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:
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of Your people who call upon You and grant that they both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Words to know. Mercifully: with kindness we do not deserve. Perceive: see and understand. Fulfill: carry out, do. Passover (in the Gospel): the feast remembering how God rescued Israel from Egypt. Submissive: obedient. Stature: height.
1. We ask the Lord to receive the ______________ of His people. Answer: Prayers.
2. We ask God to help us know what things we ought to ______________. Answer: Do.
3. We ask for grace and ______________ to do them. Answer: Power.
Step 2 · Understand the Gospel
Luke 2:41-52
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.
46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." 49 And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
1. How old was Jesus in this story? Answer: Twelve years old (verse 42).
2. How long did it take His parents to find Him? Answer: Three days (verse 46).
3. Where was Jesus, and what was He doing? Answer: In the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening and asking questions (verse 46).
4. What did Jesus do when He went home with His parents? Answer: He obeyed them (verse 51).
Step 3 · Find the Collect in the Gospel
Say to your child: Our prayer asks God to help us know what we ought to do and to give us power to do it. In the Gospel, the boy Jesus knows exactly where He should be and what He should do. Let's find our prayer in the story.
1. The collect asks that we perceive and know what things they ought to do. What did Jesus say He must do (verse 49)? Answer: Be in His Father's house.
2. The collect asks for power faithfully to fulfill what we ought to do. What did Jesus do when He went home (verse 51)? Answer: He was submissive to His parents; He obeyed them.
3. The collect asks God to receive the prayers of Your people. Where did people go to pray and learn God's Word in this story? Answer: The temple in Jerusalem.
Parent note. Jesus is the only child who ever obeyed His parents perfectly. He did it for us, in our place, because we do not. When your child has disobeyed, Jesus' obedience covers him or her, and Jesus gives grace to do better.
Step 4 · The Small Catechism
The Fourth Commandment. Honor your father and your mother. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.
1. What does verse 51 say Jesus did for His parents? Answer: He was submissive to them; He obeyed them.
2. Luther says we should "honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them." Name one way you can do that at home this week. Answer: Answers will vary: doing chores without being asked, obeying the first time, saying thank you, helping a parent who is tired.
Step 5 · Wrap It All Up
Pray today's collect together one more time. Then ask:
1. What does Jesus do for you when you have not obeyed? Answer: He forgives me. He obeyed His Father and His parents perfectly in my place, and He gives me grace to obey.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible. Small Catechism quotation from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, © Concordia Publishing House.