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Theology of the Body for Teens

Middle School Edition

Supplemental Lesson Plan

for Chapter 2

Our Story: God’s Plan, Human Sin, Jesus’ Love

Objective: To familiarize the students with key Scriptural texts which express God’s love for his people as a Bridegroom for his bride.

Key Concepts

God’s love for us can be compared to many different human realities: Creator/creature, king/subject, shepherd/sheep, father/child. But the image most frequently found in Scripture that the inspired writers used to convey God’s love for his people is that of a Bridegroom for his bride.

In the Old Testament, the central image of a husband’s love for his wife expresses the exclusive and everlasting covenant that God desired to make with the people of Israel.

The communion between God and His people finds its definitive fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom who loves and gives Himself as the Savior of humanity, uniting it to Himself as His body. (Saint John Paul II, Familiaris consortio, 13)

Jesus Christ showed the full extent of His love when He gave His life on the cross for His bride, the Church.

The blood and water which flowed from the pierced side of Christ are symbols of the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist from which the Church, His bride, is born—an echo of the story of creation in which Eve was fashioned from the open side of Adam.

Classroom Activity

Materials and set-up:

+ Have TOB powerpoint 2.3 on Slide 2 projected on the board

+ Have available one Bible and two 4 x 6 index cards for each pair of students

Bellwork

Have the students answer in their notebooks the following questions on Slide 2:

1. What is your image of God?

2. Has it changed since you were a small child? If so, how?

3. Do you have a favorite passage from Scripture that “speaks” to you about who God is?

Prayer

(On Slide 3)

Read the following passage aloud and allow for 30 seconds of silent reflection:

O God, you are my God—it is you I seek! For you my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, In a land parched, lifeless, and without water.I look to you in the sanctuary to see your power and glory.For your love is better than life; my lips shall ever praise you!

I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands, calling on your name.

My soul shall be sated as with choice food, with joyous lips my mouth shall praise you!

I think of you upon my bed, I remember you through the watches of the night

You indeed are my savior, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.

(from Psalm 63)

Discussion

Use Slides 4 & 5 to elicit the fact the God’s love for us can be compared to many different human realities: Creator/creature, king/subject, shepherd/sheep, father/child. Ask the student which of these images most appeals to them, and why.

Then, using Slide 6, ask the students if they know which other image is the one most frequently used in Scripture to describe God’s love for us.

Have the students work in pairs and assign each pair two of the following Scriptural citations. One student will look up the citation in the Bible and read it aloud softly while the other student copies it onto the index card, and then they will switch roles for the second citation. Ask the students to share with their partner how this image offers new insight into their idea of God.

Song of Songs 4:9-10

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one bead of your necklace. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfumes than any spice!

Isaiah 54: 5-6

For your husband is your Maker; the Lord of hosts is his name, Your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth. The Lord calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, A wife married in youth and then cast off, says your God.

Isaiah 62:4-5

No more shall you be called “Forsaken,” nor your land called “Desolate,”

But you shall be called “My delight is in her,” and your land “Espoused.”

For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be espoused. For as a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you;

And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you.

Jeremiah 2:2

The word of the Lord came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear!

I remember the devotion of your youth, How you loved me as a bride,

Following me in the wilderness in a land unsown.

Hosea 2:16,18

Therefore, I will allure her now; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak persuasively to her… On that day—oracle of the Lord—You shall call me “My husband,” and you shall never again call me “My baal.”

John 3:29-30

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.

Ephesians 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her, to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the Church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Revelation 21:2, 9

I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband....One of the seven angels….came and said to me, “Come here. I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Select students to read aloud the scripture verses they were assigned to the class so that all 8 citations are read aloud.

Using Slide 7, ask the class the following questions to generate discussion, and then summarize their answers on the board:

Have you heard any of these Scripture verses before?

What is your reaction to hearing this kind of language about God’s love for his people?

Do you get a different image of God than you had before by reading these verses from Scripture?

Using Slide 8, stress with the students that the image most frequently found in Sacred Scripture to convey God’s love for his people is that God loves us like a good husband loves his wife.

Point out that In the Old Testament, the central image of a husband’s love for his wife expresses the exclusive and everlasting covenant that God desired to make with the people of Israel.

This covenant finds its fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ, who revealed Himself as the divine Bridegroom who who showed the full extent of his love when He gave his life on the cross for his bride, the Church, uniting to Himself as His body.

Using Slide 9, remind the students that important events that occur in the Old Testament are often fulfilled in the New Testament, and in the same way, important events that occur in the New Testament are often foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

Point out that the blood and water which flowed from the pierced side of Christ on the cross are symbols of the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist from which the Church, His bride, is born.

Explain that this event was foreshadowed in the story of creation when Eve came forth from the open side of Adam.

Homework Assignment

Ask the students to watch the following YouTube video of Matt Maher’s song “The Spirit and the Bride”:

How do the images and the lyrics help you grasp how much God loves you? Write two paragraphs in response to His love.

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