Assembly Objective:

Who is Jesus – a teacher, a swearword, a prophet, a fraud? This assembly invites students to consider what Jesus said about himself when questioned about his identity. Through an encounter with the disciples where Jesus questions them about how he is perceived, and through examining a quote from C.S. Lewis about Jesus’ identity, students will reflect on what they make of Jesus’ claim that he is the Son of God.

Film:

Dune Part Two (Warner Bros Pictures, 2024, certificate 12). Click here to buy the DVD online.

Bible:

Matthew 16:13-18 (NIRV)

Supporting Values Education:

The values of Respect and Tolerance presuppose an understanding and appreciation of beliefs held by different people. This assembly helps pupils examine different views on Jesus’ identity and to consider what they believe.

OPENING ACTIVITY

Real Life Guess Who (game)

(For smaller tutor groups)

If you think your group will be up for the challenge, distribute some dressing up clothes and accessories to everyone (hats, scarves, glasses, sunglasses, bow ties etc). If the group is unlikely to join in with this, simply play the game as you are.

Explain that you are going to play a version of Guess Who? (the board game). Choose  two players to come to the front, and tell them that they have to guess the name of the person you have chosen from the group in advance (you might want to write the name of the person on a piece of paper for added drama). Tell everyone else to stand up.

Each player should take it in turn to ask a question about the person you have in mind, e.g. Are they wearing glasses? Do they have curly hair? etc. The questions must have a yes/no answer. Be careful to make sure the questions don’t become offensive, hurtful or overly personal.

If the answer to the question is ‘yes’ then everyone with that feature must remain standing, and everyone else sits down. If the answer is ‘no’ then those with the feature must sit leaving everyone else standing.

The winner is the person who guesses correctly the person you have chosen. If the game is working then you can play a few rounds of it.

With a larger group, or with a group where you don’t think it would work, try a version of Heads Up/Celebrity Heads where you write the name of a well-known personality on a piece of paper or post-it note and stick it to the forehead of the player. Players must guess who they are by asking yes/no questions. You can find an online version of this here – https://www.warnerbros.com/games-and-apps/heads.

Finish the activity by making the point that it can be hard to work out who you are by asking for other people’s opinions.

FILM CLIP  

Play the clip from Dune Part Two (Warner Bros Pictures, 2024, certificate 12).

• Start time: 00:12:30
• End time: 00:16:59
• Clip length: 4 mins 29 seconds

Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have made contact with the Freman tribe on the planet Arrakis. The Freman, led by Stilgar (Javier Bardem), bring Paul and his mother to a safe cave. Some of the Fremen suspect the pair are spies while others, including Stilgar, believe that Paul and Jessica are the subjects of a prophecy that a mother and son from the ‘Outer World’ will bring prosperity to Arrakis. As they carry the dead body of a Freman soldier through the throng of people, some accuse them of killing him and others shout out names like ‘spies’ and ‘witch’. One old man calls out ‘Stop! Stop!’ Before saying, ‘Lisan al-Gaib’ which is the Fremen name for the prophet they believe will come from the ‘Outer World’. Stilgar goes to consult the community elders, telling them that he has seen the signs that Paul may be the prophet. He tells them he is willing to pledge his life for him. While Paul and Jessica sit and eat, Paul tells his mother that many of them already believe he is their messiah while others think he is a false prophet. Knowing that the prophecy is a myth planted to fool the Fremen, he tells her that he must now convince the others so that he can get to the emperor. She tells him that his father didn’t believe in revenge, and he replies ‘Well I do.’

TALK

Download the Dune Part Two PowerPoint for use with this talk.

