Jesus is in the Repair Business

““Jesus can fix anything, right teacher?” asked Samuel.

“Yes, dear,” I quickly replied, but wondered why he had asked this question. I was teaching the Bible lesson and wanted to make sure I had enough time for a strong gospel presentation at the end.

“See, I told you.” Samuel said to Jonathan, who sat next to him.

Curiosity ‘killed the cat’, and now it was about to eat me alive. “Samuel, of course Jesus can fix anything, but would you kindly share with me why you are asking this question.”

“Well, Jesus said, ‘I go to repair a place for you.’ My daddy is a repair man but there are some things he can’t fix. But I was thinking that Jesus can fix anything and you said He could.” Samuel seemed relieved.

Desperate to connect the dots, I realized that I had been teaching from John 14:1-4 where Jesus said, “‘I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.’”

Trying to gobble down a giggle, I was ready to launch a lesson to clear up the misunderstanding about these particular words in the passages and set this theology on solid ground.

Yet as I set out to “fix” things, I realized that little Samuel had just spoken truth and that it would be better to let it go and simply build upon this sweet child’s misinterpretation of the passage – for he had correctly interpreted something deeply important.

A quick change in my lesson plan, I asked the children, “Samuel is right, Jesus can fix anything. What are some things that Jesus fixed while He was here on earth?” Little hands were flapping in the air. So I notched up their thinking skills, “What are things that Jesus won’t need to fix in heaven?” More importantly, “Why not?”

It became clear to me that little Samuel had taken us down a far better path. The Bible says, “…and a little child will lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). Often we are so intent on teaching our lesson the way we planned that we miss these teachable moments with children.

After our detour, which I realized was now the main path for the day, I returned to the gospel presentation. Little hearts were prepared to hear it this time because we had just taken a mini-field trip to heaven, thanks to Samuel. We had talked about heaven; what is there and what is not. Next week we would tackle that pesky problem of sin, but for this week, we had a heavenly time in class.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:1-4

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