Leader Guide

Video Leader Guide

Welcome (1 minute)

Hello, everyone! Today we’re going to see the Superbook story, “The Last Supper.” Our Superbook story will help us learn to be humble and serve others as Jesus did. To be humble means not thinking too highly of yourself and to put others first. Let’s begin by seeing what our friend Chris is doing with his band today, then tell me if you think he is being humble.

Play Video 2: Chris and Joy’s Dilemma (3 minutes)

Chris and Joy's Dilemma

Chris wants his friends to treat him like a rock star when his band is invited to audition for a TV show.

SuperTruth and Discussion (2 minutes)

Was Chris being humble?

Why not? He called himself “king.” He acted like he was more important than his friends.

How do you think Chris’ friends were feeling toward him?

Do you think God is pleased when we act like Chris?

Today’s SuperTruth says, “Jesus humbled Himself and became a servant.” Jesus gave up His divine privileges and came to Earth to serve, not to be served! He did this because He loves us!

Now let’s watch the rest of today’s Superbook video.

Play Video 3: Bible Story and Resolution (19 minutes)

Bible Story and Resolution

Superbook takes Chris, Joy and Gizmo to Jerusalem, where crowds cheer as Jesus enters the city on a donkey. When Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, they learn that greatness in God’s kingdom means serving others.

Play Video 10A: SuperVerse Graphic 1

Graphic loops 2.5 minutes without audio; turn off or freeze video after children repeat verse.

SuperVerse Graphic 1

SuperVerse (1 minute)

Let’s say our SuperVerse, Philippians 2:6–7a, together:

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

Jesus laid aside all He had in heaven to come to Earth to be born a baby and humbly serve.

Children will have more time to learn the SuperVerse in Small Group.

Prayer and Send-Off (1 minute)

Dear Jesus, thank You so much for Your humble service. You gave us an example to follow as we live our lives each day. In Your name we pray, Amen.

Today in Small Group, you’ll play a game about serving others like Jesus did. Are you ready to go serve? Have a great time.

Teachers take children to Small Group classes for Grades 1–3 and 4–6. If the combined group is small, all children may stay together for Small Group time.

Game

At the beginning of our video today, did Chris think an important person should serve or be served?

Yes, Chris expected all the members of his band and even Gizmo to serve him. He didn’t help them move the heavy band equipment. By the end of our video, what had Chris learned from Jesus?

Someone who wants to be a good leader must first serve others.

In our SuperBook Bible story today, we saw how Jesus humbled Himself to serve His disciples by washing their feet.

Read John 13:3–5:

Jesus knew that the Father had given Him authority over everything and that He had come from God and would return to God. So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.

Let’s play a fun game about how Jesus served His disciples!

Divide the class into two teams. Have the two teams SIT in two single-file lines behind the two shoes. The verse we just read tells us that Jesus got up from the table before they had the Passover meal; He took a towel and wrapped it around His waist. Wrap a towel around your waist and loosely tie it in front of you. Then Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and dried them with the towel. When I start the race, you will wrap the towel around your waist as I showed you walk through the process as you talk and walk quickly to the bowl. Get down on your knees as if to wash someone’s feet, tap the bottom of the bowl with your hand, stand up, and then walk quickly back. Remove your towel and hand it to the next player in line, who will repeat the process. Take the towel off. Give one towel to the first player on each team and start the race. In the middle of the game, you or a helper should walk between the teams and “accidentally” drop the tray full of small items, spilling them so they roll all over the floor. Notice if any children rush to help, or if they are too busy trying to “win.” At the end of the game, declare which team is the fastest, but announce that the real winners are the children who helped clean up the mess!

When Jesus and His disciples gathered for the Last Supper, any of the disciples could have volunteered to wash the others’ feet—but they probably thought the job was too dirty or lowly. Jesus was God’s Son with all authority over heaven and Earth, yet He chose to humbly lay down His special privileges and came to Earth to be a servant. Let’s say our SuperTruth for today: “Jesus humbled Himself and became a servant.”

Teaching

Our SuperVerse, Philippines 2:6–7, today says:

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

Who knows what the word humble means?

To be humble means to not think too highly of yourself, and to put others first. What is the opposite of humbleness? 

Pride is thinking too highly of yourself and believing you are more important than others.

Have you ever been having so much fun somewhere that you just didn’t want to ever leave?

Have you ever been so cozy and comfortable in bed that when the alarm goes off, you have a hard time getting up to go to school?

Yes, I know days like that - it’s tough to leave a good situation for something less desirable!

