Luke 24: 36-49 All-age talk

This talk rounded up an all-age service whre we explored the idea of someone or somethign "being there even if invisible" and "how we know something is alive", using a toy rabbit and a live rabbit to illustrate.

Question: Who's got good news to share with us? What special, good, important, things have happened in your life in the past few weeks or months?   How did these special things make you feel?  Excited? Happy?

Jesus' friends had news. As they sat together, some of them shared their news that they had seen Jesus, not dead any more but alive! That ought to have been amazing, exciting. But it wasn't: they were unsure, confused about it.  They didn't know what to think.  And then Jesus himself arrived - although the door was locked, he just walked through it and there he was in the room!

And Jesus friends weren't pleased to see him. They weren't excited. They were still unsure, and now afraid as well.  They thought it was a ghost.  I think, just at that moment they were in a right state!  Then Jesus showed them his hands and feet:. What do you think they would see in his hands and feet?  The marks where the nails had been.  His friends were still not sure: they were happier, but still couldn't really believe it was Jesus. So he asked them if there was any food.

They brought him some fish, and he ate it.  How did we know the rabbit was alive?  It moved, it twitched and squirmed. It could have eaten something.(although ti didn't - it was probably nervous!). So Jesus friends knew he was alive when he ate something.   They knew Jesus was a real person - and he is still a real person - we know he is alive today!  He's not just a story; he's not just a ghost. He's real!

Image by by Jim Sutton
used courtesy of gospelgifs.com

Isn't' that amazing and wonderful?  He said to his friends that "in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem."  This message about Jesus is for Jerusalem, and it's for Rosyth. It's for everywhere.  It's for all time.  Jesus is real and he makes a difference today.  We can show people today that Jesus is alive. We can show the difference he makes in out lives, because he promises us power inside us to help us - the Holy Spirit - the life-breath of the risen Jesus - at work inside us!


So we want to know go and to show that Jesus is real.  And we need to wait - to let God keep his promise and pour out his Spirit in our lives.

© Gilmour Lilly April 2012