For the student: Read along, fill in the blanks, and write your answers on the lines. Your parent has the answers.
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, O Lord, the wills of Your faithful people that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by You be plenteously rewarded; 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. Stir up: wake up and get moving. Wills: what we want and choose. Plenteously: in great amounts. Fruit of good works: the good things we do because we believe. Rewarded: given a gift. Discharge of blood (in the Gospel): an illness that made her bleed. Fringe: the edge or tassels of a garment.
1. We ask the Lord to ______________ up the wills of His people.
2. The good works of God's people are called ______________.
3. God will reward His people ______________.
Step 2 · Understand the Gospel
Matthew 9:18-26
18 While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live." 19 And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. 20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, 21 for she said to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I will be made well." 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well.
23 And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went through all that district.
1. What had happened to the ruler's daughter?
2. How long had the woman been sick?
3. What did the woman touch?
4. What did Jesus say about the girl, and what did the crowd do?
Step 3 · Find the Collect in the Gospel
Our prayer asks God to stir up His people to do good works, and it says God will reward them richly. In the Gospel, a father and a sick woman come to Jesus, and He gives them far more than they could ask. Let's find our prayer in the story.
1. The collect asks God to stir up our wills. What did the ruler do when his daughter died?
2. The collect says God rewards plenteously. What did Jesus give the woman who touched His garment?
3. What did Jesus give the ruler?
Step 4 · The Small Catechism
The Seventh Petition. But deliver us from evil. What does this mean? We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
1. What do we ask for in the Seventh Petition?
2. Jesus said the dead girl was "sleeping." What does the Seventh Petition say God will do when our last hour comes?
Step 5 · Wrap It All Up
Pray today's collect together one more time. Then ask:
1. What does Jesus do for you against sin and death?
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible. Small Catechism quotation from Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, © Concordia Publishing House.