Bible Study Ideas ~
How to Teach Children the Symbolism of the Lord's Supper

 

The Last Supper, or the Lord's Supper, is the last meal Jesus shared with His disciples before His death on the cross. He had met with his twelve disciples in Jerusalem to share the historic meal. They were celebrating the traditional Jewish Passover, which symbolizes the ancient Hebrews' deliverance from slavery in Egypt and the journey to freedom in the Promised Land.

 

For Christians, the Lord's Supper is full of symbolism that can be difficult for children, and even adults, to understand. Bread and wine symbolize the communion of the body and blood of Jesus. Symbols of his body broken and his blood shed for our redemption, to be remembered the first day of the week by all believers. The foot washing ceremony symbolizes how God calls us to serve others, and to allow ourselves to be served. Many of the cultural elements, such as the foods that were eaten, can make children feel this event is faraway and irrelevant to their own lives.

 

Many children are visual learners, and watching a "well-done" Bible study dvd can help them understand the Last Supper in a way they wouldn't otherwise. Below, you'll find hands-on activities you can use to make the Last Supper relevant to your children, and help them understand the symbolism behind the meal. You'll also discover how you can create your own Passover meal with your children at home or with your Sunday School class.

 

A good way to begin your teaching of the Lord's Supper by viewing the video, "The Last Supper" together, then reenacting the Passover and the Last Supper. This activity would work well at home with your own children, or in a Sunday School classroom. In a formal teaching setting, you can break the activities down into individual lessons, and focus on one aspect of the Lord's Supper each week.

 

"The Last Supper" Bible study dvd provides a reenactment of Christ eating this meal with His disciples. It's an in-depth video on the topic, and an ideal tool to help children gain a better understanding of the times and customs of the day. It's also a reenactment of the preparations a family would have made for the celebration. The video was filmed in Jerusalem, with realistic costumes and traditional foods. This Bible study dvd comes with a recipe book on how to prepare foods to be served at the Passover. The recipes require many ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.

 

After viewing "The Last Supper" together, you can help your children understand the movie further by doing some of these hands-on Bible activities with them.

 

Dress in Hebrew biblical costumes during Bible study activities.
Bible Study Dvd teaching accompany with Bible costume and reenactments is simply a fun teaching technique, for both teacher and child. Ask your children to reflect on the types of biblical costumes they observed in the video you watched together. They probably noticed some important details they'll want to include. You can purchase ready-made Hebrew biblical costumes for children, or find items around the house and add some imagination. For the first Passover, Hebrews ate it with their cloak tucked into their belt, sandals and their feet, and a staff in their hand. They were dressed to leave quickly on their journey.

 

Have a dinner similar to the Passover celebration.

After watching The Last Supper together, hold a similar Passover meal with your family or class. You can explain the origins of the Passover meal by reviewing the story of Moses with them, and reminding them how the Lord "passed over" the homes of the Hebrew families and spared their first born during the last terrible plague on Egypt. You can find the story in Exodus 12: 1-11, or you may choose to read it from a children's Bible or quality children's Bible story book.

 

The children of Israel had a different calendar system than the one we use today. According to Leviticus 23:5 they were to eat the Passover on the 14th day of the first month. When we think of the first month, we usually think of January. "Jewish scholars" seem to believe they celebrated Passover in Nisan (1st month in Jewish calendar), which is March-April to us.

 

Prepare foods for the Passover meal.
Use the recipe book that accompanies the video to prepare your own Passover meal. Children are not very adventurous when it comes to trying new foods, but assembling the meal is a valuable teaching tool to help them understand the Passover. Depending on your time, you can have the children help with all the preparations, or do the prep work yourself ahead of time, and have the children put the items together.

 

Cooking with children is a good way to engage the children's senses of smell, taste, and touch. They may not be interested in tasting everything they make, but the emphasis should be placed on the experience of creating the meal. They may be more open to trying new foods if they help to make them.

 

Wash each other's feet.
In Bible times, the people wore sandals while walking on dusty roads, so their feet became very dirty. When visitors came into a house, servants would wash their feet for them. Foot washing was considered a very lowly responsibility during those days.

 

Washing each other's feet can be an important part of your Bible study on the Lord's Supper. Feet are not attractive, and are often dirty, and we have to humble ourselves to wash each other's feet. At the same time, it can be uncomfortable to have your own feet washed. You can introduce children to foot washing by reading them John 13:1-17, where Jesus washed His disciples feet. If any child is very uncomfortable with this Bible study activity, he or she should not be forced to participate.

 

Many scholars believe foot washing symbolizes God's way of living, a life of service to others, and also shows the importance God places on being served. Jesus introduced his disciples to the foot washing ceremony after they had eaten the Passover meal with his disciples. Before the Last Supper, foot washing was not a part of the Passover meal.

 

Scripture reading, Psalm 113-118.
We are told that Psalm 113-118 were sung before and after the Passover feast each year. Psalms 113-114 were sung before the meal, and the Psalms 115-118 were sung after the meal. Psalm 113 is about why the righteous should praise the Lord. Psalm 114 is a reminder about how God delivered the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt, how they miraculously crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan River, and got water from the rock. Psalms 115 – 118 are about God's love for us and His great power.

 

With your family or class, take turns reading from a Bible. Depending on the ages of the children, you may want to read the six Psalms at one time, or read one a day for six days. To keep your children's attention, read from a children's Bible, or have older children take turns reading. You can even try setting one of the Psalms to music.

 

The Lord's Supper is a complex topic that can take years to understand fully. Each time your children learn about the Lord's Supper, they will understand its meaning for their own lives a little better. By watching the "The Last Supper" Bible Study dvd and doing some of the hands-on activities with them, though, they will understand the history of the event, the cultural aspects of it, and why it is so important to remember.

May God bless you as you diligently teach His Word,

 

Author of "Plant the Word"
Co-Owner TrainUpChildren.com

If you like to share your favorite teaching method with others, be sure to let us know and we'll add it to our list. We'd enjoy hearing from you and I'm sure others will too ~ just send us an email, contact us.