I was nervous. Capturing a preschooler’s attention is easy, sustaining that attention is difficult. The story I had in my hand was one I thought they may have heard many times before. The illustrations were simple and the size of the book itself was small. Thinking that I may have an attention deficit hyperactivity fallout on my hands, I commenced with a disclaimer: “Now, I know you may have heard this story before, but it’s really important we have our listening ears on. After story time we have a super-special egg hunt planned!”
You see, it was the week after Easter and the story was about Jesus suffering, dying, and rising again. These boys and girls were coming from Christian homes and good churches and by the time a child reaches four or five years old they’ve heard this story at bedtime and Sunday school enough to have it memorized. At least, that’s what I thought.
One little girl piped up, “I’ve never heard this story before!” Still wary, I thought she meant this particular rendition of the Bible account. I flipped to the first page. There was a cartoon drawing of a middle-aged man, bearded with long brown hair in a robe, surrounded by twelve other men like him. I began, “This is a real-life story. It actually happened a long time ago. It’s about this man right here and his friends.” At this point, the boy who always gets too close to the book so that everyone else says, “I can’t see!” He says, “Nope. I’ve definitely never heard this story before.”
There was a stirring in my soul at that moment. It was the Holy Spirit moving. Fidgeting was stilled, eyes looked expectantly at me, peace and hopefulness washed over the room. I settled into it. Lingering on page after page, I told them the simple story. “Jesus was a kid like you. He grew up and had a job. He hung out with his friends. He loved to tell stories.” And so it went with the enraptured kids on the rug.
I reached the tough part. “Even though Jesus didn’t do anything wrong, people hated him. They beat him up. They took his clothes. They pushed thorns on his head so that he was bleeding.” The distress in the room was palpable. One boy audibly sucked in his breath, then let it go with a drawn-out incredulous whisper, “Noooooo!” After gently explaining the cross, I reached the page with the empty cave and two shining angels. “Where’s Jesus?” Now the kids were on their knees straining to see what had happened in the picture. A boy shouts, “Those yellow guys took him!” Another child tries for the correct answer: “He’s behind those rocks.” At last, one quiet boy knew the truth and had the courage to speak up - “He’s not there because He rose from the dead.”
I think back on this memory with tears in my eyes. I had assumed they’d know the story. I had assumed it would be a boring rerun for them. How wrong I was and what an important reminder for me. The story of Jesus doesn’t ever need me to be apologetic for overuse. It doesn’t need me to jazz it up for the current distractible generation. For those the Spirit calls, the pure and simple truth must and will be enough. The gospel of Christ is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. If over the years you have come to approach telling God’s story with overtones of hesitation, defensiveness, or cynicism, may the Lord take you back to a preschool classroom and a childlike faith. May your spirit be renewed to tell the story like it’s the first time someone’s hearing it.
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. Mark 10:13-16
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