Why Indeed?

Wisdom from children

So this morning we’re doing chapel, and our text is Matthew 19:1-12, Jesus’ teaching on divorce and marriage (and eunuchs). I ask the kids why God instituted marriage. A kindergartner, the daughter of another blogger, responds, “So that Jesus could be born.”

Hmmmmm….not what I was expecting. Of course, that’s what I get for expecting anything when it comes to children. Sometimes they have far deeper theological insight than we give them credit for understanding.

So why did God institute marriage? We know the easy answers. A helpmeet for Adam. To be fruitful and multiply. Etc. But where does Jesus fit into the picture? Could God have instituted marriage so that Jesus would be born.

The answer, of course, is absolutely yes. It’s always tricky asking what is the reason why God did something. However, as Lutherans we must always ask the question, “What does this have to do with Jesus?” Our Lord would not have been born, lived, died and rose again without God’s holy institution of marriage. In many respects we could say that our Lord’s birth sanctified marriage as a holy estate, because through it our Lord was born of a woman.

So I’ve learned my theological lesson today from a kindergartner. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

-LL