John 8: 12, 9:1–7

Before healing the blind man in John 9, Jesus declares that he is the light of the world! Jesus helps us to see God, and he sheds truth on what is true and righteous. This means that we never have to walk in darkness. We can trust Jesus to lead, guide us and protect us. And we can be lights to those around us!

Key Verse

“I am the light of the world.”

– John 9:5b (NIV)

Series Memory Verse

“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!”

– 1 John 3.1a (NLT)

Lesson

Supplies: A few pictures of different kinds of lights eg. a lighthouse, a traffic light, a reading light, Christmas lights, a headlamp, etc.

Object Lesson (We need light)

light-examplesWelcome the children and say: “This is an obvious question, but what is the main difference between night and day?” Explain that the main difference is that day is light and night is dark. There are things that are really difficult to do at night, unless we have lights to help us. I have a few different pictures of lights that serve different purposes. Let’s talk about how these lights help us. Show them each picture and talk about the purposes that those lights serve. eg. The lighthouse helps the ships to crash into the rocks!

Explain to the kids that if we didn’t have any light it would be like being blind. We wouldn’t be able to see anything around us. Today’s Bible story is from the book of John and it’s about a man who was born blind!

Bible story

Tell the story from John 9:1–7.

 

* The older kids may have questions about why the man was born blind. Jesus explains that it wasn’t the man’s fault. He said that the important thing is that God wants to fix it to teach us something.

Application

What can we learn from this story? Jesus demonstrated that he has the power to heal and to restore sight to the blind. Jesus did this to show God’s glory. He wanted people to see that God is righteous and powerful. This man was not able to see before and now he could see! When Jesus said that he was the light of the world, he was saying that there’s a light that’s more important than any light that we see with our eyes. When we open our hearts to Jesus, he shines his light in us so that we can see God at work in our lives and he can show us the way!

Jesus also taught that we can be light! When we trust Jesus, and when we’re filled with the Holy Spirit, we become like lights to other people that point them to God.

When we know God, he also helps us to know who we are. We’re going to be memorizing a verse together that helps us remember that we are God’s children. It’s from a letter that John wrote when he was very old, and it says:

“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!”

– 1 John 3.1a (NLT)

Prayer: Thank Jesus that he is the light of the world. Pray that the children would allow his light to shine in and through them.

Review Questions:

  • Who did Jesus come across in the story?
  • What did Jesus do for the man?
  • How did Jesus describe himself to the people?
  • How can we be light to those around us?
  • How can we be a lighthouse/traffic light/headlamp?

Activity

Find the “light switch”
Supplies:  A deck of cards, a blindfold, an item that represents a light switch
Have the kids stand in a circle around the room. Scatter the deck of cards around the floor as obstacles. Have one of the children volunteer to be the person in the dark. Blindfold that child and have them be on standby while you place the ‘light switch’ on the floor somewhere between the cards. The blindfolded child has to navigate through the ‘dark room’ to find the light switch without stepping on any of the obstacles.
You can appoint one or two children to help guide the person to the light switch with their voices. For smaller children you can have the guide hold the person’s hand and lead them to the light switch. To make the game more challenging for older children you can arrange the cards closer together so that there’s less space to step without encountering an obstacle!