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:
Almighty and everlasting God, who governs all things in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the prayers of Your people and grant us Your peace through all our days; 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. Everlasting: without beginning or end. Governs: rules. Purification (in the Gospel): washing to be clean for worship. Master of the feast: the man in charge of the party. Signs: miracles that show who Jesus is. Manifested: showed.
1. God governs all things in heaven and on ______________. Answer: Earth.
2. We ask God to hear the ______________ of His people. Answer: Prayers.
3. We ask for His ______________ through all our days. Answer: Peace.
Step 2 · Understand the Gospel
John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
1. Where was the wedding? Answer: At Cana in Galilee (verse 1).
2. What ran out? Answer: The wine (verse 3).
3. What did Mary tell the servants? Answer: "Do whatever he tells you" (verse 5).
4. What did the water become? Answer: Wine, and the best wine of the feast (verses 9-10).
Step 3 · Find the Collect in the Gospel
Say to your child: Our prayer says God rules everything in heaven and on earth, and it asks Him to hear us. At the wedding, Mary brings a problem to Jesus, and He shows that He rules even water. Let's find our prayer in the story.
1. The collect says God governs all things. What did Jesus change, showing that He rules over creation? Answer: He turned water into wine.
2. The collect asks God to hear the prayers of Your people. Who brought the problem to Jesus, and what did she say? Answer: Mary. She said, "They have no wine" (verse 3).
3. The collect asks for peace. How did Jesus bring peace to the wedding? Answer: He kept the family from embarrassment, and the celebration went on with good wine.
Parent note. Jesus' first miracle was at a wedding. God made marriage in the beginning (Genesis 2:24), and Jesus honored it with His presence. The Bible pictures Jesus as the Bridegroom and the Church as His bride.
Step 4 · The Small Catechism
The Sixth Commandment. You shall not commit adultery. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.
1. Jesus honored a wedding. What does Luther say husband and wife should do? Answer: Love and honor each other.
2. Why is marriage a gift from God? Answer: God made it at creation, and Jesus blessed it at Cana.
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 bring Him your needs? Answer: He hears me and gives what is good, often better than I expect, just as He gave the best wine at Cana.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible. Small Catechism quotation from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, © Concordia Publishing House.