Playing Jesus is a Challenge

As I posted a few weeks ago, our church joined with several others for Vacation Bible School and did an event called Marketplace at our local park. The scene is the marketplace in Jerusalem during the last days of Jesus' life. This event was so carefully scripted that on the last day during the closing Jesus was to appear in the midst of the participants. Jesus was played by my friend Kevin, a fellow pastor of a downtown church.

The scene occurred similar to the way the appearance of Jesus in the Upper Room is described. While everyone was singing a prayer...Jesus "appeared" in our midst. I watched Jake as he came and stood among us. Jake's eyes were wide and his mouth fell open. "Jesus is alive, Mommy." I heard him whisper. After the service was over, Jake had many questions, "How did Jesus come back to life? Where is he now? How does he live in our heart if he's alive? Are we going to see him again?"

I talked to Kevin a few days ago and told him what Jake had said. Kevin shared another awesome moment at VBS when Jesus appeared. He said as he was walking off two little girls came running up to him. One had to be about 8 or 10 and the other was around 5 or 6.

The younger of the girls came right up to him with an urgent question, "Jesus...has your mother seen you? She's awfully worried about you. Have you seen her?"

"No," Kevin said, "but if you do would you give her a message? Tell her I'm ok and I'll see her soon."

As quickly as the girls had appeared they ran off to tell Mary that Jesus was alive.

The faith of a child is an amazing thing. Children are so honest, so eager to learn more about things they don't understand. They ask and ask to gain a better understanding. And, they truly care about people and their feelings. That must be one of the reasons that Jesus told us to have the faith of a child. Faith enough to ask if we're going to see Jesus again and faith enough to be concerned about Jesus' family and their welfare. Faith so great it opens the eyes of adults to better see Jesus in our midst.