| Year Levels Focus: | Jesus reveals God’s love for us. (TCREK010) |
| Aims: |
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| Content Statement: |
Students will explore some aspects of Jesus’ life in his family in Nazareth, of his experience and development in prayer, and of his living within his Jewish community. They will consider how these aspects influenced Jesus’ understanding of his relationship with God and others. They will identify aspects of Jesus’ life that reveal the way God wants us to live with him and with others. |
The Christian claim is simply this: if God is, then God is love; and if God is love, then God is what Jesus is: total self-giving. Or, to put it even more starkly: if God isn’t what Jesus is, there is no God …
In Jesus we, as it were, encounter the impossible in the flesh: we encounter the victim of our hatred returning to us not as our just punishment, or even as our conditional pardon, but as our peace-bestowing mercy and reconciliation, our “salvation” (which actually means “healing”, from the Latin salve).
Jesus is what God looks like “in person”, in “human flesh”. Why? Because this is what absolute love actually looks like in a world marked by hatred, violence, resentment, fear and vengeance—in a word, sin and death. If this is not so, then there is no God.
In GNFL this understanding of Jesus is developed with these theological emphases:
- The doctrine of the incarnation is principally about us becoming one with God because God becomes one of us. As one of the earliest and strongest defenders of the doctrine of the incarnation, St Athanasius, put it: “God became human so that humanity might become God”. This is the point of the incarnation: human transformation, human divinisation.
- So, to say that “Jesus is Lord” is to say that if God is not what Jesus is, there is no God; and if God is what Jesus is, then God is love; and we are becoming what Jesus is by the power of that love, who is the Holy Spirit.
- The fact that Jesus is utterly human is of the very greatest importance to a properly Christian understanding of what it means that he is God incarnate.
- The fact that he was a Jew is crucial: he was steeped in the Hebrew Revelation, its liturgy and poetry and ethics, its bonds of community and covenant love.
- The fact that he suffered, worked, prayed, cared, healed, and ate with “sinners” and “righteous” alike; the fact that he befriended men and women, and called them into discipleship; the fact that he was a teacher, healer, worker—a “simple poor peasant” (as opposed to a priest, noble, imperial citizen, etc.)—all this is vital to who Jesus was, and therefore to the Revelation of who God is among us.
- For it is in and through his humanity—in all its particularity and “scandalous contingency”—that Jesus reveals what God is really like: self-emptying love.
- Jesus reveals love for what it really is: self-giving for the sake of the one who is loved. Love is not a feeling so much as a desire that the one who is loved should flourish: to love is to want what is good and best for another.
- Jesus is absolute love made real, made “flesh and blood”, revealing that absolute love is who God really is. How?
- By giving himself absolutely for those he loved—namely everyone, even those who hated him so much that they tortured him to death, betrayed him to his torturers (like the apostle Judas), denied they knew him (like St Peter, the first pope), abandoned him (like all the other apostles and most of his disciples) or simply ignored him (like the vast majority of people throughout history).
- His love for all of them was equal because it was absolute: he died for love of us all, and indeed, for each one of us personally. That is how he reveals and embodies the love that is God.
URL link to Theological Conversation chapter (PDF).
Luke 5:27-39 Jesus Chooses Levi (Meals)
Luke 10:39-42 Martha and Mary
John 11:35 Jesus Cries
Luke 6:12-16 Jesus Chooses His Twelve Apostles (Choices)
Matthew 27:32-56 The Crucifixion (Death)
Psalm 136 God’s Love Never Fails
Psalm 23 The Good Shepherd
Luke 2:22-40 Simeon Praises the Lord (Jesus is presented in the Temple)
Luke 2: 41-51 The Boy Jesus in the Temple
Mark 10:13-16 Jesus and the Children
John 13:34 Love One Another As I Have Loved You
- Jesus, Son of God, is a human being like us.
- He lived, grew and learned about himself, his people, the world and about his mission as Son of God.
- Jesus reveals God’s love for us.
- As our friend and brother, Jesus shows us how to live.
