Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Why did Jesus get baptized?!?!?

So Gracie and I were having some Bible reading time today. I asked her if she wanted to read about the birth of baby Jesus. She opened it to Matthew and started reading the different subheadings (I think she thinks of those as different stories which I guess they kind of are.) She decided to read "Jesus and his family return to Nazareth" and "Jesus is baptized." Her deep question after reading these 2 stories:

Why did Jesus have to get baptized if he never did anything wrong?

I love that her question shows that she understands that Jesus was perfect. I love that she is beginning to understand baptism more & more.

After we discussed that question (and I hope I didn't mess up the answer too bad~I had Chris follow up on it later too), I said it was my turn. I went to Luke and was going to read about Jesus' birth. Gracie started saying something about the New Testament only talking about Jesus as a man. I was confused and said that no, it talks about him as a baby, a child and a man and explained that Jesus wasn't born until the New Testament.

She continued with her questioning, rather insistenly saying that Jesus couldn't be baptized before He was born. I was quite puzzled at this point and then finally realized what she was talking about! Since we had read about His baptism in Matthew and she knows that's the first book in the New Testament then we jumped to Luke to read about His birth which she knows comes after Matthew (thank you, Bible books caterpillar!) she didn't realize how this made sense.

I explained to her how the Gospels are different accounts of a lot of the same stories. After a little explanation I think she somewhat understood it. I said, "If you write a story about the birth of Jesus, and Leigh Ann writes a story about the same thing and Kira does too and we put it all in one book, that's what it is like. You might write about some details that Leigh Ann won't and Kira might write about some details that you won't etc."

I love her thinking & desire for comprehension & understanding when it comes to the Bible! I love that I have Chris to help me parent her & Katie. I only pray that we will do the job God wants us to do!

3 comments:

jettybetty said...

That is some excellent thinking! I am very impressed.
I am thankful for both of Gracie's parents--that are so willing and excited to teacher her about the Bible!

Malia said...

so sweet!

Philip said...

Isn't wonderful to see our children growing in their love and devotion to God? Lately, Colt has been reading his "beginners" Bible in the morning, and every afternoon as part of his required reading for school. Overall, he is not the most enthusiastic reader, but he does love to read the Bible. I can truly see him "thirsting for knowledge." Thankyou, God! By the way, we got your letter, and Gracie is now proudly displayed on our refrigerator! It took right at two weeks to get here. Jaime