Scripted Talk

• [PowerPoint slide 1]
  • Welcome to our assembly today. I wonder how you would describe yourself to a stranger. You might describe what you look like, your age, where you come from, what you like to do. You might also describe yourself by your family relationships – you are a son or daughter, you might be a brother or sister, you might be a cousin. I hope you’re all the friend of someone.
• [PowerPoint slide 2]
  • Sometimes we don’t even fully understand who we are, especially as we grow up. As we get older we learn how we react in different situations, which subjects and activities that we love or can’t stand, what sort of people we are attracted to. Our identity is complicated.
  • Imagine for a moment that you were a stranger in town, and had to explain who you are to people you met. You might find it hard to sum yourself up in one or two sentences. You might find that other people misunderstood you and began to believe things about you that were not true.
• [PowerPoint slide 3]
  • In today’s assembly we’re going to think deeply about what people said about Jesus, but before we do that, I wonder if we can take a moment to think about some of the ideas we might have heard about Jesus. Here are a few things that people might say about him.
  • Jesus was…
  • The son of God
  • A man
  • A fraud
  • A prophet
  • A teacher
  • The Messiah
  • A saviour
  • A swearword
• [PowerPoint slide 4]
  • There are lots of ideas there! No matter what you think about Jesus, there is clear evidence that he lived on earth around 2,000 years ago. For many people nowadays, they may only have heard his name when it is used as a swearword. Other people might say that what Jesus claimed about himself, and what his followers believe, is not true. Other people believe that he existed, and he taught some good advice. Christians believe that Jesus was a good teacher, but also that he was the Messiah. The Messiah is a word to describe someone promised long ago who would be a leader and a saviour.
• [PowerPoint slide 5]
  • In a moment we’ll look at a story from the Bible that will help us think more about that. First, though, let’s watch a clip from Dune Part Two.
• [PowerPoint slide 6]
  • To help you understand what’s happening, it’s helpful to know that Paul Atreides has travelled to the planet Arrakis to seek revenge for the killing of his family.
• [PowerPoint slide 7]
  • There he encounters the inhabitants of Arrakis, the Fremen, in a desert battle. The leader of the Fremen, Stilgar, is bringing Paul and his mother to a place of safety, a cave where the Fremen gather.
• [PowerPoint slide 8]
  • Stilgar trusts Paul but, as we’re about to find out, not everyone feels the same. As you watch the clip, listen out for that word, Messiah, that we’ve already mentioned.
  • Play the clip from Dune Part Two (Warner Bros Pictures, 2024, certificate 12)
    • Start time: 00:12:30
    • End time: 00:16:59
    • Clip length: 4 mins 29 seconds
  • Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have made contact with the Freman tribe on the planet Arrakis. The Freman, led by Stilgar (Javier Bardem), bring Paul and his mother to a safe cave. Some of the Fremen suspect the pair are spies while others, including Stilgar, believe that Paul and Jessica are the subjects of a prophecy that a mother and son from the ‘Outer World’ will bring prosperity to Arrakis. As they carry the dead body of a Freman soldier through the throng of people, some accuse them of killing him and others shout out names like ‘spies’ and ‘witch’. One old man calls out ‘Stop! Stop!’ Before saying, ‘Lisan al-Gaib’ which is the Fremen name for the prophet they believe will come from the ‘Outer World’. Stilgar goes to consult the community elders, telling them that he has seen the signs that Paul may be the prophet. He tells them he is willing to pledge his life for him. While Paul and Jessica sit and eat, Paul tells his mother that many of them already believe he is their messiah while others think he is a false prophet. Knowing that the prophecy is a myth planted to fool the Fremen, he tells her that he must now convince the others so that he can get to the emperor. She tells him that his father didn’t believe in revenge, and he replies ‘Well I do.’
