Signs of the Saviour

Short Talk (SHT114a) Signs of the Saviour © Jane Hulme 2018 Aim of Short talk: Use of Short talk: Main themes: Biblical references: Lectionary: Props: SHORT TALK: “Signs of the Saviour” To teach that healing the sick is one of the signs that Jesus is the long expected Saviour. This is a short All Age talk picking out one issue from the Lectionary Gospel reading of the Sunday main service. The talk stands alone and assumes that the Gospel Bible reading may not yet have been read to the congregation. It could be used for example, for the whole congregation before the children go out to their age specific groups, leaving the adults with a full sermon later. Healing, Signs, Saviour, Messiah Mark 7.24-37, Isaiah 35:4-6 Year B – The 14th Sunday after Trinity You need a picture of a lifeboat and a pedalo (see Appendix 1) – which you can either project or enlarge onto card and show. You will also need the sound effect of both an ice-cream van and an ambulance siren (which you can find on You Tube) .................................................................................................................. I want you to imagine for a moment that one hot sunny day while you are on holiday in Cornwall, you decide to go surfing in the sea. • At first you have a wonderful time catching all of the big waves but then the tide turns. • Before you realise it you are being dragged out to sea and your life is in terrible danger. • As the waves get bigger and bigger and you are moving further and further away from land, you know that you need saving quickly as you are struggling to stay above water. As time is short, which of these 2 boats would you be most relieved to see in the distance coming towards you? • Would you be most relieved to see this boat (Show the picture of the lifeboat) • or this boat? (Show the picture of the pedalo) Why would you be most relieved to see the lifeboat? (Receive responses) • You would be most relieved to see the lifeboat because the sign on the side of the boat – “RNLI” shows that the people inside the boat are trained in rescue, and they will do their best to save you from drowning. The RNLI sign would be a very welcome sign to see wouldn’t it? Now imagine for a moment that while you are out shopping one day in town your friend collapses on the street and you think that they may have had a heart attack. • They need someone to save them quickly as their life is in danger. © Jane Hulme 2018 2 Which of these 2 sounds would you be relieved to hear in the distance coming towards you? • Would you be relieved to hear this sound (Play the ice-cream van sound effect) • or this sound? (Play the ambulance sound effect) Why would you be relieved to hear this sound? (Receive responses) • You would be relieved to hear the siren of the ambulance because the siren shows that the people inside the vehicle are trained in rescue, and they will do their best to save your friend from dying. The ambulance siren would be a very welcome sign to hear wouldn’t it? Now thousands of years ago God said that He was coming to save His people. (Isaiah 35:4) • He wasn’t coming to save them from drowning in the sea, • or from dying from a heart attack. God was coming to save them from the results of their sins and to restore His relationship with them. • The way that God was going to do this was by sending a special person, • the Messiah. But how would people recognise the Messiah, their Saviour, when he came? • He wouldn’t have a big S sign on his chest to show that He had come to save people, • neither would He have a special sounding voice. • What signs then would there be to show that this person really had been sent by God to save them? See if you can pick out the signs from some words that the prophet Isaiah wrote around 700 years before Jesus was born: “The blind will be able to see and the deaf will hear. The lame will leap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy.” (Isaiah 35:5-6 Good News Version) • What signs did you spot in the passage that would point out God’s special person to people when He arrived? (Receive responses) • That’s right.....people would be healed by God’s special person, the Messiah. Now when Jesus came to earth many people wondered whether He was God’s Messiah or not, and they watched Him carefully to see what He would do. One day a man who was deaf and who could hardly speak was brought to Jesus. • Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue. • He then looked up to heaven and said, “Be opened” (Mark 7:34) • Immediately the man could hear and speak again! So what does this healing sign say about Jesus? (Receive response) • That’s right. This sign says that Jesus is “The One,” the Saviour whom God has sent to rescue us from the results of our sins. Have you allowed Him to rescue you yet? © Jane Hulme 2018 3 Life-boat Pedalo Appendix 1 - Pictures 4 © Jane Hulme 2018