Years ago we invented a birthday party game that includes questions about the birthday celebratee, and written responses by the party attendees. The goal is to match the answers of the individual celebrating their birthday.
A fresh set of questions are required each year… until this year. Two weeks ago as we celebrated two birthdays, we included our grandchildren in our birthday game. A first. The celebration was for two of their parents, which only magnified the fun.
We went back to a list of “early on” easy questions that were now fair game because 3- to 6-year-olds were going to be answering.
In the course of the questions, a classic oldie got asked. “Who will Chrissy or Chris say is their favorite Bible character?” But this time, the question got asked without the usual disclaimer… you know, the one that says, “And you can’t answer Jesus.”
As you might suspect, most of the grandchildren believed that their parent or aunt or uncle would answer with “Jesus” and so it showed up on most of the answer sheets.
Chris and Chrissy, now given the latitude to answer without exclusion, answered to the delight of the young faces in the room…
Yes indeed. Jesus.
The act of constraining the list of acceptable answers begs the question, why exclude Jesus?
Too easy? Too obvious? Unfair competition?
With objective analysis Jesus is tough to beat. His love was without equal. His justice and compassion were perfectly divided. His wisdom unlocked the most difficult questions. Oh, and did I mention, He was sinless… perfect… absolutely holy?
Jesus makes every other biblical character squirm at the thought of comparison so, of course, we should exclude Him. He tips the scales.
Yet, even as we make this game-related exclusion, we communicate something about our understanding of Jesus, something erroneous.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
Tempted like us, but without sin.
No wonder Jesus was on the lips of every child answering the question. He’s a hero. He’s courageous. He’s wonderful. Faithful friend. Defender of the weak. And yes, He understands everything about being like us.
With or without the rule change, Jesus is the answer. Always. Only. Jesus.
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