“Blind and lame people came to him in the temple courtyard, and he healed them. When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings saw the amazing miracles he performed and the children shouting in the temple courtyard, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were irritated. They said to him, ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ Jesus replied, ‘Yes, I do. Have you never read, “From the mouths of little children and infants, you have created praise”?’” (Matthew 21:14-16).
Did you catch that? Kids were shouting just outside of church! They were so excited to see the Savior that they couldn’t stop jumping and yelling that the Savior was here—finally!
When the older church leaders heard that, they were angry. They had made all sorts of rules for people to follow, but Jesus told them, “I am the way. The rules aren’t the way. I came to take away your sin. You don’t have to follow a bunch of rules to earn forgiveness.”
God says praise starts with children; he commands it from children. You worship the exact same Jesus that those children two thousand years ago were shouting about. Maybe you don’t get to see Jesus performing miracles, but you hear about them in the Bible. With the joy you show in worship, you get to pass along the same excitement that those young kids did all those years ago.
The children in the temple courtyard—the children who shouted their praises—were God’s children, just like you are.
Chomp on this!
List some ways that you can show praise to God in your everyday life.
