Jesus Christ, Son of God–
Scripture Project (example of a diorama)
In order to understand more deeply the nature of Jesus, we are going to examine some of the things he said and did in His public ministry.
1. Each student will have a passage of Scripture to read and examine (interpret). In at least two paragraphs, explain the meaning of the Scripture. Put your interpretation into your own words. I have given you some interpretation of the Scripture to help you, however, you will want to put the meaning into your own words and say what you believe the message of Jesus is saying. What does the Scripture passage say to you? How can you apply it to your life?
2. Then, create a two dimensional poster or a shoe box diorama that depicts your Scripture passage. The diorama should be no larger than a shoe box. Use color and creativity to create a meaningful scene with details.
3. Be prepared to present your project to the class and answer questions.
Everyone is responsible for making their own individual project.
Your project will be graded in the following way:
The content of your writing is meaningful with interesting information and details. 25 points
Your writing includes correct punctuation and grammar. 25 points.
Creativity and Originality of the Scriptural Scene. (Poster or diorama) 25 points.
Your presentation is organized and interesting. You present your project with an enthusiastic voice and confidence. You demonstrate knowledge of the Scripture that you are presenting. 25 points.
This project is due on Friday, November 13.
1. Matthew 11:29-30
29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Jesus was a carpenter. It was said that Jesus was the best yoke maker in all of Nazareth. A yoke is a wooden frame used for harnessing two animals, usually oxen, to whatever they had to pull. A good yoke maker made the yoke so it fit just right and did not rub against the oxen, therefore, causing injury.
The word “easy” in Hebrew means “fits right”. Therefore, Jesus’ yokes fit right.
What is Jesus saying about the burdens we are asked to carry in life? He is saying that the tasks we are sent in life are “made to fit us.” He is saying as well, that the “burden” which is given in love and carried in love, is light.
1. Matthew 19:24
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Jesus was asked, “Can a rich man enter the Kingdom of Heaven?”
Around the city of Jerusalem there were several gates. Each gate had a name. One gate was called “The Sheep’s Gate”. Another was called “The Golden Gate”. One small gate was called, “The Eye of the Needle”.
To enter the gate called “the Eye of the Needle,” a camel had to take off its baggage and get down on its knees. Only when he had lowered himself, was he able to enter the gate to Jerusalem.
Jesus was telling us that the entrance into his Kingdom requires us to get down on our knees and to rid ourselves of unnecessary baggage; grudges, resentments, and fears.
2. Matthew 8:1-4
Matthew 8
The Man With Leprosy
1When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
3Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured[b] of his leprosy. 4Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
The physical condition of the leper was terrible: it begins with the loss of sensation in parts of the body. The muscles waste away; the tendons contract until the hands are like claws. There follows the ulceration of the hands and feet with sores until the fingers and toes eventually fall off. It is a terrible disease because a man dies slowly, not all at once, but in inches.
In this story, we note two things-the leper’s approach and Jesus’ response. The leper came with confidence. He had perfect confidence in Jesus’ willingness to welcome the man anyone would have driven away. No man need ever feel himself too unclean to come to Jesus Christ.
The leper came with humility. He did not demand healing; he said only “if you are willing you can make me clean.” It is the humble heart that is conscious of nothing but its need that finds its way to Christ.
The leper came with reverence. He recognized that in the presence of Jesus, he was in the presence of God.
The law of that time said that Jesus must avoid contact with the man, but Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him. For Jesus there was only one obligation in life—and that was to help. There was only one law—and the law was love.
3. Matthew 8:14-15
Jesus Heals Many
14When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
Jesus did not need the audience of big crowds to perform miracles. He did not need an admiring audience to be at His best. No situation was too humble for Him to help. In a crowd or a small cottage, His love and His power were at the disposal of anyone who needed Him.
No sooner had Jesus healed the woman than she busied herself in attending His needs and the needs of the other guests. She clearly regarded herself as “saved to serve.” Jesus had saved her and her new found health made her want to be of service to Him and others.
4. Matthew 13:31-32
The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast
31He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."
In the Old Testament, a tree is the symbol for a great empire. Therefore, a tiny seed being transformed into a great tree, is the symbol of the development of a great empire, an eternal kingdom, that begins with each one of us doing our own small part.
It is a fact of history that the greatest movements begin with small beginnings. Jesus is saying to His disciples that there must be no discouragement. They must serve and witness, each in his place, that each one of us must be the small beginning from which the Kingdom grows.
5. Matthew 13:45-46
45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
In the times of Christ, the pearl was the loveliest of all possessions. Therefore, the parable says that the Kingdom of heaven is the loveliest of all things. To be in the Kingdom, is to accept and to do the will of God. The only way to bring peace to the heart, joy to the mind, beauty to life, is to accept and do the will of God.
There are many fine things in the world in which man can find loveliness. He can find loveliness in knowledge and in the reaches of the human mind; in art and music and literature—all the triumphs of the human spirit; he can find loveliness in human relationships. The supreme beauty lies in the acceptance of the will of God.
