Embracing Our Own Reality

"From the lips of babes"... comes... a mirror.

Scriptures tell us that we see now as “through a glass darkly”. Children can give us a truer glimpse of ourselves.

Anyone who is a parent has smiled and winced to watch their children repeat their words and actions. For better or worse children see things precisely as they are, without context.

Precisely because children are children, God can use them as mirrors. Children are very bad at lying. In the mocking sincerely of children, Jesus calls us to the truth.

from Laura Weston, widow of Deacon Michael

IF YOU LIKE, READ ALONG AS YOU LISTEN:

You know, its fairly easy to imagine: Jesus is human in all respects. He started as a child. He grew up.

People of His time would go, probably on a weekly basis, to the marketplace to buy whatever they need. There'd be food there, there'd be clothes there, there'd be jewelry, whatever. You've seen pictures of marketplaces. It's a bunch of bustling going on.

And there are a bunch of kids running around. Now what does a parent really want when they're trying to get shopping done? They want a jumping-around, having-fun child at their side going, "Look at that! Look at this!" That's what they really want to have. So the parents would probably say, "Look, go play with everybody else."

And they (the children) came up with this idea... pretty easy because children are pretty smart. "Let's go the outer parts of the marketplace, call to each other, and then when we say something that is really good, everybody runs at the same time all through the marketplace and ends up in a different place, shouting the whole time."

Mothers are going, "But at least he's not at my side pulling on me, going like this."

And so the game develops.

Remember the story of the emperor's new clothes. All these important people think, "Oh, you've got the most beautiful clothes." And it took a little boy saying, "But the emperor doesn't have any clothes on!"

So the children standing outside, they're look into the bustle of the marketplace, and they see people and they point out foibles of these people that they perceive. "We played a flute for you but you did not dance." Now try playing music for a young child and have them not dance. “Anybody would do that; there's obviously something wrong. They're walking around going... and they're all solemn. We sang a dirge for you and you did not weep. What are you, just oblivious to the world?"

And I suspect just like many other games that it varied.

"Well, look at that person. She can't even wear a color other than the color yellow. Yaaah! Pfffft!" And they're all over the place.

And finally this game is so much fun because they're making fun of their parents and all the adults but they're pointing out the truth. They're pointing out the truth in a child-like way.

And then you have Jesus coming in and saying, "Look at you people. You're the ones that the children are singing about. You played that game as a kid." I am sure that everybody in the audience knew exactly what He was talking about.

And then He says, "John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine and you said, 'He's possessed by a demon.'" Yeowww!

The chaos of reality, of the truth. The same thing with the Son of Man. He's eating. “He's a glutton. He's a drunkard.” You are denying the reality that faces you. "You can't even dance when they're playing music. You don't mourn when they're playing a dirge. You are ignoring the reality. You're so full of yourselves that you cannot see the reality of the world around you."

Just like the emperor was so full of himself it took a child. And the child... the "wisdom vindicated by all her children."

It is the children. And we are God's children but we get so full of ourselves that we allow reality to be ignored if it's inconvenient. Look at you guys! Not a single one of you is smiling. What's wrong with you? You got the opportunity this morning to wake up for a communion service at 6:30 in the morning. How many people have the... well, a lot... this opportunity to be filled with donuts at 6:30 in the morning? It's a wonderful thing!

Look at the reality of your existence. Jesus came to Earth and gave us the truth and to die for us on the cross. You tell a child: "Wow, I like that guy." Tell an adult: "Well, I better do some studying of some biblical scholarship and figure out everything that's going on. I certainly wouldn't want to display emotion."

The reality that Jesus is talking about is that we allow ourselves to become full of ourselves and deny the reality of our lives.

I love the Barbosas. I just love them. How many years have you been married? Sixty-seven. Do you love your wife? Laughter Yeah, but you see what I'm saying. The reality of our existence.

Do you know people, are you one of them yourself, who are only alive right now because of Jesus Christ? Do you know miracles?

Dick and Fran have died. Are they gone? Do you talk to them? Are they a part of your life? Do they make you smile? That's the reality of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He brought us the promise of eternal life.

And we go through our lives in our great dignity... I mean, look at me, I get to wear a dress, you can't get more dignified than that... and avoid the reality.

We avoid the reality of the pied piper of Hamelin, playing his flute. "Huh, look at that. He's playing a flute." And I can tell you if a flute player came in with all my grandchildren, they'd all be dancing.

We allow ourselves to be blocked off. We allow ourselves not to be the children playing the game in the marketplace. We're allowing ourselves to become what they are pointing at.

"Look at that person. They're playing a flute and they're just stand there being solemn. Pffft!" "Look at that person. He's got five children, and they don't love him." "Look at that person, that the Savior of the world has come and we call Him a glutton. Someone who associates with sinners."

So this reality that we face is that Jesus tells us to be like a child. And that's exactly what we are called to be. From His perspective we're children. Allow ourselves as a child to enjoy the world.

Now, one of my grandchildren... actually, two grandchildren came over and they were visiting us and they asked two questions. Very separate.

The first question was a real hard one for me to answer. My grandson walks up to me and says, "Grandpa, why don't you like noise." Well I said, "Well you guys have a lot more energy and I'm wishing you would do all your screaming outside and not inside my house where I am."

Eeeeeuh! I'm not enjoying my grandchildren.

The other one came up after having just been spending an hour, hour and a half outside. We have a big back yard. He said, "Grandpa, why do you have so much grass?" And I had to ask myself a question. Why wasn't I out there playing on the grass with him?

Why am I allowing myself to obscure what I believe is the reality of my existence; to obscure for me the wonder of Our Lord Jesus Christ and what He has brought to us?

September 11, 2019