Additional Teaching Ideas

The following material supplements the suggested lesson outline. You may want to use one or more of these ideas as part of the lesson.

1. Mary and Martha

Have a class member read Luke 10:38–42.

2. “Suffer the little children to come unto me” (Mark 10:14)

As you discuss the Savior’s teaching that we should become as little children, you may also want to discuss the account of his blessing the children in Mark 10:13–16.

3. Additional discussion of Matthew 18

4. “The Lord appointed other seventy also” (Luke 10:1)

5. The sanctity of the marriage relationship

Explain that Matthew 19:1–12 describes a situation in which the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking him about the lawfulness of divorce (see also Mark 10:1–12). Divorce was a much-discussed issue among Jewish scholars and leaders, and the Pharisees hoped that Jesus’ answer to their question would allow them to stir up anger among the Jews. Have a class member read Matthew 19:3–9 aloud.

Explain that in ancient Israel, a man could put away, or divorce, his wife for insignificant reasons. Jesus taught that in a perfect world, such as the celestial kingdom, divorce does not exist. Because the earth is not yet perfect, divorce is allowed but should not happen except for the most serious reasons. Matthew 19:9 indicates that a man who put away his wife for a frivolous reason was still married to her in the eyes of God, and he thus committed adultery if he married another woman. (See James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 473–75, 484; see also Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols. [1979–81], 2:138–39.)

6. Youth activity

Write (or have class members write) questions about the lesson on small pieces of paper. (As a review activity, you could choose actual questions from each section of the lesson.) Put the pieces of paper in a sack or box. Have class members arrange their chairs in a circle, and place the sack or box on a chair in the center of the circle. Have class members take turns drawing questions out of the sack or box and answering them.

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