ThisWeeksSermon, 4th Sunday After Epiphany

“Rock-paper-scissors-Jesus”(A homily for kids)
The 4th Sunday After the Epiphany, February 1, 2008

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What’s in this picture?
Rock, paper, and scissors, right?
What’s stronger: Rock, paper, or scissors?
Of course, rock.
What’s stronger: paper or scissors?
Of course.
It’s scissors.
What can you use to cover up a rock?
Right, paper.
So who knows how to play……
that rock-paper-scissors game……
where the strongest one wins.
How to play the game
You hold out one had, palm up.
Make a fist with the other hand.
Come down on the flat hand counting 1-2-3.
Then show your choice: rock, paper, scissors.
Who wins?
If you come down with paper…
you win over the rock…
but but you lose if it’s scissors.
If you come down with the rock…
you win over the scissors…
but you lose if it’s paper.
If you come down with scissors…
you win over the paper…
but you lose if it’s the rock.
[Try it]
Don’t do this now!
But sometimes when this game is played…
the winner gets to slap the wrist of the other person.
It can hurt.
Only a game
Rock-paper-scissors is only a game…
but in real life…
some kids sometimes……
try to show that they’re stronger than others.
They try to show that by acting tough.
Sometimes……
they try to show that they’re stronger……
by saying mean things to other kids.
Some will pick on other kids……
that they think are not as strong as they are.
Some will even try to show that they’re stronger……
by beating up on other kids.
Today’s story
The story that I read a few minutes ago was about Jesus.
Jesus was a teacher.
And once upon a time…
he was teaching people in the town’s meeting place.
They called it a synagogue.

So in the story…
Jesus was talking with the people……
there in that synagogue.
He was telling them things……
they’d never thought of before…
wonderful things they’d never heard before.
And everyone was really turned on……
by what he was saying.
Everyone except this one guy.
It was a guy who was acting crazy.
He kept interrupting Jesus.
“Jesus.!”
“I know who you are!”
“You’ve come to destroy us!”
This guy had an evil spirit inside of him…
a demon that was making him say bad things.
But this story has a happy ending.
(I love stories with happy endings, don’t you?)
It shows us how strong Jesus was.
All Jesus had to do was say was…
“Be quiet!”
“Come out!”
And guess what happened.
The evil spirit did exactly what Jesus told it to do.
The evil spirit came out of the man and everyone was amazed.
They couldn't believe that Jesus was stronger than the evil spirits.

The point of the story
What this story tells us is that Jesus had power over evil.
He showed that God is stronger than our worst enemy.
Jesus was strong…
but he never used his strength……
to hurt anybody.
Instead of a rock-paper-scissors slap…
or taking whatever he wanted……
whenever he wanted it…
he used his power to help people.
This is a story with a happy ending.
And people told this story to one another……
because they wanted everyone to know……
how much God loves us.
They wanted people to know……
that we should use our strength……
the way Jesus did.
So now what?
So now what do you think is stronger?
Rock-paper-scissors…
or Jesus?
It’s a new way to play
I have an idea for a new way to play rock-paper-scissors.
You know…
Jesus never did this. [clenched fists]
Jesus never clenched his fists.

Jesus lived his life with his palms facing up…
even when he was facing his enemies.
Here’s my idea.
Let’s play rock-paper-scissors-Jesus…
and let’s have it come out Jesus every time.
So it’ll be 1-2-3-Jesus…
with our palms facing up…
the way we hold our hands……
when we take communion.
Both hands open to God.
1-2-3-Jesus.