Jesus Meets Pilate

[John 19:1-16]

Intro: Pilate is the boss of ancient Judea; a very important person. He thinks Jesus is only a jew and only a carpenter who is breaking the law by claiming to be king. So how do you think Pilate will react to Jesus?

Games: To introduce the idea of Pilate as the boss man.

1. Follow the Leader - The children form a line they have to copy what the person in front of them is doing. Kids should take turns to be the leader and choose a variety of different actions (hopping, spinning, jumping, crawling, walking, clapping etc.) For a smaller space Have one leader up the front facing everyone else and do activities on the spot. Swap out who is the leader up the front. For round a table The leader can do actions such as clapping, tapping their head, brushing their shoulder, tap a pen on the table etc.

2. Pilate Says - Just like Simon says only it’s Pilate who everyone listens to in ancient Judea! A leader must call out instructions, such as: Pilate says stand on one leg, Pilate says jump up and down, Pilate says put both hands on your head, lie on the floor, Pilate says wiggle your fingers… When they say ‘Pilate says’ before an instructions all the kids must follow it when they don’t say it the instruction should not be followed. In the above scenario the children should have done everything except lie on the floor. In a small space or round a table just be careful that all the actions can be done while sitting or standing.

Drama:

1. Ask the children to say or act out what the characters involved might say.
   Some of the characters could be: Pilate; Mary (Magdalene or Jesus’ Mum); the Centurion; Barabbas; a Pharisee; a Disciple. For smaller kids Chat a bit about how these people might have felt and then pull the faces of the people (happy, sad, confused, grumpy).

2. Ask someone to act as Pilate and read this Script. We had a ‘special guest’ from our church come in each week of the series as the character in modern dress. Pilate wore a suit. You could easily have a leader or an older child read it out.

Activity: To follow up on the idea of truth

If they think the answer is True they need to run to one side of the room, if they think it is False then they run to the other. For quiet kids or limited space Read out some true or false statements they can tick. Or come up with signs (T like for timeout for True, nod and shake your head, left hand True, Right hand False) that they can do to signal what they think instead. For really little kids you might want to have a set of animal pictures and see if they can spot the photoshopped ones (google photoshopped animals) and which are true animals.

Songs:
He died upon the Cross - Colin Buchanan
I’m following the King - Emu Music

Memory Verse:

John 11:40 ‘Then Jesus said “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God.”

Print or write it out in different colours and put the kids in small teams. Hide the pieces around the room; they have to spot their colour and collect all the pieces of the verse in their colour then put the memory verse together. For smaller children Pair them with an older kid, the younger can find the pieces of the correct colour and the older can put them in the right order. Or have an adult help them order and read it to them. For small spaces or small groups If hiding the pieces, or forming a team isn’t an option put all the pieces in a bag, take it in turns to pull a piece out. Who will be able to complete their verse first? Or just tip the pieces on to the table and have them scramble for it.