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.