Purpose: To help family members come to know Jesus Christ and all that He does for us.
Possible scriptures: Due to the nature of this lesson, the magnitude of scriptures makes it impossible to list or limit the choices to a decent list. Therefore, I leave it in the hands of the lesson preparer to research their own scriptures, and give only these 2: Doctrine and Covenants 110:4; Doctrine and Covenants 76:22-24;
Possible Songs: I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus, Children’s Songbook page 78; Jesus Said Love Everyone, Children’s Songbook page 61; Tell Me the Stories of Jesus, Children’s Songbook page 57; Teach Me to Walk in the Light, Hymn 304 or Children’s Songbook page 177; Come, Follow Me, Hymn 116; I Know that My Redeemer Lives, Hymn 136;
Possible Materials: My Lightbulb pictures; A picture of Jesus as a boy at the temple (or these figures); a picture of Georg Friederich Händel
Preparation: Begin with prayer. Ask yourself if you have a testimony of the Savior. If not, work on it this week. Think about the Savior’s life and ministry. Think about all He did for you and your family. Open the topical guide to one of the many categories of Jesus Christ and read more about His life and Ministry and divine purpose. Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Print and cut my lightbulb pictures. Children: Have a grownup read you this story about what Jesus did for us, and this story about Jesus as a boy. Have a grownup cut and print the lightbulbs.
Lesson:
Discuss how last week’s challenge went.
Introduction: get your house really dark. turn out the lights, close the blinds and curtains, or use a blindfold if it is still light. Hand a family member a piece of paper and a pack of coloring utensils (like markers or crayons). Ask them to make a rainbow on a piece of paper. Tell them to pay close attention to getting the colors in order! Once they’re done, turn on the lights and see how they did. Then repeat the activity with the lights on! Ask your family why it was so much easier to do it with the light on. Have a family member read aloud John 8:12. Ask your family, “Who is Jesus? How is Jesus the Light of the World?” spend some time and talk about what that means and how it is easier to do things with Christ’s light than it is in the dark. Tell your family that Jesus was called by many special names because He is really important to us and to Heavenly Father. When we hear those names, we can think about why Jesus is so important.
Pull out the lightbulb pictures with the names for Christ. One at a time, have your family select a name and tape it in a prominent spot you will see throughout the week (like the front door, if that is nearby). Start with Light of the World. For each name, read the scripture mentioned. For younger children, you can start with which ones you think are most important and then stop when they are out of patience. For older children, you might consider filling in the 3 blank lightbulbs with other references you find important (The Church’s website Come Unto Christ has a really good list of 50, though there are over 100).
- Christ: Matthew 16:15-16 (see also Mark 8:29) Christ is Greek for “anointed one.” Meaning he was chosen and set apart as “the one.” In ancient times, Kings and rulers were anointed, as well as priests in the temple.
- Savior: 1 John 4:14 Jesus saves us from our sins (see Matthew 1:21). Because of Him, we can repent and know that we are forgiven.
- God’s Son: John 20:31 (you might include the story from the scriptures of Jesus as a boy in the temple when you read this reference, as noted below).
- Prince of Peace: Isaiah 9:6
- Immanuel: 2 Nephi 17:14 (see also Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23) Immanuel, also written Emmanuel, means “God is with us.” He was never actually supposed to be named Immanuel, rather he was supposed to be given the title of Immanuel. When Christ, the Son of God came to earth, he was literally a god among mortals.
- Redeemer: Job 19:25 To redeem means “to pay the price for,” so Jesus paid the price for our sins so that we can be forgiven. He knew we would need someone to help us be worthy to get to return to Heavenly Father, so he paid the difference that we could not pay so that we could live with God again.
- Creator: Mosiah 3:8
- Teacher: John 3:2
- Mediator: 1 Timothy 2:5 A mediator is someone who helps others come to an agreement. Jesus acts as our go-between with Heavenly Father. God has a rule that in order to come to Heaven, we have to be perfect. Only Jesus is perfect, so we needed Him to help us. He says that if we will promise to do the best that we can, He will talk to Heavenly Father and erase all of our imperfect spots so that we can go to Heaven.
