Jesus is Baptized
Scripture
Matthew 3, Mark 1:1-11, Luke 3:1-22
Material
The basket for Jesus is Baptized is on one of the New Testament shelves.
It contains:
 wooden figure of John the Baptist
 wooden figures of 3 people
 wooden figure of Jesus
 dark blue felt 6” X 44” for the river Jordan
 dark blue felt 6” X 22” to cover half of the river Jordan
You’ll also need the desert box.
Movements
Words
Walk slowly to the desert box
and move it to the circle. Get
the basket of materials for Jesus
is Baptized and carry it carefully
to the circle. Sit quietly while
you feel the story forming in
you.
This is the desert box.
Trace the edge of the desert
box.
Inside is a small piece of the desert…. So many important
things happen in the desert that we just have to have a
small piece of it in our room.
Slowly move your hands over
the sand, smoothing and
molding it as the sand is
transformed into the desert.
The desert is a strange and wild place. At night it is very
cold, but in the day it is burning hot. There is almost no
water at all…. The desert is always changing. The wind
comes. And as it blows it shapes and molds. So the
desert is never the same.
1
Pause, place your hands in your
lap, and sit back a moment.
Then present John and place
him in the desert box in front of
you.
John the Baptist lived in the desert…
Pick up the blue felt river and
unroll it diagonally across the
desert box, starting at the lefthand corner near you. Smooth
it out.
… near the Jordan River…. The people of God came out
to the desert to listen to John.
Present and move the people
through the desert to John.
John said, “Get ready! God is sending someone special.
The special Son of God is coming!” But they did not know
how to get ready.
So John said, “Change the way you live. Do the Ten Best
Ways to Live. And I will baptize you with water. You will
be clean and new again.”
Have John take each person
one at a time through the water
and place them under the water
in the pocket in the felt. Cup
your hand over their heads.
And John took the people through the water…
… and baptized them.
2
Present Jesus and move him
across the desert toward John.
Then one day Jesus…
… came to John and said, “Baptize me, too.”
Move them through the water
and place Jesus under the
water.
So they went through the water…
Cup your hand over the head of
Jesus.
… and John baptized Jesus.
Move them out of the water.
Then the heavens opened and the Spirit of God came to
Jesus… and the voice of God said, “This is my Son.”
Sit for a moment and look at the
story to let the story rest. Then
begin the wondering.
After the wondering is over, put
the story away carefully. Return
the lesson to its spot on the
shelf. Then return to your spot
in the circle and dismiss the
children one by one to do their
work.

I wonder how the people felt when John told them
to change the way they live and get ready for the
special Son of God?

I wonder if it was hard for them to change the way
they lived?

I wonder how they felt when they went through the
waters and went under the water to be baptized?

I wonder how they felt when they came out of the
water?

I wonder if it was hard to wait for the special Son of
God?

I wonder if they felt ready to be close to the special
Son of God?

I wonder how you get ready to be close to the
special Son of God?
Sonja M. Stewart and Jerome W. Berryman, Young Children and Worship (Louisville: Westminister John
Knox Press, 1989), pp. 150-152.
3