1.
After God had made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the creatures who are in heaven and earth and in the sea, He finally made human beings. He could have let them come into being with a word as He had the other things, but He set to work in another way. Just as a potter takes a clump of clay and forms a vessel out of it, God the Lord took a piece of earth and out of it made the body of the first human being and He gave life to this body through His breath. He made him in His image and Eve, who was to be with him as his helpmeet, was built from a rib taken from him. Thus first came to be the body that we have and it is a masterpiece of the wisdom, goodness and complete power of the Creator.
2.
After the first people by disobeying and transgressing had sinned against the commandment given to them by the Lord they had incurred the sentence of death. The Creator was sorry for them and sought to help the human race again. He decided to become a human Being in order to die for human beings, to redeem them through His death and to bring them to everlasting life. To this end, God His dear Father through the Holy Spirit prepared for Him a Body in the Womb of the Virgin Mary. As other children have flesh and blood He also partook of the same. But without sin. Thus He had a body and all the members, like any other human: He got hungry and ate food, He got thirsty and drank, He got weary and then He slept; He worked with His Hands, because He was a Carpenter; He always journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem and back on Foot. His Ears heard the pleas of the suffering, who expected and received help from Him; His Eyes wept over Jerusalem when He looked at the city, His Head was crowned with thorns, etc. From all of this we see that our Lord Jesus Christ had a Body and the same Members that other humans have. And He has them still, for after His Resurrection He showed His Disciples His Hands and Feet that had been pierced with nails and His Side that had been pierce trough with a spear. Look, dear Children, it must therefore be no little matter, that we have a body and members, because our Lord Jesus Christ became like us in that respect.
God gave you your body and its members as well, dear Children. Thus it says in the Small Catechism of the blessed Dr. Luther: “I believe that God has created me and given me body and soul, reason and all senses” That you can hear, see, feel, smell, taste, this is a gift from the Lord.
Since He has given you the body and your members and life for them and since it is He Who preserves your body, and your members and life, you must thank Him for this and use them in such a way as He would have you [to use them].
Something
of Bodily Care for Children
Translated by Pastor Roy Ledbetter
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