The SCS Teacher gathered the children for Sunday School class.  “As you know,” she began “Today is Palm Sunday when we remember the day the people made a parade for Jesus when he entered Jerusalem.  It is also the day. .”

At that very moment the class was interrupted.  Running Chairs burst through the door.  “Like, you know, you must look out the window right now.  Like there is  a COW like in the parking lot.  I don’t know why.  Quick!  Look!”

“Where?  Where?!”  the children all shouted as they turned in unison to look.

“April Fool” said Running Chairs.   All the children laughed. 

While they looked out the window, the SCS Teacher placed a crucifix in the front of the room.  When the children turned back to the front, all in unison, they saw the crucifix and stopped laughing.  Even Running Chairs stopped laughing.

The SCS Teacher read from the Bible “When the hour came Jesus took his place at the table.” 

“That was the night that Jesus ate his Last Supper with his friends.” the SCS Teacher explained.  “But they were not ALL his friends, because one of them was about to betray Jesus and one was about to deny Jesus.”

Then the SCS Teacher asked the children if they thought THEY would ever betray or deny Jesus.

“What do those words mean?” asked Larry.  Elizabeth raised her hand to answer.  “Betray means to cause a lot of bad trouble.” she said to Larry.  “And deny means to pretend you don’t even know him.”

“Why would anyone do those things to Jesus?” asked Polly.  “Jesus was the best person ever.”

The SCS Teacher looked sadly at the children and explained that every time we tell a lie, we deny Jesus.  Every time we are mean spirited and unkind, Jesus is betrayed.  It is a hard lesson to know that we have ALL sinned.  We have ALL fallen short of what God has hoped for us. (move Barabas’s head down)  Some of the children thought of times that they had been unkind or had told a lie.

Running Chairs looked like she might start to cry.  “Like, I didn’t MEAN to tell a lie.  Like, I KNEW there wasn’t any cows, you know, in the parking lot.  Like, actually, the cows were at the Methodist Church.  So I think I told a lie!  I think I denied Jesus.”

“Oh, no, that was not a lie.  That was an honest April Fools joke you made.  But the truth is, you probably HAVE told a lie sometime.  And you probably will again in the future.  The Good News is that Jesus loves you regardless.  That is the reason we call that sad day that Jesus died GOOD Friday.  It is GOOD News that Jesus loves us that much.”

Running Chairs thoughtfully said “Like, I know that April Fool’s jokes are okay, but like, you know, I will try very hard to not tell a, you know, a lie again, because, like lies hurt Jesus and Jesus loves me and I don’t want to, you know, hurt him.”

All the children agreed not to tell lies anymore and they agreed to be kind and helpful to others.  Because Jesus loves them all.  And Jesus loves us.

THE END

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