Will You Follow?
‘Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be fishers of men.” Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.’ Luke 5:1-11
This scripture passage is the result of three disciples’ very first encounter with Jesus. Simon follows a simple instruction from Jesus and brings about a miracle – catching a huge number of fish after a night of catching nothing. After witnessing this, there is no hesitation in Simon and his companions: they leave everything and follow Jesus. They sacrificed everything they had to pay for the incredible rewards of following Jesus.
In last weeks assembly, we reflected on this passage and helped children consider Jesus’ personal call to follow Him. In “The Best Thing Ever!”, three children are desperate to get hold of tickets to a Little Mix concert and discuss imaginative ways that they might be able to convince their families to buy them tickets. The story helps children realise that some things are more important than others, and sometimes rewards of great value are worth making sacrifices for.
The Best Thing Ever!
Here is a version of the story used in the assembly, which you may like to read with your children to spark discussions about what is most important to them.
It was Monday morning, and Kareena and Markus were on the playground waiting for the bell to ring. Kareena was telling Markus about her new high score on Minecraft, and Markus was telling Kareena all about the new sweet shop in town. At that moment, Frankie – who always overslept, so was late – ran up looking very excited.
“Guys, you’ll never guess what!” said Frankie, “Tickets for the new Little Mix tour go on sale this evening!”
Kareena and Markus gaped – Little Mix was their favourite band!
“I would do ANYTHING to see them live!” squealed Kareena.
“But aren’t the tickets really expensive?” asked Markus, “You’d have to convince your Mum to pay for them.”
But Frankie had a plan. She would promise to get up early and never make her Mum late for work! For a whole year!
“Good idea, but shouldn’t you just get up early anyway?” asked Kareena.
“Ok…” groaned Frankie, “how about if I promise to do the washing up every day too? Now that is a sacrifice!”
“I KNOW!” said Kareena, jumping up. “My grandparents are always going on at me about playing too much Minecraft, so they’ll definitely get me a ticket if I give it up for a whole year! Markus, what will you give up to persuade your Dad?”
“Well… I could give up sweets for a year? And chocolate? It’ll be difficult because I LOVE sweets and chocolate, but it’ll be worth it to see Little Mix. Do you think my Dad would get me a ticket if I promise that?”
“Markus, your Dad is a dentist,” said Frankie, “of course he will!”
The three children were very excited. They were prepared to give anything to go to that concert and knew it would be THE BEST THING EVER!
Questions for Discussion:
- What do each of them promise to do for a year in return?
- Why are they each prepared to make sacrifices?
- The disciples sacrificed everything to follow Jesus. What does this tell us?