Jesus reveals God’s love for us. (TCREK010)
Students will explore some aspects of Jesus’ life in his family in Nazareth, of his experience and development in prayer, and of his living within his Jewish community. They will consider how these aspects influenced Jesus’ understanding of his relationship with God and others. They will identify aspects of Jesus’ life that reveal the way God wants us to live with him and with others.
TCREI004
Responding to questions about religious ideas, events or rituals and recording our thoughts and feelings (TCREI004)
- developing questions about the Mass, its meaning, structure and symbols
- at a class/parish Mass making a photo story of the parts of the Mass using information and communications technology (ICT), and sharing this with parishioners at a morning tea
- brainstorming questions about how to pray, and inviting people from the parish to tell us how they pray
- remembering that whenever we pray, Jesus is praying within us through his Holy Spirit uniting us with God the Father in love
- researching the story of our parish church: using a photo time line, make a noticeboard display for the front office to tell the story of our parish
- using the “Explain Everything” app or equivalent to devise a question for God and give an answer in images and text drawing on Scripture or church teaching
TCREI005
Listening to and viewing stories from the Scriptures, and discussing characters (TCREI005)
- gathering Scripture quotations around a series of themes and making a class mural, story maps or a class big book
- using glossaries to learn the meaning of religious and theological terms
- choosing verses from the Psalms that inspire thanksgiving prayers
- exploring the first creation story (Genesis 1) as though it were a ritual (which it was!) and bringing out the symbolism in the numbers 3, 6 and 7 (first 3 days mirrored in the second 3 days; 6 days of creation; the 7th day, the Sabbath, as containing all time—past, present and future)
TCREI006
Expressing personal responses and ideas in various ways (TCREI006)
- creating Godly play dolls
- sharing Godly play with other classes
- creating artworks that reflect spiritual ideas or religious questions
- ritualising biblical stories and noting how they are full of symbolism
TCRED004
Cultivating a spirit of reflective silence and stillness, and naming important ideas or questions (TCRED004)
- using an icon or cross, inviting written prayers for the world on sticky labels and placing them under the cross or icon (to include in class prayer)
- asking hard questions and posting them on a “Mood Wall” in the classroom
- writing reflective responses to lines of Scripture (e.g., “be still and know that I am God”, “Speak Lord, I am listening”, “Come, follow me”, “ ‘I have called you by your name, you are mine’, says the Lord”)
- using Christian meditation to practise openness to God’s love
- expressing gratitude following meditation, e.g., by singing songs of thanks and praise
- learning to listen in silence and stillness to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, minds and bodies, leading us to discover God’s loving purpose for us
TCRED005
Listening to and responding to others’ ideas and thoughts, and wondering and asking questions about ourselves and how we are connected to God and our world (TCRED005)
- examining individually and in small groups questions and thoughts about God
- being open to the Holy Spirit by listening to each other share ideas, thoughts and feelings in circle time
- singing songs that give thanks to God and acknowledging the connectedness of all things in his Holy Spirit
- resting in silence, pondering how God loves us and wants us to know him embraced by his Holy Spirit
TCRED006
Sharing some ideas and helping design plans of action that might lead to making loving choices towards improving specific situations at school or beyond (TCRED006)
- sharing and discussing how classroom rules and attitudes encourage, protect and guide everyone for the good of all
- constructing posters and signs to build a culture of gratitude in the classroom
- pondering how to be more loving, generous, forgiving, joyful, patient by relaxing into the loving embrace of the Holy Spirit
- creating affirmation paper bags / envelopes to affirm when others have made loving choices towards us as their response to God’s love for them
- exploring ways that the mystery of God’s love, the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit, is revealed through the community of faith in the Church (e.g., by exploring, using the web, Pope Francis’ humility and kindness)
- creating a blessings meter or a gratitude box in the classroom to encourage kindness, positive attitudes and gratefulness
By the end of Year 2, students can identify God’s Holy Spirit as giver and sustainer of all life and recognise that his love for us is revealed in the Person of Jesus, the centre of faith for Christians. They can acknowledge that we experience God’s loving presence in prayer, in Scripture, in themselves and other people and in the world around us. They are aware that we are invited to grow in relationship with God and to care for ourselves, others and all of life. They can identify the Gospels as the Good News about Jesus, telling us about Jesus’ life and the people who believed in him. They can reflect on Jesus’ example in making loving choices that show care and respect for all life. They can describe the Church as a believing community that celebrates Jesus’ presence in the sacraments and witnesses to him by sharing his love. They can recognise the Sacrament of Baptism and identify its symbolic elements as the basis for the Christian life and as an invitation to live in friendship with Jesus.
