The festival of Lent lesson plan

Are you looking for a lent lesson plan? Lent involves temptation.

Jesus spent forty days fasting with no food, the devil tempts him with food but Jesus says no to it. What is going on?

This Lent lesson plan is ready to use with a worksheet.

This teacher’s copy of the Festival of Lent lesson plan is printer-friendly.

1. Resources for Lent lesson plan:

• Two sweets.
• One piece of paper with this instruction on it:
  ‘Stand for 10 seconds near the sweet, then go and sit down and the sweet will be given to you.’
• A second piece of paper with this on:
  ‘Stand with your hand near the sweet, but not touching it, for 20 seconds then you can have the sweet.’

2. Starter for Lent lesson plan:

Q. What do people do on Remembrance Day, and why do they do it?

It is to remember with gratitude, all those who have died in past wars, because they were fighting to keep the freedom that we enjoy in this country.
Wreaths are made out of red poppies and are laid at the monuments which list all the names of those who have died to make victory possible.
Around the time of Remembrance, many people will be remembering those dark days.

Christians have various days set in the year that help them to remember certain situations in Jesus’ life or in the early Church.
Today we will be looking at the 40 days of LENT from Ash Wednesday onwards.

3. Main teaching for Lent lesson plan:

Some Christians choose to go without something for those 40 days, eg sweets.
So let’s see what Jesus did which is celebrated in this way.
(Taken from Matthew 3:16 to 4:11 All quotes from the Living Bible)

At the time Jesus was baptised by John (Teacher’s note: Baptism has been covered in another lesson Plan: ‘What is Christian Baptism‘)

He came out of the water and suddenly there was a glimpse of heaven in the clouds above.
The Spirit of God came down out of heaven and rested upon Jesus.
This looked rather like a dove coming down to land.
Suddenly a loud voice from heaven said,
“This is My Son! I love Him and I am very pleased with Him!”

Q. How many ‘Persons’ are there to God?

• God the Father
• ‘My Son’ which is Jesus
• The Spirit of God – also known as the Holy Spirit.

These three Persons are the One God of the Bible, who is often referred to as the ‘Lord God’.

They are known as the ‘Trinity’, which means three.
After his baptism, Jesus then walked out into the barren wilderness being guided by the Holy Spirit.

After 40 days of fasting, that means going without food, He was very, very hungry!
And the Bible tells us that the leader of the invisible, evil forces, known as the Devil’ or ‘Satan’ came to Jesus and tempted Him by saying:
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Q. Surely there was nothing harmful in that, was there?

To answer that I want two volunteers.
I’ve got two pieces of paper and both have got some instructions on them which have to be obeyed.

(Teachers note: Put 2 sweets on your table and give the volunteers a piece of paper each, with this instruction on the first one:
‘Stand for 10 seconds near the sweet, then go and sit down and the sweet will be given to you.’
And on the second one:
‘Stand with your hand near the sweet, but not touching it, for 20 seconds then you can have the sweet.’)

Q. What would have happened if they hadn’t obeyed the instructions?

The sweet would be taken off them.

Let’s go back to Jesus who has just spent 40 days without food.
That was His instruction, and Jesus only did what His Father wanted (John 6:38).
The devil was trying to get Jesus to disobey God the Father.
That would have been like one of you saying to …………… Don’t worry about the instructions on the paper, eat the sweet now!

Jesus wasn’t going to be disobedient so He answered:
“It is written in the Scriptures (Torah / Bible) ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ “

Q. What do you think Jesus meant by that?

It’s important for us to have food – ‘bread’ as He called it.
But it is not the only thing.
Christians believe that it is very important to hear what God is saying, and that means reading the Bible, which is ‘the Word of God’.

Then the Devil took Jesus supernaturally to the highest point on the Temple and said to Him:
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written (in the Scriptures): ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

The Devil decided to try and beat Jesus by quoting some Scripture at Him!
In other words, the Devil was saying; ‘Prove to those people down there that you are the Son of God by throwing yourself off the top of this building and surely God will rescue you because it says that here! It will be an impressive sight for those people and they will then believe in you!’

But Jesus knew that by doing that, it was making God into a puppet.
The Devil could pull a string and God would have to jump to wherever the strings pulled.
But that wasn’t right, God is King, and as King, He gives the orders!

So Jesus answered:
“It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

The designer of a car tests the car because he has got the authority to do so.
The car doesn’t turn round and demands to test the designer!
So in a similar way, God as the Designer of the world can test people, because He has got the authority to do so.
People can’t demand to test God the Designer.
(Teachers note: God as the Designer has been covered in another Lesson Plan: ‘The Biblical Creation story‘).

The Devil still hadn’t successfully tempted Jesus into disobeying God the Father, so he supernaturally took Jesus to the top of a very tall mountain.
From there many nations could be seen, with all their wealthy cities. The Devil said to Jesus:
“All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.”

The Devil must have thought; ‘Nothing works quite like a bribe, Jesus will fall for this one!’
The offer of lots of power and wealth is a very powerful temptation.

Q. If someone offered you a large amount of money to do something which was against the law, would you do it, and why?

Jesus said:
“Away from me, Satan! For it is written:
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
In other words, it doesn’t matter how much money, gifts, or power is given, it’s never worth turning away from God!

Jesus had resisted the Devil’s temptations and so he left Him.
The 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness without food are remembered by Christians at the time of Lent.

4. Plenary for Lent lesson plan:

Q. Have you been able to resist a big temptation, and how did you feel afterwards?

Either take a short time to discuss these questions, or leave it with them.

Design a poster to illustrate the true meaning behind Lent or Pentecost.
(Teacher’s note: There is the Lent worksheet to accompany this lesson plan
Also see the: Lent, Ascension Day & Pentecost festivals. RE resources)

5. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)