Teacher Tip: For children who may live in homes where there is abuse or neglect, it is important for them to understand the importance of obeying God as well as caregivers. Remind them God cares about whether they are well cared for! If there are resources to help children in these situations, try to connect your children with them. Talk to your church leadership about the resources available to help these families.

There are many reasons we obey our parents and caregivers. The most important reason is that God tells us in the Bible we should honour and obey the people who raise us. 

Read this verse directly from your Bible.

Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Exodus 20:12

Allow 1–2 students to answer each question.

• What command did God give in this verse?
• What did He say would happen if they obeyed?

In Moses’ time, God had promised to deliver the Israelites to the land He had promised Abraham. Honouring what God wanted, including this commandment, would bring good things to the people.

God tells us to honour and obey our parents. He has placed them in our lives for our good. Those who care for you are placed by God to guide, protect, teach, and discipline you. Most caregivers want you to grow up to be healthy adults.

Optional: If you are using The Action Bible, allow the children to read the story of Jesus as a boy in the temple on pages 576–578. After a couple of minutes, continue with the lesson. 

Optional: If possible, show the image from The Action Bible.

The Bible gives us an example of obeying our parents in the story of Jesus as a boy. Jesus, God’s perfect Son, obeyed His parents. Each year His family travelled from their town to the city of Jerusalem for a special feast. This journey took them several days. Families travelled in large groups together with other families. When Jesus was 12 years old, they went to the feast as usual. Let’s pretend we are taking a long walk.

Teacher Tip: The distance from Nazareth to Jerusalem was about 150 kilometres. Tell your students of a place an approximate distance from where you are and ask them to imagine walking there. 

Have the children stand. Walk in place together and pretend to get tired from walking.

Only 2 more days until we get to Jerusalem! I cannot wait for the feast!

Have students sit as you continue the story.

When the feast was over, Mary and Joseph left with a very big group of people to return home. But after a day of travel, Mary and Joseph realized Jesus was not with their group! They did not know where He was! So, they turned around and went back to find Jesus. 

How do you think Jesus’ earthly parents felt when they realized He was missing?

Allow 2–3 children to respond.

Listen to what the Bible says about what happened when Mary and Joseph found Jesus.

Read the following verses from your Bible.

After three days they found him in the temple courtyard. He was sitting with the teachers. He was listening to them and asking them questions. When his parents saw him, they were amazed. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been worried about you. We have been looking for you everywhere.”
Luke 2:46, 48

Mary and Joseph were worried about Jesus because they did not know where He was for 3 days! If Jesus had been an ordinary boy, this story may sound as though He was not obeying His parents. But, remember Jesus was a perfect boy because He is God’s Son. Listen to Jesus’ response to His mother’s concern.

“Why were you looking for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he meant by that.
Luke 2:49–50

Who is the Father Jesus is talking about in these verses?

He is talking about His Father, God.

As God’s Son, Jesus wanted to obey and please His heavenly Father. However, just like all sons and daughters, God wanted Jesus to also obey His earthly parents. Listen to what happened when Jesus went home with His parents.

Then he went back to Nazareth with them, and he obeyed them. But his mother kept all these things like a secret treasure in her heart.
Luke 2:51

Jesus understood that His heavenly Father, God, had put Mary and Joseph as His caregivers. He needed to honour and obey God, but He also needed to obey His parents. 

Here are some ways you can obey your caregivers:

1. Listen with your whole self.
   1. Show me you are listening. When you listen with your whole self, you listen and are not distracted by other things. You may nod your head or do something else to show you are listening.
2. Ask questions if you do not understand how to obey.
   1. If you are not sure what a caregiver is asking you to do, you could ask for more information or for her to show you how to do what is asked. You could ask her for help.
   2. Teacher Tip: If children in your community are not supposed to ask adults questions, encourage them to ask another child to help them understand. If another child is not available, encourage them to observe what is going on around them. Sometimes this can help a child figure out what he or she is asked to do.
   3. Let’s practice asking questions to help you understand directions given to you. I will ask you to do something. Raise your hand if you have a question that might help you understand what I am asking you to do.
   4. I am asking you to “greet him as he enters.”
   5. Call on 2–3 children to ask questions. Questions may include things like: Who is he? Why should we greet him? How should we greet him? Where is he entering? Then have a boy walk around into the teaching space for children to greet him. After this activity, have the children return to their seats to continue the lesson.
   6. When I told you to “greet him as he enters,” you probably had no idea what I was asking you to do. However, as you asked questions and as you saw the boy walking around, it made sense. Sometimes it is important for us to ask questions in order to understand what a caregiver asks of us.
3. Obey right away.
   1. Do not wait to do what your parents or caregivers have asked. When you obey right away, you show you were listening and you do not risk forgetting what was said. Let’s practice this together. I will tell you to stand or sit. You will do what I ask right away.
      1. Stand
         
      2. Sit
         
      3. Sit
         
      4. Stand
         
      5. Sit
         
      6. Stand
         
      7. Stand
         
      8. Sit
   2. You did great listening and obeying right away.
4. Ask God for help listening and obeying.
   1. It can be difficult for us to listen and obey sometimes. Maybe we are distracted with other things or maybe our caregivers ask us to do many things at once. You can always ask God to help you listen to and obey your caregivers. Let’s pray to God now.
   2. God, we thank You for our caregivers. We thank You for their love for us and ask that You would help us to honour and obey them. Help us to listen carefully to what they ask us to do. And help us obey them right away. We thank You for loving us and helping us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

God designed parents and caregivers to have a special position of honour. They guide, protect, teach, and discipline us. God uses them in our lives to help us learn to honour Him and others. As we honour and obey our caregivers and parents, we honour God. We also learn to respect all those in authority, including God, rulers, and other leaders.