Sophie's Answer

As told to me by Sophia’s Sunday School teacher, Dee Schippert:

“It was the Sunday before Easter. The children were all sitting on the rug… I had a big class that day, probably at least 10. They were being so quiet and wonderfully good! I was telling them the story about when Jesus is in the temple and he’s upset. You remember he was overturning tables and yelling at them because they were selling all these.. things, in the temple. So he says, ‘I will tear down this temple and in 3 days I will build it up again.’ I asked the children if anyone knew what that meant... I knew they wouldn’t: they’re preschoolers! :) So I said, ‘Does anyone know what Jesus meant when he said that?’ I knew no one would know.

But then Sophie says, “No, that’s not right. What he means is he is gonna die on the cross and then in 3 days he will come back again!”

It took me a second to regain my composure so I could say ‘That’s right!! That’s right! He will die on the cross and then rise from the dead in 3 days! That’s right!’ Then I had to have the kids play for a few minutes because I couldn’t let them see me cry! I did not expect an answer and when she said that I was .. just stopped. I thought, ‘Oh my, she gets it. She gets it!’”