products you are going to sell (both printed and digital). Nor may you upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos. Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.
As we finish our cycle through the lectionary, it’s important to help kids learn this anchor of our year. We start with the birth of our saviour and end with the acknowledgement of his eternal kingship. This passage centres around Pilot’s question about Jesus’s earthly claim to kingship and how his divine kingship is misunderstood.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
The church year isn’t the same as the usual calendar. It starts in Advent as we get ready for Jesus to be born, and this is the last week before we start that journey again. This week we look back at the whole year and remember that Jesus is, was, and will always be King.
But Jesus isn’t like the other kings, and Jesus’s kingdom isn’t like other kingdoms.
Most kings are born in palaces and sleep in grand beds; Jesus’s first bed was a feeding trough, and for many years he had no home.
Most kings are big and powerful and have armies to fight for them, but Jesus was a servant to everyone.
Most kings wear royal robes and golden crowns, but the only crown we see Jesus wear is one made of thorns.
Most kingdoms fight over land and resources; Jesus’s kingdom fights for people’s hearts.
When Jesus was arrested, a man called Pilate tried to understand what kind of king Jesus was. The Jewish leaders had called him “King of the Jews,” but the man who stood before him didn’t look like a king.
“Are you a king?” asked Pilate.
“My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus.
“So you are a king then?” said Pilate.
“You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. Then, he continued, “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth.”
Pilate was confused. What was this truth that Jesus spoke of? But Jesus wasn’t confused. He knew that sharing the truth of God’s kingdom would end with him dying and then coming back to life.
Confused, Pilate had the crowd decide, and the crowd had Jesus killed. The king of all Heaven and Earth had a crown of thorns placed on his head and died between two thieves. But we know there is still more story to tell, and that the story of Jesus never ends. We know that the story of Jesus is still being told in the things his followers are doing today.
Next week, we will begin the story again for a new year. Jesus will be born and die and rise again; then his followers will spread the word of his Kingdom around the whole world.
Christ the King is the last Sunday in the lectionary year and is a perfect time to be thinking of the whole year in focus. This darling little calendar can be used all year and it’s bright colours reflect the liturgical colours.
It’s easy to trivialise or minimise the importance of the temple to the people of Jerusalem. We often mistakenly consider it to be a large building and ignore the gigantic structure that it stood on. The whole setup was considered one of the wonders of the ancient world and bigger than 30 football pitches in size. The idea of it being removed or destroyed must have seemed impossible. Here are a few suggestions to get the wiggles out and learn though play as you launch into this lesson.
Give each child a piece of paper with a squiggle on it. Have them complete the picture. You could also do this with a piece of jigsaw puzzle and have them verbally describe what is missing. Link: The disciples only saw a tiny bit of the whole picture; they couldn’t imagine the temple not playing a big role.
Don’t wobble the structure
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Can be seated
Play a balance/stacking game like Jenga®, bottle balance or stacking chairs. You can make your own version of many of these games if needed. Link: The temple was impressive, but it would fall.
Lean on me
All Ages
Any size group
No Setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Have the kids get into pairs and sit back to back. Interlock arms and push against each other to stand up. They must not use their hands. Add one person to the group each time they are successful. Link: God asks us to lean on him, not on the things we build in this world.
These are the Character resources provided for: Destruction of the Temple (Mark 13).
For each passage, there is a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page. All other graphics are extra’s!
Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).
These images are NOT copyright free.
These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only. Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decorations, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group. You may not use them in products you are going to sell (both printed and digital). Nor may you upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos. Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.
The destruction of the temple is a story that comes up in the lectionary and yet is over skipped. However, in a world where unimaginable things crumble, this story shows Jesus lovingly preparing his disciples to put their trust in something more solid than man-made constructions.
This is such a gloomy passage, and it may seem like one you’d prefer to skip, but it’s a passage that covers one of the central themes of Jesus’s ministry and making God your foundation. While the parable of the wise and foolish builder may be more visually friendly, the prediction about the fall of the temple reminds children that no matter how huge and real and solid something is, God is always bigger. In a world where the unthinkable happens, where violence seems to win, where nature destroys and empires fall, this passage offers comfort.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Jesus and his followers left the temple. As they walked away, one of his friends looked back and stopped Jesus to ask him about it.
The temple was really impressive. They had built huge walls around the mountain top–as high as an 8 story building–to support a flat area the size of 30 football pitches. In the middle, the temple was built. It was huge too, made of white stone that was covered with large gold plates reflecting sunlight. Along the top of the temple walls, there were golden triangles so the whole place looked like a giant crown. It was supposed to be a temple for the world, but only the priests could get all the way inside. People came from all over the world to see the biggest place of worship ever built, to marvel at the size of the stones and tall arches, to spread their arms around the tall white columns and glimpse the beautiful coloured stones that made the floor.
One of Jesus’s disciples pointed and said to him, “Teacher, look! What massive stones! What impressive buildings!”
Jesus saw something different, though. He replied to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another—all will be thrown down.”
The disciples around him stopped walking, their faces shocked. How could something this huge be destroyed? The crowd carried on walking with sad faces. Behind them, the temple–the pride of their nation–shone brightly.
Later that evening, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Jesus privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen?”
Jesus looked at his friends’ sad faces. They had believed his words, and yet he could not tell them when the Roman army would destroy the temple. But he could warn them that many things would happen–people would come and lead men into foolish places, earthquakes and wars would shake the world, famine and illnesses would visit communities–but that they were not the end of the story. There was no need to trust in huge buildings or shiny gold plates because the kingdom of God was going to change everything.
That’s what Jesus had come to teach them. That’s why he, the king of all Heaven, had been born in a stable, not a palace. That’s why he had wandered, showing them how to love their neighbour, to heal the sick, to welcome everyone. He had been a living temple that didn’t have closed doors only priests could open. That’s why he would let himself die on a cross like a criminal because even death wouldn’t stop God’s truth. And that’s why he promised to return because the story wasn’t over yet.