  • I wonder who you think Paul is? Is he the Messiah? Has he come from the Outer World to save the Fremen? Or is he using their belief to further his own mission of revenge?
  • I suppose you’ll have to watch the rest of the film to discover the truth!
• [PowerPoint slide 9]
  • It was interesting, though, to watch how Paul was viewed by the Fremen. As a stranger and an outsider, people formed different opinions of who he might be. Some viewed him as a killer and a spy. Others thought he was the ‘Lisan al Gaib’, or the prophet. Paul himself noticed that some of them believed he was a messiah.
• [PowerPoint slide 10]
  • At the time when Jesus lived on earth people expected that the Messiah, the Saviour, would come to help them. Jesus was often careful about how he described himself, as he knew that the religious leaders and the Roman authorities would be very unhappy with the idea that he had power. He often referred to himself as ‘the Son of Man’. Let’s read a section of the Bible where Jesus has a conversation with his friends, or disciples, about what people were saying about him.
• [PowerPoint slide 11]
  • Matthew 16:13-18 (NIRV).
  • Jesus went to the area of Caesarea Philippi. There he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. Still others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah. You are the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! No mere human showed this to you. My Father in heaven showed it to you. Here is what I tell you. You are Peter. On this rock I will build my church. The gates of hell will not be strong enough to destroy it.
  • In order to help the disciples work out who he really was, Jesus asked them a question to see what other people were saying about him.
• [PowerPoint slide 12]
  • I wonder if you know anything about the people they mentioned. Let’s think about who they were.
  • John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin. He was a prophet, a man who lived in the desert and preached about God. Because he confronted the leader of the time, King Herod, he was put to death. Some people were saying that Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life.
  • Elijah was an Old Testament prophet, a man who spoke God’s words to those in power, and to the people of God. By this point Elijah had been dead for many centuries, but because he was regarded as a great man of God, some people were saying that Jesus was Elijah come back to life.
  • Jeremiah was another prophet from the Old Testament. He taught people about God and called them to turn back to him. Jesus taught about God, and proclaimed that God’s kingdom had come, so some other people were saying that Jesus was Jeremiah or another of the Old Testament prophets come back to life.
• [PowerPoint slide 13]
  • None of these answers was correct, though. Having asked what other people were saying about him, Jesus then turned and asked his disciples directly who they thought he was.
  • Simon Peter, Jesus’ disciple, spoke up and said, ‘You are the Messiah. You are the Son of the living God.’
  • Simon got it! He understood that Jesus wasn’t a reincarnation of an old prophet. He was the Messiah, the one that God’s people had been waiting for. He also understood that to be the Messiah, Jesus was God in human form – the son of the living God.
  • People have all sorts of ideas about who Jesus was and is, but what we learn from this story in the Bible is that Simon Peter figured it out, and Jesus told him that he did this with God’s help and that because of that, Simon would go on to have an important role in the people of God – the church – after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
• [PowerPoint slide 14]
  • I wonder who you think Jesus was and is?
• [PowerPoint slide 15]
  • C.S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia books, was a follower of Jesus, and he wrote a book called Mere Christianity to help people think about what the Christian faith was really about. This is what he had to say about Jesus:
• [PowerPoint slide 16]
  • “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
• [PowerPoint slide 17]
  • In other words, says, C.S. Lewis, when you read what Jesus said about himself, you have a choice of three options – Jesus was mad, bad or he was telling the truth and he really was the Son of God.
• [PowerPoint slide 18]
  • I wonder who you think Jesus was?

