This week’s chapters read like a highlight reel of the Savior’s power. He touches a leper and makes him clean, in Matthew 8:1–4. He heals Peter’s mother-in-law in 8:14–15 and a man with a withered hand in Mark 3:1–5. He raises a widow’s only son at Nain as the funeral procession passes by, in Luke 7:11–15. A Roman centurion asks Jesus to heal his servant. A centurion was an army officer over as many as a hundred soldiers. Then he stops Jesus from coming. He understands authority, so he knows a word from Jesus is enough. That’s Matthew 8:5–13. Jesus marvels at his faith. Ask your class to sort the miracles by what Jesus has power over: sickness, sin, nature and death. By the end, the disciples’ question answers itself. It’s Mark 4:41: “What manner of man is this?”
Mark 2:1–12 is the drama. The house in Capernaum is packed. So four friends carry a paralyzed man, “sick of the palsy,” up onto the flat roof. They dig through it and lower him down in front of Jesus. Jesus sees “their faith.” First He says, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” The scribes think it’s blasphemy, because only God can forgive sins. They’re right about that, which is exactly the point. Jesus then heals the man’s body so they’ll know He has power to forgive. That’s 2:10–11. Nine- to eleven-year-olds can handle this reasoning. Healed legs can be seen. Forgiveness can’t. So the visible miracle proves the invisible one.
In Mark 4:35–41, Jesus sleeps on a pillow while waves fill the boat. The disciples wake Him: “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” He calms the sea with three words. Then He asks, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” The manual invites learners to notice the questions in this story. Faith doesn’t mean never feeling afraid. It means taking our fear to Him. He does care. Even when He doesn’t stop a storm right away, He can bring peace inside us.
Luke 7:36–50 shows His heart toward sinners. A woman washes His feet with her tears while Simon the Pharisee silently judges her. Jesus tells a story of two debtors who are both forgiven. One owed 500 pence and one owed 50. He asks which will love the forgiver more. For this age, connect the dots. The Savior came “not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” in Mark 2:17. And the centurion’s understanding of authority is a lot like how priesthood authority works today. Boys can be ordained deacons in January of the year they turn 12. So your oldest kids are less than a year from holding that authority. And every child can receive priesthood blessings from someone who holds it.
