Empty shoe box

Step 4 of the lesson, “What Does Jesus’ Call Mean for Me?” challenges Christians to be willing to meet the needs of others. As a teaching aid for this step consider taking the lid off an empty shoebox and asking class members to look inside and identify needs they can meet.

Obviously, nothing is inside the box, and they won’t see anything to do. Here, you can make at least a couple of points.

1. In the emptiness of the box, real needs cannot be observed. In Mark 2:23-24 the Jews were stuck inside empty religious practices (eg. their observance of the Sabbath) and could not see practical needs. Ask members if any of our current religious practices prevent us from seeing needs that should be met?

2. If we insist on staying inside an empty box we will never take any action. Outside the box, Jesus correctly understood the Sabbath and easily saw the hunger of His disciples.