Jesus and the Koala

Since today was our first Sunday School day of the Fall, we thought you might like this story:

127474293392846452koala

There is a story told about an Australian Sunday School teacher who felt that her approach to teaching was in need of some remedial action. She thought she was altogether too predictable and the children were becoming bored with her story-telling and questioning of the class about what they had learned. She decided on a new tack to try to rectify matters. The next Sunday, once the preliminaries were over, she stood before the class of five-year-olds and asked, “Who can tell me what is gray and furry and lives in a Gum tree?” The children were completely taken by surprise by this totally unexpected and new approach. They thought there must be a catch and stared blankly at the teacher. “Come on,” she coaxed, “someone must know. What is gray, furry, lives in a Gum tree—has a black leathery nose and beady eyes?” Still no answer. “Oh, surely you know.” She was nonplussed by this reticence. “It lives in a Gum tree; eats Gum leaves; it has big beady eyes and furry ears.” Silence. She was about to switch tactics and to go on to something else when a small girl gradually raised her hand in the air with much hesitation. Delighted, the teacher asked, “Yes, Suzie?” The child replied, “I know it’s Jesus, but it sounds like a Koala!”

Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), xi.