Jesus, Our Hero

Good morning boys and girls!

Can anyone tell me what a hero is? A hero is someone who helps someone else, especially when the person being helped is in danger.

Who are your heroes? Sometimes we like to imitate our heroes by copying the way they act or the way they dress. Have any of you ever tried to imitate your heroes?

There is someone who is also considered to be a hero by many of us today, and he actually wants us to imitate him. His name is Jesus. We worship our hero Jesus every Sunday. Now many heroes are honoured with huge parades and admiring crowds. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he was honoured with a parade where people spread their coats and palm leaves on the road, but he didn't ride in a chariot or on horseback or on the back of a camel. He rode on the back of a donkey.

Donkeys were lowly, humble animals. In Jesus' time they were used to carry things or plough the fields. They were lowly servants. Jesus came to serve people by healing their sickness, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and teaching them about God. By doing so, he proclaimed that he was the long-promised Messiah.

Some people were disappointed. They wanted a Messiah who would drive out the Romans. They did not want a Messiah who would tell them that their laws, rules and ways of worshipping God were wrong. The powerful people saw Jesus not as a hero, but as a threat, so they had him crucified. Our hero won the battle though when he rose from the dead on that first Easter Sunday morning. When he did, our hero Jesus saved everyone who believed in him, and he still saves everyone who believes in him today.

Jesus calls on us today to be heroes like him. We can be heroes like Jesus by doing things such as making our beds, washing the dishes, helping our parents with chores around the house or doing things for our friends or neighbours, especially when we do these things without being told to or by being paid to do them.

Let us bow our heads for a moment of prayer. Dear God, thank you for being our hero. Thank you for serving us and saving us when we walk away from you. Help us to serve others like you serve us, and help us to walk with you in faith, hope and love. We ask this in Jesus' name, AMEN.