We are currently going through the book of Numbers in our daily chapel/catechesis at Christ Lutheran Academy. On Friday our reading was Numbers 9:1-14, which is the second Passover. I was particularly interested in this verse:
But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, o?that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. (Numbers 9:13 ESV)
So what we see from this chapter is that the Passover is for everyone, including the stranger sojourning within their midst. There are even provisions for the Israelite who is on a journey. But the one thing that holds a man to his sin is if he doesn’t show up. If he is clean but decides that he doesn’t need to keep the passover, then he is “cut off” from the people. In that case, the man bears his own sin, because he has rejected the Lord’s work of cleansing and forgiveness.
So how does this apply to our understanding of the Sacrament of the Altar?
So this morning in catechesis the kindergartners had “open question” time.? Always dangers with kindergartners.? This morning was no different.
One child asked “Why did the devil make mosquitos?”
I replied that the devil didn’t make them; God made them.? As to why, I wasn’t sure, but I know He had a good reason.
Then another child raises her hand and says, “I know why!? God made mosquitos because we’re sinners.”
So there you have it.? Next time you’re asked why God made mosquitos….
Why Indeed?
Wisdom from children
So this morning we’re doing chapel, and our text is Matthew 19:1-12, Jesus’ teaching on divorce and marriage (and eunuchs). I ask the kids why God instituted marriage. A kindergartner, the daughter of another blogger, responds??, “So that Jesus could be born.”
Hmmmmm….not what I was expecting. Of course, that’s what I get for expecting anything when it comes to children. Sometimes they have far deeper theological insight than we give them credit for understanding. So why did God institute marriage? We know the easy answers. A helpmeet for Adam. To be fruitful and multiply. Etc. But where does Jesus fit into the picture? Could God have instituted marriage so that Jesus would be born. The answer, of course, is absolutely yes. It’s always tricky asking what is the reason why God did something. However, as Lutherans we must always ask the question, “What does this have to do with Jesus?” Our Lord would not have been born, lived, died and rose again without God’s holy institution of marriage. In many respects we could say that our Lord’s birth sanctified marriage as a holy estate, because through it our Lord was born of a woman. So I’ve learned my theological lesson today from a kindergartner. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?
