Scripture Lesson: Mark 10:17-30
Object: A vase

Once upon a time there was a small boy who got his hand caught in a vase. Try as hard as he could, that hand wouldn't come out. His friends tried to get his hand out but could not.  The real reason this little boy couldn't get his hand out of the vase was that he was trying to get a penny out of the bottom of the vase, and once he got the penny in his hand, his fist was clenched.  "Let go of the penny!" a friend said to him. But he refused. So the vase remained stuck to his hand for a long time. Finally he let go of the penny and was able to get his hand out of the vase.

This is a parable, isn't it? Some people become very attached to money and what it will buy. They can never get enough. Even worse they judge other people by how much money they have or how big their house is or how nice their clothes are. Some people even begin worshipping money rather than God. I hope that never happens to us. Money is nice to buy things with. It is even nicer when we use it to help other people and when we give it to God. But we never want to let money get too big in our lives so that we get caught by it like this little boy who wouldn't let go of the penny to get the vase off of his hand.