SUNDAY SCHOOL Come Follow Me Interactive Activities – FEBRUARY (week 3) New Testament “Blessed Are Ye” Come, Follow Me (Matthew 5; Luke 6)

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior invited His disciples to rethink what it means to live a blessed life—a life of lasting happiness. To begin a discussion about lasting happiness, you could ask class members to share what makes them happy. According to Matthew 5:1–12, what did Jesus say makes a person “blessed,” or eternally happy? How are Jesus’s teachings different from other ways people try to find happiness?

Consider listing on the board some attributes or qualities from verses 3–12, like “pure in heart” or “peacemakers.” Then invite class members to suggest the opposite of each term. What do we learn about these qualities by considering their opposites? Ask class members to ponder what they could change in order to be the type of person described in these verses. What does 3 Nephi 12:3, 6 add to our understanding of Matthew 5:3, 6?

What does it mean to be “the light of the world”? (verse 14). What does it mean to hide our light “under a bushel”(verse 15), and why might we be tempted to do this? The statement by President Bonnie H. Cordon in “Additional Resources” and 3 Nephi 18:24 might help class members be more intentional about being a light to others. They could also talk about people who have been a light to them and led them toward Jesus Christ. How can we emulate these people?

Some of the situations described in Matthew 5 were specific to the Savior’s day, but the principles He taught are universal. To help class members see the applications to their lives, invite them to select one of the following passages and think of a modern-day example that illustrates what the Savior was teaching: verses 21–24; 27–30; 33–37; 38–39; 40–42; and 43–44. They could do this individually or in small groups and share their examples with the class.

How can you help class members see that the Savior’s command to be “perfect” (Matthew 5:48) means, as President Russell M. Nelson explained, to be “complete” or “finished”? (“Perfection Pending,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 86–88). You could cut a picture of Jesus into a puzzle, and invite class members to write on the back of each piece a teaching from Matthew 5 that they feel inspired to apply to their life. Let them work together to complete the puzzle. How does Jesus Christ’s Atonement help us become “complete” or “finished”? (see Bible Dictionary, “Grace”). What do President Joy D. Jones’s words in “Additional Resources” add to our understanding of this process?