Students can reflect on and respond to experiences of prayer, engagement with sacred texts and stories, their own experiences, people and the world around them and record observations, thoughts, feelings and ideas. In diverse ways they can express their emerging understanding of and engagement with religious events and rituals. They can practise stillness, reflect on their connection with God and their world and develop a response to apply at the personal level, within and beyond the school setting.
Pre-unit assessment
View slideshow, “Who Is Jesus?”, and arrange pictures (Understanding Faith [UF], Unit 11, Part 2, p. 3).
Learning Hook
Use pictures, photos, or memorabilia relating to oneself or others as babies, as children and, where relevant, as adults.
Develop a presentation of items or photos of people who have contributed to one’s learning and growing at different times/stages.
Surface
(Giving language, facts, and basic concepts structure to lead into deeper learning)
Key Vocabulary: Israel, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Galilee, Calvary, synagogue, temple, ritual; tallit: prayer shawl; kippah: skill cap / head covering
In what kind of setting did Jesus grow up?
Develop students’ foundational knowledge and background throughout the unit, noting that, for example, Jesus lived in a certain type of land and house, ate certain food, wore special clothes, used special words (his own language), and learned in the way of his family and people. Use a variety of resources to introduce students to this background information and to focus on specific items or to gain an overview of aspects of his life. Strategies could include the use of information books, charts, audiovisual clips, presentation of artefacts and food items and the use of examples of Jewish writing and language.
Particular examples:
- View Chant: Shalom Chaverim, 0001 (YouTube).
- View Nazareth Village (YouTube).
- Teach a greeting or parting blessing.
- Suggest simple research tasks.
- Do construction activities (e.g., UF, Unit 11, Part 2, pp. 4, 5).
Build up a record chart, lesson by lesson.
Focus on clarifying ideas about routines and rituals. Use a picture storybook (e.g., My No No No Day, by Rebecca Patterson) to introduce thoughts about the day’s pattern, cycle and routine.
Use practical examples to explore the meaning of routines, for example, the pattern of the school day, class practices, social routine and rituals such as birthday celebrations, sporting events, prayer services. Draw on students’ experiences for a foundational grasp of routines and of rituals including those of the family, class, school, and communities.
Share information about rituals and gatherings central to the Jewish tradition. Share the story of Jesus, within his Jewish tradition, being presented in the Temple as a baby. View Simeon and Boy Jesus in Temple (YouTube).
Deep
(Learning experiences that lead on from beginning experiences to questioning more deeply and exploring ideas in different ways to lead to making connections between faith and life)
Where and how did Jesus live as he was growing up? What and how did he learn? How did his later life and teachings connect with his early years of living and learning?
Explore the key messages Jesus learned as a young and growing boy.
Focus on the approach to prayer and relationship with God
Share stories and guide students’ investigation of their experiences of learning how to master new things as they grow.
- Encourage them to discuss with others in their families and community how they learned to do various things as they grew up (cf. UF, Unit 11, Part 4, pp. 1, 2).
- Inquire into the various things that parents and families consider important for children to learn and practise as they develop.
- Explore Jesus’ experience of learning to pray in his Jewish family, the importance of the Scriptures, the sharing of stories and the use of psalms in personal and community prayer.
- Investigate how Jesus’ people celebrated and prayed by exploring the place of the Scriptures, the Temple and key gatherings.
Investigate examples of Jesus relating with God in prayer
Recall foundation discussions about rituals and draw out the sense of belonging that they both build and express.
- Recall how Jesus’ family and his people gathered for prayer in special ways, praying with the Scriptures within his Jewish family etc.
- Consider events in life such as moments of happiness, wonder, sadness etc. Dramatise verbal responses.
