(10 minutes, easy set up)
Students will create special laws for their schools that they know that students cannot follow.
Provide paper and pens for each group. Also provide a dry erase board and marker.
Divide students into groups of four or five and provide each group with paper and pens. Explain that their school has decided that the students can create the rules that students have to follow for one week. Encourage students to consider what is best for the whole school, and to write at least three very specific laws that MUST be followed to the letter of the law (such as: Students who are late for class will be counted as absent).
Allow three or four minutes for students to work before calling time. Lead groups to share the laws they’ve created and list these on the board. As each group shares, ask them to explain why the law is important and if students will have difficult following that rule exactly as it is written. After all have been presented, lead students to chose the law they think makes the most sense, and the one they think students will have the most trouble following.
Point out that living under extreme and very specific laws can be difficult. Say: The more specific the law is the easier it can be to miss it by a little. Point out that the Jews were used to living with a lot of specific laws they were supposed to keep, but seldom did. Say: In today’s passage, Jesus explained why those laws were so important that He came to fulfill them.