VBS Day Three

VBS…exhilarating…exhausting…enlightening…

Today we talked about the birth of Christ, the death of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. Kids know SO many snippets of these stories. It has been such a fun week talking to them and hearing their funny little stories. I know so much dirt on their parents!

One thing that was surprising to them, today, was the sadness surrounding the death of Christ. It was hard for them to hear.

We read Matthew 27:27, “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.”

It is hard to stomach, huh? It should be.

There were children in the room with their mouths open and tears in their eyes when I read this. They thought it was so horrible that Jesus was treated like this. You know what? It was beautiful to watch.

Can you remember what it was like to hear this story for the first time? I have gone to church my whole life. I grew up on bible stories. Today, I regained some feeling where I had been numbed from repetition. I saw what it was like to love someone and then find out that they were hurt.

I encourage you to look at this story with fresh eyes. It is part of what drew us to Jesus in the first place.

Father, thank you for your Spirit’s power in scripture. Thank you for giving us the heart to read it with fresh eyes. Renew your word in us, Lord. Let us see it for the first time, today.