Curriculum

Clean or Unclean?

Clean or Unclean? Go to Curriculum multi-week pack

Bible Background

What Kids Will Learn

While it’s important to follow rules, Jesus cares so much more about the heart. The religious leaders were really good at following rules, but for all the wrong reasons. We honor God with our genuine hearts.

Scripture Summary

The religious leaders, or Pharisees, were threatened by Jesus’ message and by the following He drew. So, they hired investigators to check up on Jesus and catch Him doing something wrong. The religious leaders wanted to do anything to discredit Jesus.

Jesus rebuked the religious leaders because they followed the rules in order to look holy—not to honor God. Jesus quoted a similar situation from Isaiah 29:13, giving Him more credibility and angering the religious leaders. Jesus called the leaders hypocrites—those who pretend to be something they’re not.

Mark went on to explain these cleanliness rituals because he was writing to non-Jewish readers. Before each meal, the Jewish people performed a cleansing ceremony. Jesus and His disciples didn’t have dirty hands, they just didn’t perform the special ceremony.

The Pharisees were not only scholars of the Old Testament and its many rules, they added hundreds of rules to the long list. Their lives were spent forcing Jewish people to follow countless rules and making it known just how well the leaders followed rules.

Again, the Pharisees got it wrong. They thought it was more important to give money to the temple than to financially help their own families. Jesus set the record straight. We should never use God as an excuse to not help others—especially our own families.

Jesus’ message challenged the Jewish people to focus more on their hearts than what they ate. Food can’t make us unclean. But attitudes, thoughts, and reactions certainly can.

Why Is This Important

Jesus wants us to avoid doing all the right things—for all the wrong reasons. Sure, it’s important to follow rules. But God wants us to do so out of love for Him and to bring Him glory.

Teacher Devotion

Scripture

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

When my cousin first got his driver’s license, my aunt and uncle didn’t always want to stay up until he got home. So they devised a system. They set an alarm clock outside their bedroom door that my cousin could turn off when he got home by curfew. If my cousin was out past curfew, the alarm would sound and they would know he missed curfew. A solid plan, right?

Not exactly. My cousin was asked to give a friend a ride home one night. He didn’t have enough time to do so before his curfew. He quickly figured out that he could go home, turn off the alarm, take his friend home, and then return home himself.

To my cousin’s credit, he confessed to my aunt and uncle what he had done. While taking a friend home was a benign reason to miss curfew, my cousin navigated around the rules without much heart. He was going through the motions.

How often do we do the same in our relationships with God? Maybe we justify a judgemental attitude because the other party was clearly wrong. Or we turn the other way when we see someone in need—just so we’re not late to our appointment. We just might idolize our to-do list over our relationship with God and others.

Instead of going through the motions of our Christian walk, we need to examine our own motives as we go about our day. Thankfully when we’re off track, God can quickly and beautifully create in us a clean heart.

Prayer

Dear God, thank You for loving me. Especially when I go through the motions in our relationship. Please draw me to Yourself today. Create in me a clean heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Get the full Sunday school lesson plan

  • Bible Memory Verse
  • Interactive Bible Experience
  • Animated video with companion questions

Bible Memory Verse

You’ll Need: Bibles - one per child, Non-latex disposable gloves, A permanent marker

Get Ready: Before class, inflate and tie off several gloves. Write a word or phrase from today’s memory verse on the gloves. Mix them up on the floor.

“Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” Mark 7:15

Lead kids in these steps:

  • Invite kids to open their Bibles to Mark 7:15.
  • Invite several kids to read the verse aloud.
  • Explain that, without using their Bibles, they will put the gloves in order of the memory verse.
  • Once the kids have it in order, take away one glove at a time as the class continues to say the verse.

SAY: Great job putting those “hands” in order of the memory verse. Now we’re going to learn that the Pharisees were all super concerned with dirty hands, but Jesus had a big lesson for them about their hearts. Jesus teaches the disciples that our relationship with God is a matter of the heart.