6. Matthew 13:44
The Parables of the Hidden Treasure
44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”
In this parable, a man is going about his work when he discovers a great treasure. The lesson of this parable is that the man found the precious thing by fulfilling the simple duties of his day’s work.
There is an unwritten saying of Jesus which never found its way into any of the Gospels, but which says: “Raise the stone and thou shalt find me; cleave the wood and I am there.” When the mason is working on the stone, when the carpenter is working the wood, Jesus Christ is there. True happiness, true satisfaction, the sense of God, the presence of Christ, are all to be found in the day’s work, when that day’s work is honestly and conscientiously done.
There lesson is also this: It is indeed worth giving up everything to accept and do the will of God.
7. Matthew 14:28-33
28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29"Come," He said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," He said, "why did you doubt?"
32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Peter was often acting on impulse, without thinking of what he was doing. And yet there are worse sins than that, because Peter was ruled by his heart. Though he might fail, his heart was always in the right place and the instinct in his heart was always love. The wonderful thing about Peter was that every time he failed, he rose again, and his failures brought him closer and closer to Jesus. A saint is not a man who never fails; a saint is a man who gets up and goes on again every time he falls. Peter’s failures only made him love Jesus Christ the more.
The passage also tells us, in every situation, the presence of Jesus and the love which flows from the Cross brings peace, serenity, and calm.
8. Matthew 18:1-4
Matthew 18
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
“1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus sees in a child the characteristics which should mark the man of the kingdom of heaven. There are many lovely qualities in a child—the power to wonder, the power to forgive and forget, the quality of humility.
For a child, the state of dependence is perfectly natural. He never thinks that he can face life on his own. He is dependent on those who love and care for him. A child demonstrates the kind of dependence we should have on God who loves and cares for us.
A child’s humility and dependence are the kinds of attitudes we should have towards God.
9. Matthew 18:12-14
12"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
This parable tells us many things about God’s love. God’s love is individual.
The ninety-nine were not enough: one sheep on the hillside meant the shepherd was out looking for him. So it is with us. God cannot be happy until the last wanderer is brought back to the fold.
God’s love is patient. A sheep may foolishly wander off, but the shepherd will risk everything to wait for him and find him. God’s love is a seeking love.
God’s love is a rejoicing love. Like the shepherd, there is great joy when the sheep returns. God puts our sins behind His back and when we return to Him, it is all joy.
Matthew 6:11
11. Matthew 6-11 11Give us today our daily bread.”
This is just a small portion of the Gospel where Jesus gives us the Lord’s prayer after being asked by a disciple to “teach us to pray.” It is a small verse but it is loaded with meaning.
The verse reminds us that our food and all the things we need come from God. The bread, the things that support our life, will come from God. God will give us exactly what we need.
It says “Give us Today..”. It teaches us to take things one day at a time; to stay in the day and not to worry about the future. God will take care of the future for us.
The prayer says our daily bread. The prayer does not say, “Give me my daily bread.” This prayer teaches us never to be selfish in our prayers. It is a prayer which we can help God to answer by giving to others who are less fortunate than we are.
12.
Luke 8:49-56
49While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother the teacher any more."
50Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed."
51When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. 52Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead but asleep."
53They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54But he took her by the hand and said, "My child, get up!" 55Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.”
The leaders of the synagogue were strictly orthodox Jews who believed Jesus was a dangerous heretic. Jairus, a synagogue ruler ( a strictly orthodox Jew), would have only come to Jesus as a last resort. It was only when everything else failed that he turned to Jesus in desperation. Jesus might well have said to him, “When things were going well for you, you wanted to kill me; now that things are going badly, you are appealing for help.” Jesus was not like that. He bore no grudge; here was a man that needed him, and Jesus’ one desire was to help. Injured pride and the unforgiving spirit had no part in the mind of Jesus.
Jesus quietly told them that the girl was not dead but only asleep. They all laughed at him and refused to have hope. It was probable that when Jesus said the girl was asleep, he meant what he said. In the times of Christ “cataleptic” comas were common. People did not have the tools to diagnose them and therefore, sometimes people were buried alive, as evidence in the tombs of the early times of Jesus have shown us. Many people were not dead, but in a coma. It may have been that Jesus performed a divine healing or that he performed a divine diagnosis. Either way, Jesus saved the girl from a terrible end.
One thing is for certain, that day Jesus saved a Jewish girl from the grasp of death.
13. Matthew 5:16
16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
True Christian goodness is attractive and draws people to you and they want to be more like you.
Our good deeds ought to draw attention, not to ourselves, but to God. The real Christian never thinks of what he has done, but what God has allowed him to do; what God has done through him. If a person is looking for the praise, prestige, and the thanks for that which they have done, they have not really even begun on the Christian way. “Let your light shine before men,” means pointing the glory to God.
14. Matthew 5:14-15
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”
A light is something that is meant to be seen. Therefore, our faith, should be seen by others. It should be as obvious as a bright light. Christianity should not be a secret, but evident for all to see.
A light should guide others in the way to go. Likewise, you light should help others see the way to safety.
Lights can also be warning lights. Warning lights signal people when there is danger ahead. Sometimes it is a Christian’s duty to bring warning to a fellow Christian in danger.