- Consider the experience of the Jewish people.
- Reflect on the messages of chosen psalms. Offer the opportunity for prayer experience, perhaps reciting in alternate groups or enacting a quiet prayer experience modelled on lectio divina.
- Consider Jesus sharing the Passover feast in his family and community. Reflect on how he celebrated this feast throughout his life, including in the week before he died. Explore ways in which the vessels, signs and basic structure of the Mass draw on the special celebration of the Passover meal that was part of Jesus’ life from childhood.
Focus on the way Jesus acted as a grown man
- Share stories of our human experiences, such as being cared for by someone, being excited about something, having a disagreement, being hurt or disappointed. Discuss the many different experiences and feelings.
- Drawing on the suggested Scripture, visit a range of stories showing that Jesus shared our human experience, such as receiving kindness from others, showing kindness to others, welcoming others, crying, being shunned, forgiving others, relaxing, being tired etc.
- Consider how we all learn gradually about how to live.
Who and what helps us as we are growing and learning as children and all through life?
Who and what helped Jesus? - View and listen to the song, When Jesus Was a Little Boy (YouTube), to lead into exploring how he learned to relate to others.
Focus on Jesus relating as friend and brother
- Share stories of people we love to be with. Invite students to identify people who are special to them, the things they do together, the things they talk about, how they feel when they are with them.
- Tell stories about and consider special times with a friend or brother or sister—how it feels and what it helps us do.
- Consider stories or poems about friends and brothers or sisters. Reflect on their qualities, nearness and influence as role models. Discuss associated feelings.
Encourage students to focus on Jesus as their friend and brother
- Use resources for listening and viewing, such as the songs, Jesus: What a Friend (YouTube), or My Forever Friend by Charlie Landsborough (YouTube).
- Focus on the story of Jesus welcoming the children to consider how Jesus related to and cared for them. Share the story from Scripture and present it through Godly Play. Engage students towards entering into the scene with Jesus as friend and brother.
- Give students time to sit with Jesus in the story, to look, to talk and to listen. Nurture prayerful response.
- Build up a list of Jesus’ actions towards the children.
- Ponder about how he grew into this way of caring for people.
- Reflect on the way he welcomed and cared for the many different people he met, and how people were moved by and responded to his actions.
Transfer
(Learning experiences that help students engage with deeper understandings that can be applied in their own lives)
How is Jesus a model for us?
Support students to make connections and discern ways to apply knowledge and understandings.
- Share examples of people developing attitudes, practices, way of life from childhood to later life. Discuss with students how they want to be now and as they look ahead to the future.
Refer to and align with Jesus as model
View and listen to the songs, Grow Up Like Jesus or Wanna Be More Like You (Jana Alayra) or Just Like You (Kids Praise 3 with lyrics)—all on YouTube.
Model with students the development of a 'Charter Statement':
- To grow to be a praying person like Jesus, I will ... now
- To grow to be a caring person like Jesus, I will ... now
- To grow to be a ... person like Jesus, I will ... now
- To grow to be a ... person like Jesus, I will ... now
- To grow to be ...
Resources
Alayra, Jana. Wanna Be More Like You.YouTube.
Chant: Shalom Chaverim, 0001. YouTube.
Construction activities. In Understanding Faith. Unit 11, Part 2, pp. 4, 5. Online Subscription.
God's Story: Jesus.YouTube.
God's Story: Jesus Was Like Us. YouTube.
Grow Up Like Jesus. YouTube.
Jesus: What a Friend.YouTube.
Just Like You. In Kids Praise. Vol. 3. YouTube.
Landsborough, Charlie. My Forever Friend. YouTube.
Nazareth Village. YouTube.
Patterson, Rebecca. My No No No Day. YouTube.
Simeon and Boy Jesus in Temple. YouTube.
Understanding Faith. Unit 11, Part 4, pp. 1, 2. Online Subscription.
When Jesus Was a Little Boy. YouTube.
“Who Is Jesus?”. Slideshow. In Understanding Faith. Unit 11, Part 2, p. 3. Online Subscription.
* Unless otherwise noted, items listed under “Resources” are books.