Open the Word

For children

Lazarus, come out! for younger children

This is a difficult story to tell to younger children. You may want to start by talking gently with them about how things that die stay dead. They will probably have seen dead insects, or animals. They may have some experience of losing a pet, or even a relative. Explain that today’s story is about something completely amazing that Jesus did. At the end of it, give them the chance to tell you their reactions.

One day some people came to Jesus with a message. They came from the village where Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus lived.

‘Jesus, please come,’ they said. ‘Your dear friend Lazarus is ill.’

But Jesus knew that God wanted to do something special, and that it was not right for him to go to Lazarus yet — so he stayed for two more days where he was.

Finally, the day came when Jesus said to his followers, ‘Our friend Lazarus has died. You are going to see something that will help you believe. Come on, let’s go to him.’

When they got to Bethany, they found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Martha came to meet them.

‘Oh, Jesus,’ she said, ‘if you had been here Lazarus would not have died.’

Jesus said, ‘Your brother will rise again. Everyone who believes in me, even though they die, will live. Do you believe me?’

‘Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Son of God,’ Martha said.

Then Mary, and lots of other people, came to see Jesus. They were all crying and crying. That made Jesus cry as well.

Then they took Jesus to the tomb — the cave where Lazarus’ body had been laid.

‘Take away the stone,’ said Jesus.

‘But Jesus,’ said Martha, ‘he’s been dead for four days. His body will smell terrible.’

‘Trust me, Martha,’ said Jesus. ’You will see the glory of God.’

So they took away the stone.

Jesus prayed ‘Father, thank you that you always hear me. I want everyone here to believe you sent me.’

Then he shouted out, very loudly, ‘Lazarus, come out!’

And Lazarus did! He walked out, wrapped in strips of cloth and with his face covered.

‘Unwrap him,’ said Jesus, ‘and let him go.’

After seeing that amazing thing, lots of people believed in Jesus.

Mime the story for older children

Read the Bible story, with children taking the different parts and miming them. You can do it

straight from scratch, with the children improvising as they go along. Alternatively, they can study the story first, and decide how the different characters may have reacted. To make things more dramatic, hide Lazarus, well-wrapped in toilet tissue, inside a ‘cave’ made from chairs and blankets. Afterwards, ask them what they think it must have been like to be there on that day.

The living deadman

You may well want to use the wonderful story with this title on the web site at www.rootsontheweb.com, which tells the story from Lazarus’ point of view.

For young people

Drama

Give out copies of the text for everyone. Divide the material up into scenes for different groups to act out.

• The grieving sisters.
• Jesus’ reaction to the message.
• Jesus deciding to go and the disciples being afraid.
• The encounters with Martha and Mary.
• Jesus’ tears over the situation.
• The command at the tomb and Lazarus’ emergence.

Recollections

Ask volunteers to pretend to be the main characters present that day, talking about it afterwards. The others ask questions. What did they think about what Jesus was doing? How did Lazarus feel about coming back to life? After all, this wasn’t resurrection. He would still have to die again.