St. Stephen’s Day Object Lesson: A Caterpillar with Eyes Like a Butterfly

st stephens day object lesson

St. Stephen is the only martyr whose death is recorded in the Bible, and his sainthood is celebrated by Catholics and Protestants around the world on December 26th. The Sunday between Christmas and New Years provides a great opportunity to explain to kids why someone would die for their faith and make it understandable. This St. Stephen’s Day object lesson, featuring a caterpillar and a butterfly, can help shed light.



• Picture of a St. Stephen painting (this and the two below are easily available on the Internet)

• Picture of a Caterpillar

• Picture of a Butterfly



On December 26th, many people around the world celebrat the life and death of St. Stephen. Stephen was killed for believing in Jesus shortly after Jesus was taken up into heaven in the Ascension, 40 days after his resurrection.

St. Stephen stuck up for Jesus and all the apostles’ and disciples’ belief in him. The Jewish leaders of the day, known as the Sanhedrin, got very angry because they didn’t believe in Jesus. Here is what happened, as told in Acts chapters 6 thru 8:









[Steven gave them a long speech about how much he loved Father Abraham and Moses, whom he had been accused of bad-mouthing. He said…]



The Stoning of Stephen








When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Why would someone be willing to give up their life for Jesus?

Take various answers

Someone would only be willing to give up his life for a person who was extremely good, and something more important:

Somebody would give up his life for a person who had promised them something far better, and it is believable.


I am going there to prepare a place for you.


We cannot imagine what heaven is like. Beyond a few things that Jesus said like this, we only know that it is perfect, beautiful, and it lasts forever and ever.

But to St. Steven, it was believable. He was willing to pass through the doors of death for something he truly believed in—eternal life with his dear friend, Jesus.

While he was alive, St. Steven was a little like a caterpillar.

Hold up your photo of a caterpillar.

Caterpillars have very small brains and sluggish bodies. They can’t fly. They just have to crawl along and process what little they can. Their brains and eyes are not designed to “process” a butterfly.

Hold up your photo of the butterfly.

But that doesn’t mean a butterfly doesn’t exist. Where do butterflies come from?


How does it happen?

A caterpillar ends its life by going into a cocoon and after a long sleep it emerges as a butterfly. So, a sluggish little caterpillar is not able to see what it will become. But it still becomes that butterfly.

It’s sort of like us when we go to heaven. We are these sluggish things right now who can’t fly and can’t see spiritual beings that can fly. And we’ve been told that someday, we’ll not only see spiritual beings, but we’ll be like them. It’s like someone telling a caterpillar that someday he will be a butterfly.

When St. Stephen was finished defending himself to the bad guys, he looked up to the ceiling, only he didn’t see the ceiling. What did he see?

He said he saw the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God.

It’s as if, for a moment, God gave Stephen a butterfly’s eyes. He could see the things that fly and the bigger universe.



Category: Bible Study Lessons, Object Lessons, Sunday School Lessons

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