Now, think of this. Jesus is God, and He was with the Father when the world was created. Jesus lived in heaven with God - an absolutely perfect place with no sin, sickness, sadness, selfishness, or pride. Heaven is filled with God’s goodness. Blow up the balloon a little bit; hold it so the children can see “Jesus.” It is filled with His love, blow up a little more, and Jesus is filled with God’s unlimited power. Blow it up completely and loosely tie the balloon closed.

Hold the balloon above your head. How difficult do you think it would be to let go of all of this, look up to balloon, to come down to a sinful world filled with evil and to be born as a helpless little baby who can’t do anything for Himself? Drop the balloon to the ground.

Yes, I can’t even imagine doing that! Jesus willingly gave up the privileges He had and emptied Himself, pick up balloon and carefully untie, slowly release the air in the balloon and place it on the ground, to live as a human. He set aside His unlimited power and subjected Himself to being mocked, persecuted, and put to death on a cross! He had the power to resist and to call an army of angels to His side—but He didn’t! Why?

He did this because He loves us so much.

The SuperVerse says that although Jesus was equal with God, He did not cling to or refuse to give up what He had. Instead, He willing let go to serve as a slave or servant to all.

Yes, Jesus had the ability, before His arrest and crucifixion, to pick back up His privileges and power that He had temporarily emptied Himself of, but He chose not to! Pick balloon up and inflate again and tie the knot tightly this time - hold the inflated balloon above head with “Jesus” visible to children. But, after His death on the cross, Jesus was resurrected in power and returned to Heaven where He lives with God for ever and ever.

Hebrews 10:12 says:

But our High Priest [Jesus] offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

Can we ever praise Jesus enough?

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Today, our Superbook challenge has to do with following Jesus’ example of being humble and serving others.

Have children sit at tables, then hand out the materials to make the Superbook Secret Servant Packets. Tell the children to make their envelopes by folding the pattern along the dotted lines in the order shown, then put their names on the front. They should then cut apart the Superbook Secret Servant cards and place them in their envelopes.

For the next two lessons, our challenge is to pray and ask God how we can humbly serve others, then surprise those people by doing something kind for them. You can leave behind a Superbook Secret Servant card to keep them guessing about who helped them! The next time we meet, I will ask you to share the results of your challenge with us!

SuperVerse

Have the children look up Philippians 2:6–7a. Divide the verse between four older children to read aloud. Grades 1–3 may omit verse 7.

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

We just learned about our SuperVerse, how Jesus willingly left heaven and came to Earth as a human to serve us. Why? He loves us.

Let’s say our verse several times and add some motions to help us remember and appreciate what Jesus did for us.

Read the verse aloud slowly and lead the children in doing the motions together a few times to learn the verse.

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

Raise open hands over head, then clench them as if trying to grasp something.

Instead, He gave up His divine privileges;

Lower arms to floor with clenched hands and then open hands as if laying something down.

He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

Go down to knees and hold both arms out in from of you with open hands as if to submit and serve.

Read the verse and do the motions a few times with the children.

Praise God that He loves us so much that He was willing to come down from heaven to save and serve us!

Note: Younger children may not be able to memorize the SuperVerse. They may simply repeat it several times, while older children may memorize part or all of it. Be sure all children understand its meaning.

Prayer

Today we will talk with God through “Praise Prayers.” What does a Praise Prayer include? Thanks and praises to God for who He is, what He has done, and what He can do!

Remind the children that during this type of prayer we don’t ask God for anything! Our SuperTruth for today is: “Jesus humbled Himself and became a servant.”

Jesus was humble. Most kings would expect a parade with a magnificent ceremony, lots of decorations, and a big band playing. In our Bible story today, Jesus, the True King, the King of kings, rode on a lowly donkey—even though He would soon conquer death. The people waved palm branches and laid them in the road as Jesus passed by. They shouted praises to Jesus for all the miracles He had done! The religious leaders told Jesus to tell His followers to be quiet! Do you remember what Jesus said to them in our video today?

Jesus told them that if the people were to keep quiet that the stones would immediately cry out!

Today, many churches use palm branches as a reminder of Jesus’ triumphal entry and His victory over the grave. We don’t need palm branches to praise Jesus during our prayer time today. We can raise the palms of our hands to praise Him today or any time!

We have so many reasons to praise Jesus! Let’s go around the circle praising God for who He is, what He has done, or what He can and will do! You can say things like, “You are awesome, Lord; we praise You for helping us every day; thank You for loving us; thank You for dying for us!”—or else you can simply say: “Praise God, Praise Jesus, or thank You, God!”

Start the prayer time with your own short praise. Have children raise their hands as they praise God. After going around the circle, close by saying Amen.

Rhythm Game

Have the children sit in a circle. Today’s SuperTruth says, “Jesus humbled Himself and became a servant.” Because we are His followers, we want to be servants like Jesus and humbly help others, too! What are some ways we can serve people at home, at school, at church, and in the neighborhood? Children suggest ideas.