Interactive Bible Experience

You’ll Need: Bibles - one per child, Butcher paper, Scissors, Markers

Get Ready: Before class, cut a large heart shape out of butcher paper, one per small group.

  • Divide the class into small groups, and give each group a large heart.
  • Invite kids to open their Bibles to Mark 7.
  • Instruct groups to label one side of their hearts CLEAN. Explain that as you read, they’ll list or draw pictures of things they heard that point to a clean heart on that side.
  • On the other side of their hearts, have groups write UNCLEAN. Explain that they’ll list or draw pictures representing things they hear that do not represent a clean heart.
  • Slowly read aloud Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23, inviting each group to listen carefully for things that represent a clean heart and an unclean heart. Pause as kids take time to write or draw on their hearts.
  • Once done, allow groups to discuss what they put on each side of their heart.

ASK:

  • What unclean things did you notice that kids like you sometimes struggle with?
  • What meant the most to you from today’s passage?

Snack

Heart Cookies

You’ll Need: Antibacterial wipes, Paper plates - one per child, Napkins - one per child, Heart-shaped cookies - one per child, Frosting, Plastic knives - one per child, Non-latex disposable gloves - one pair per child, Sprinkles

Follow these steps for the “Heart Cookies” snack:

  • Have kids disinfect their hands with an antibacterial wipe.
  • Give each child a pair of gloves to put on.
  • Give each child a paper plate, a napkin, a plastic knife, and a heart cookie.
  • Invite kids to use the frosting and sprinkles to decorate their heart cookie for someone else.
  • When they’ve finished decorating, instruct kids to deliver the cookie to another classmate. Ensure every child gets a cookie to eat.
  • Enjoy.

SAY: Our relationship with God is a matter of the heart. We can have clean hands, but what matters most to God is our hearts.

Game

Glove Relay

You’ll Need: Boxes of non-latex disposable gloves - one box per team

To play the “Glove Relay” game, have kids follow these steps:

  • Form two teams.
  • Instruct the children to run to a box of disposable gloves, put one glove on each hand, and run back and tag the next person on the team.
  • The first team to have every team member with disposable gloves on, wins.

ASK:

  • Tell about some ways people worry more about what’s on the outside rather than what’s inside our hearts.

SAY: Jesus said, “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” It’s important for us to really look at what is coming out of us and think about whether it helps people see Jesus.

Craft

Clean Jars

You’ll Need: Glass jars - one per child, Colorful tissue paper, Mod Podge, Foam brushes - one per child, Battery-powered tealight candles - one per child, Pens - one per child

Get Ready: Before class, tear up the colorful tissue paper into 1- to 2-inch scraps, and pile them in the center of the table.

Follow these steps to make the “Clean Jars” craft:

  • Give each child a pen, and invite them to write words that represent a clean heart on the scraps of tissue paper, such as: honest, patient, kind, caring, courteous, gentle, etc.
  • Invite kids to use their foam paint brushes to apply Mod Podge to the outside of their glass jars.
  • Have kids place their tissue paper scraps on the glass jar.
  • Add additional tissue paper to cover any gaps, and finish with another layer of Mod Podge on top of the tissue paper.
  • Allow to dry.
  • Turn on the tealight candles and place them in the jars.
  • Turn off the overhead lights so kids can view their “clean jars” and no- tice how the words they wrote are illuminated.

ASK:

  • Tell about someone in your life who is a great example of a clean heart.
  • If you think about your life as the jar, what kinds of things do you think shine through for others to see?

SAY: The light in your jar really shines through and shows what is most important for a clean heart and life.

Prayer

Heart Prayers

You’ll Need: Construction paper, Pens - one per child, Scissors

Get Ready: Before class, cut large hearts out of construction paper, one for each child.

  • Give each child a heart and a pen.
  • Invite them to write an honest prayer to God about their heart.

PRAY: Dear God, sometimes we’re like the Pharisees. We can become more concerned about looking good and going through the motions than with what is coming out of our lives. We ask You to search our hearts and help us have pure hearts in Your sight. In Jesus’ name, amen.