Out of the Mouths of Babes

One of the blessings of working at a Christian School is a morning devotional we call chapel. In the early childhood building (grades pre-k through second grade) the teachers pick a value of the week, such as love, honesty, etc. and plan the devotional around that theme.

Recently, one of our kindergarten teachers was preparing a skit for her class to perform in chapel. In the midst of assigning parts, she asked as her eyes scanned the room, “Who wants to be Jesus?” One little energetic, mischievous five-year-old boy quickly thrust his hand in the air. “Ok, Petey, you can be Jesus,” she said cautiously, trying to smother her skepticism that she could trust him with such an important role in the skit. Immediately, the little boy next to him, his usual “partner in crime”, reacted in a droll voice, “Well, if he’s going to be Jesus, I need to be God.”

It starts early, doesn’t it?

“He asked them. ’What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.’ "

Mark 9:33-35