- Judge: Moses 6:57
- Advocate: Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5 An advocate is someone who stands by your side and says all the good things about you. They say you are deserving of something. Jesus stands before Heavenly Father and says that because He has helped us, we are worthy to make it to Heaven.
- Good Shepherd: John 10:11,14
- Lamb of God: John 1:29 John called Jesus the Lamb of God because during the time that Christ lived, people that believed in Heavenly Father would take a lamb to the priest and would symbolically give that lamb it’s sins to take them away. Jesus Christ sacrifices for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins.
- Messiah: 2 Nephi 2:6 Messiah is Aramaic for “the anointed.” Basically, it is Christ in a different language.
- Rock: Helaman 5:12
- Living Water: John 4:10,14 Christ called Himself the fount or well of living water because water keeps us alive, and Christ’s living water gives us eternal life. We can live forever with Heavenly Father.
- The Word: John 1:1, 14 President Nelson taught us that, “the Word,” means “an expression of.” So when John says that the Word was God, he is saying that Jesus is like God. He is like His Father.
- I Am: John 8:58 When Jesus told the people that he was I Am, he was telling the people that he was the God of the Old Testament. Many of those people were angry and called his statement blasphemous. And it would have been if anyone else had said it. But Jesus was the creator of all the miracles and the one teaching and talking to the people in the Old Testament.
- King of Kings: Revelation 17:14 He was also called King of the Jews and King of Israel at his death in mockery. But that mockery was in vain because Jesus was the one that the people were waiting for and the people did not understand it. He is the King, the ruler, the one above all that has authority and can give us rules or guidance. His rules are above the rules of earthy kings.
- Son of Man: Mark 10:45 Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man when he wanted to emphasize that He, the Divine Savior, descended to a lowly state to come among us and bring us back to the father.
From the Scriptures: Hold up a picture of Jesus as a boy teaching in the temple (or these story figures). Read Luke 2:41-52. Who was Jesus referring to when he said he was doing his Father’s business? Who is his Father?
From Church History: In 2000, the Prophet Gordon B Hinckley and his counselors and apostles wrote a declaration and combined testimony. They called it The Living Christ. Read it with your family and see how many names of Jesus you can find within. What other truths are mentioned? Why is it important to know that Christ lives again? How has He set the perfect example for us? What are some ways we can show Him how thankful we are? Discuss again that whenever we are unsure of what to do in our life, we can look to Him for answers. If you have a younger audience that needs something to do while reading the declaration, I love this coloring picture as a tie-in.
From World History: Hold up the picture of Georg Friederich Händel. Tell your family that Handel wrote music in the early 1700’s. the music he is most well-known for is an oratorio called Messiah. Listen to the Choir at Temple Square sing (I highly suggest listening starting at 34:27 and listening through 38:50, as it’s a two hour program). Ask your family how they think Handel felt writing the music from the scripture. How does it make the members of your family feel? At the time, Handel got a lot of criticism for writing it. It didn’t start out as a big hit, but now it is one of the most well-known bit of music from that time period. Why do you think that is?
Further Discussion:
Read Teachings of Jesus by Dallin H. Oaks and Who is Jesus Christ by Boyd K. Packer. Talk about any further insight you gain by these talks and their discussion on different names of Christ.
Before your lesson, ask important loved ones to your family (present or not) what is the most important think to know about Jesus Christ. You could ask grandparents or aunts or neighbors. Talk about their answers as a family and add your own input.
Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: Click here.
Challenge:
Tell your family that we will keep these names of Christ up this week in a place that we can see them often. Tell them that every time they walk past it this week, they should think about Jesus and what He did for us. Ask them to think about what Jesus would want them to do and how He makes it easier for us to make choices.
Giving due credit: as usual, I read and learned from the Sunbeams Manual Lesson 5 (Nursery Manual lesson 5) and Gospel Principles Chapter 5. The attention activity for this lesson comes from Family Home Evening Resource Book lesson 12. The church has published multiple websites about learning more of Christ. Jesus Christ, Son of God is a good resource to check out. You may also find the bible dictionary under Christ, Names, of to be a good source., as well as the specific names of Christ (Anointed One), Son of God, Immanuel, Lamb of God, Living Water, Son of Man.