Begin a rhythmic pattern: SLAP your knees twice, CLAP your hands twice, SNAP your fingers twice, and have the children join in the rhythm. Then go around the circle with each child naming a way to serve on the beat of the two snaps. You should go first to give them an example: slap-slap, clap-clap, “Sweep the floor!” After one round, vary the pattern or quicken the beat to add more difficulty—and more fun!

Role Play

Can you imagine Jesus healing someone and then pumping His fist in the air, shouting, “Yes — I am the greatest!”?

Can you imagine Jesus turning up His nose and declining to wash His disciples’ feet?

No, that would have gone totally against Jesus’ mission and character. Read Philippians 2:5–8:

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being, When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Jesus is our role model for being humble. There will be many times in your life when you must choose between being humble and kind—or proud and bragging. Let’s act out some possible situations today.

Pair up children for this role-play activity, and give each pair a situation paper. One child will play the role of #1 and the other child will play the role of #2 in front of the class, using dialogue and body language to act out the scene. Allow the pairs a few minutes to prepare their role play. You may suggest words and phrases to help them role play, such as: Sorry, Congratulations, Nice Try, Played Hard, Can I Help? Emphasize the importance of showing humbleness and kindness in each of the situations. Have each pair present their situation to the class and open it up for further discussion.

Musical Game

Have children sit in a circle on the floor. Have a helper or an older student in charge of the music.

Our SuperTruth today tells us that Jesus humbled Himself and became a servant. As the music plays we will pass around the helping hand that represents serving. The music will stop and whoever has the glove will tell us something about today’s Superbook video and Bible story.

Children can say something such as, Jesus came to serve, Judas betrayed Jesus, Mary used perfume to anoint Jesus, Jesus washed their feet, or just name a character in the Bible story.

This game is like musical chairs in some ways but the good part about this game is that no one loses their seat and leaves the game!

Bible Study

Today, we are going to act on what we have learned about our King Jesus and transform our words and actions to follow His ways. What is the first thing you think of when someone mentions the word “king”?

Display the toy crown or photo. In 2 Samuel 12:30, the Bible tells us about a crown that King David took from an enemy king who he defeated in battle.

David removed the crown from the king’s head, and it was placed on his own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed seventy-five pounds.

How would you like to wear something that heavy? That is probably what some of you weigh now! I think my neck would get very tired if I was a king in Bible times! Many of Jesus’ followers believed He was coming to Earth to be a king on Earth. But this wasn’t Jesus’ mission in God’s plan. Jesus came to be a humble servant. The kingdom Jesus spoke of was a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly kingdom. We are going to talk about the difference between an earthly king and our heavenly King.

Ask the children the following questions:

• Where does a king live? Palace, castle, or royal residence.
• What does a king wear? A crown, robes, expensive clothes, and jewels.
• What kind of people is a king associated with? Other royalty, dignitaries, and distinguished people. Usually, a king has meals with important people.
• What does a king do? Governs the land and displays power.
• What kind of things would the king not do? Menial tasks, servants’ chores or duties.
• Do you think most kings are humble or proud? Why?

Review the SuperTruth: “Jesus humbled Himself and became a servant.”

• Where did our King Jesus live?

Have children look up Matthew 8:20b and have a volunteer read it aloud.

"Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay His head.”

Jesus did not have a palace or a castle. He often traveled from place to place, spending time with people who wanted to learn from Him.

• What did our King Jesus wear?

The Bible doesn’t give us an exact description of the clothes Jesus wore, but most likely they were simple, common, everyday clothes suitable for traveling as He taught and ministered to people. Have children look up Mark 15:17 and have a volunteer read it aloud.

They dressed Him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on His head.

No, Jesus didn’t wear royal robes and He never had a crown until the Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns show image of crown on Jesus’ head to make fun of Him and to torture Him.

• What kind of people did Jesus have as friends? Common people—not the rich and powerful.

He ate meals with ordinary people and “sinners” who the respectable religious leaders probably avoided. Have children look up Mark 2:13–17 and have five children each read one verse aloud.

¹³Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to Him.¹⁴As He walked along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow Me and be My disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed Him. ¹⁵Later, Levi invited Jesus and His disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.)¹⁶But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw Him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with such scum?”<¹⁷When Jesus heard this, He told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Yes, Jesus came to serve not to be served!

• What did our King Jesus do? He humbled Himself and became a servant to others instead of having others serve Him. He washed the feet of His disciples.

Have children look up Philippians 2:8–11 and have four volunteers each read one verse.

⁸ He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. ⁹Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God rewarded Jesus for His humble obedience and made Him Lord of all. He gave Jesus a name above all names, that all would bow before Him!