Read Luke 24:36-47 as a family. 

Have you ever done a “pinky swear?” When I was little I would often seal my promises to my brother with a pinky swear, latching our pinkies together in a handshake or “pinky shake” that confirmed that what I was saying was absolutely true. My brother and I knew that if you pinky swore something, you really meant it. We would keep that promise, whatever it was, if it was made with our pinkies. Do you ever have a hard time keeping promises? Sometimes it is really difficult to do the things we say we are going to do. We tell our mom we’ll clean our room, but then we get distracted by our favorite TV show. We promise not to tell our friend’s secret, but then we whisper it to someone else the next day. Maybe we make promises to God that seem just too hard to keep. Being faithful, dependable, and reliable are difficult things to do. 

In our story today, Jesus shows us that while we have a hard time keeping our word, He is always faithful to keep His promises. Earlier in the book of Luke, Jesus had told his disciples that He would be crucified and would die on a cross, but that the story wouldn’t end there. Jesus had told them three different times that after He died, He would actually rise from the dead! Now that doesn’t normally happen, does it? People don’t normally come back from the dead after they have taken their last breath. But that is exactly what happened with Jesus—and they had seen it with their very own eyes! They witnessed his painful and humiliating death on the cross, and then they got to touch him once he had come back from the dead. They got to see how real his resurrection was, even to the point of eating a meal together. This was no ghost; Jesus had really come back to life, just like He said He would. Jesus was faithful to keep his promise, and He is faithful to us today as well. 

Activity: 

Designate some space outside or in your home as the “field.” Invite one person to put on a blindfold. Then place the “obstacles” (paper cups, plates, empty plastic bottles, etc…) in the field, scattering them throughout. Tell the blindfolded person that they can trust you, and that you promise to lead them through the obstacles without hurting them. Then, give the blindfolded person directions on how to navigate through the obstacles without touching them. (Note—parents, you can either ask one of your kids to do the directing or you can do it yourself, depending on their age and maturity.) Let each kid walk through the obstacle course and experience what it feels like to trust. 

Questions: 

• What was hard about this activity? What was easy? 

• Talk about what it felt like to be blindfolded. What sorts of feelings did you experience? 

• What is faithfulness? 

• How had God been faithful to you? 

• How can you be faithful to other people this week? What does faithfulness look like at school with your teachers, at home with your siblings, at work, with your parents…?