Headings and Bullets

Download the Dune Part Two PowerPoint for use with this talk.

• [PowerPoint slide 1]
  • How would you describe yourself to a stranger?
• [PowerPoint slide 2]
  • Our identity is complicated!
  • Imagine for a moment that you were a stranger in town.
  • You might find it hard to sum yourself up in one or two sentences.
  • You might find that other people misunderstood you and began to believe things about you that were not true.
• [PowerPoint slide 3]
  • Ways people might describe Jesus.
  • The son of God
  • A man
  • A fraud
  • A prophet
  • A teacher
  • The Messiah
  • A saviour
  • A swearword
• [PowerPoint slide 4]
  • There are lots of ideas there!
  • No matter what you think about Jesus, there is clear evidence that he lived on earth around 2,000 years ago.
  • For many people nowadays, they may only have heard his name when it is used as a swearword.
  • Other people might say that what Jesus claimed about himself, and what his followers believe, is not true.
  • Other people believe that he existed, and he taught some good advice.
  • Christians believe that Jesus was a good teacher, but also that he was the Messiah.
  • The Messiah is a word to describe someone promised long ago who would be a leader and a saviour.
• [PowerPoint slide 5]
  • Introduce Dune Part Two.
• [PowerPoint slide 6]
  • Paul Atreides has travelled to the planet Arrakis to seek revenge for the killing of his family.
• [PowerPoint slide 7]
  • He encounters the inhabitants of Arrakis, the Fremen, in a desert battle.
  • The leader of the Fremen, Stilgar, is bringing Paul and his mother to a place of safety, a cave where the Fremen gather.
• [PowerPoint slide 8]
  • Stilgar trusts Paul.
  • But not everyone feels the same.
  • As you watch the clip, listen out for the word, Messiah.
  • Play the clip from Dune Part Two (Warner Bros Pictures, 2024, certificate 12).
    • Start time: 00:12:30
    • End time: 00:16:59
    • Clip length: 4 mins 29 seconds
• [PowerPoint slide 9]
  • I wonder who you think Paul is?
  • Is he the Messiah?
  • Has he come from the Outer World to save the Fremen?
  • Or is he using their belief to further his own mission of revenge?
  • It was interesting, though, to watch how Paul was viewed by the Fremen.
  • As a stranger and an outsider, people formed different opinions of who he might be. Some viewed him as a killer and a spy.
  • Others thought he was the ‘Lisan al Gaib’, or the prophet.
  • Paul himself noticed that some of them believed he was a messiah.
• [PowerPoint slide 10]
  • When Jesus lived on earth people expected that the Messiah;
  • The Saviour, would come to help them.
  • Jesus was careful about how he described himself.
  • He knew that the religious leaders and the Roman authorities would be very unhappy with the idea that he had power.
  • He often referred to himself as ‘the Son of Man’.
• [PowerPoint slide 11]
  • Matthew 16:13-18 (NIRV).
  • In order to help the disciples work out who he really was, Jesus asked them a question to see what other people were saying about him.
• [PowerPoint slide 12]
  • Who did people think Jesus was?
  • John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin. He was a prophet, a man who lived in the desert and preached about God. Because he confronted the leader of the time, King Herod, he was put to death. Some people were saying that Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life.
  • Elijah was an Old Testament prophet, a man who spoke God’s words to those in power, and to the people of God. By this point Elijah had been dead for many centuries, but because he was regarded as a great man of God, some people were saying that Jesus was Elijah come back to life.
  • Jeremiah was another prophet from the Old Testament. He taught people about God and called them to turn back to him. Jesus taught about God, and proclaimed that God’s kingdom had come, so some other people were saying that Jesus was Jeremiah or another of the Old Testament prophets come back to life.
• [PowerPoint slide 13]
  • None of these answers was correct.
  • Jesus then turned and asked his disciples directly who they thought he was.
  • Simon Peter, Jesus’ disciple, spoke up.
  • ‘You are the Messiah. You are the Son of the living God.’
  • Simon got it!
  • He has understood that Jesus wasn’t a reincarnation of an old prophet.
  • He was the Messiah, the one that God’s people had been waiting for.
  • He also understood that to be the Messiah, Jesus was God in human form – the son of the Living God.
  • Simon would go on to have an important role in the people of God – the church – after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
• [PowerPoint slide 14]
  • I wonder who you think Jesus was and is?
• [PowerPoint slide 15]
  • C.S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia books, was a follower of Jesus.
  • He wrote a book called Mere Christianity to help people think about what the Christian faith was really about.
• [PowerPoint slide 16]
  • Quote:
  • “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
• [PowerPoint slide 17]
  • Three options.
  • Jesus was mad.
  • Jesus was bad.
  • Jesus was telling the truth and he really was the Son of God.
• [PowerPoint slide 18]
  • What do you think?
  • Who do you say Jesus is?

Photo copyright for Dune Part Two powerpoint: Slide 1 Pixabay.com / Slide 2 Pixabay.com / Slide 3 image 4 Courtesy of Lumo Project Films – www.lumoproject.com / Slide 4 image 12 Courtesy of Lumo Project Films – www.lumoproject.com / Slide 5 Warner Brothers / Slide 6 Warner Brothers / Slide 7 Photo by Niko Tavernise/Niko Tavernise – © 2022 Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc / Slide 8 Warner Brothers / Slide 9 Warner Brothers / Slide 10 image 7 Courtesy of Lumo Project Films – www.lumoproject.com / Slide 11 image 5 Courtesy of Lumo Project Films – www.lumoproject.com / Slide 12 image 19 Courtesy of Lumo Project Films – www.lumoproject.com / Slide 13 image 7 Courtesy of Lumo Project Films – www.lumoproject.com / Slide 14 Pixabay.com / Slide 15 Public domain / Slide 16 Harper Collins / Slide 17 image 12 Courtesy of Lumo Project Films – www.lumoproject.com / Slide 18 Pixabay.com / Slide 19 Pixabay.com

RESPOND

Prayer

• [PowerPoint slide 19]
  • Father God
  • The world has all sorts of opinions and views of who you are.
  • Please help us to recognise who you really are.
  • Thank you that you sent Jesus to be the Messiah, to help us.
  • Thank you that he helps us get to know you better.
  • Amen.

YOU WILL NEED:

1. A copy of Dune Part Two (Warner Bros Pictures, 2024, 12). Click here to buy the DVD online.
2. Dune Part Two PowerPoint.