For the parent: Read each part aloud and work through the questions together. Your answers are printed in blue italics, so no preparation is needed. Your child uses the Student Edition.
Step 1 · Understand the Collect
A collect is a short prayer the pastor prays for the whole church. Here is today's collect:
Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Words to know. Stir up: wake up and put to work. Protection: keeping us safe. Perils: dangers. Deliverance: rescue.
1. We are talking to the ______________. Answer: Lord. At the end of the prayer we say, "You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit," so we are talking to Jesus, the Son.
2. We ask the Lord to stir up His power and ______________. Answer: Come.
3. We ask to be rescued from the dangers of our ______________. Answer: Sins.
Step 2 · Understand the Gospel
Matthew 21:1-9
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
1. What animal did Jesus ride into Jerusalem? Answer: A donkey, with her colt (verses 2 and 7).
2. What did the people spread on the road? Answer: Their cloaks and branches from the trees (verse 8).
3. Who does verse 5 say is coming? Answer: "Your king." Jesus is the King.
4. What did the crowds shout? Answer: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (verse 9).
Step 3 · Find the Collect in the Gospel
Say to your child: Our prayer asks Jesus to come and save us. In the story, Jesus comes. Let's find our prayer in the story.
1. The collect asks Jesus to come. Find the words in verse 5 that say someone is coming. Answer: "Behold, your king is coming to you."
2. The collect asks to be saved. The crowd shouts a word that means "Save us, we pray!" What is that word? Answer: "Hosanna" (verse 9). The crowd prays the same thing our collect prays.
3. The collect asks Jesus to use His power. Kings usually rode big war horses. What did Jesus ride, and why? Answer: A donkey. He came humble and gentle, not to fight a war. He came to save His people by dying on the cross and rising again that same week.
Parent note. Every Sunday, just before the Lord's Supper, we sing the crowd's words: "Hosanna... Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." We sing it because Jesus still comes to us, in His Word and in His Supper, to save us.
Step 4 · The Small Catechism
The Second Petition. Thy kingdom come. What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. How does God's kingdom come? God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.
1. Jesus came into Jerusalem as the King. In the Second Petition, what do we ask for? Answer: That God's kingdom would come to us also.
2. How does God's kingdom come to us? Answer: When the Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that we believe His Word and live godly lives.
Step 5 · Wrap It All Up
Pray today's collect together one more time. Then ask:
1. What does Jesus do for you when He comes? Answer: He comes to save me from my sins. He came to Jerusalem to die and rise for me, He comes to me now in His Word and Supper, and He will come again to take me to Himself.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible. Small Catechism quotation from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, © Concordia Publishing House.