25th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
In our gospel Jesus really
is calling you and me back to the innocence of a child. You know a child’s heart is innocent by
nature and that innocence that is so powerful and beautiful in a child really
is like a moral compass I believe, or a light for each of our souls.
You know, think about it
this way. When you’re around a little
child you look at that gleam in their eyes and that sense of wonder, joy and
excitement when they see just the beauty and the goodness of everything that is
right in front of them. And they’re
asking the questions, why, why, why? I
can remember back in Grand Rapids many years ago when I was growing up. I was probably maybe 11 or 12 years old and
there was a little boy in our neighborhood right next door to us. I was out cutting the grass and George came
over and he started to ask me all these questions. “Why are you cutting the grass, Pat?” I said, “Because it’s tall, it needs to be
cut.” “Buy why are you using that lawn
mower?” “Because it’s the only one I
have.” Well why don’t you use a
different lawn mower?” “I don’t have a
different mower.” Why are you cutting
that lady’s grass? You don’t live
there?” I said, “Because she asked me.” Question after question after question. Now a little 7-year-old asking this of me
when I was only 11, I was getting more irritated. Finally I said, “If you ask me any more
questions George, I’m going to spank you.”
Well that went over like a lead balloon didn’t it? “Why would you do that?” So finally George stopped asking questions
and I went on to cut the grass.
But the innocence of a
child. There is something about that
that is so beautiful. Then what
happens? We grow up and we begin to lose
this sense of innocence and the simplicity of life and all the complexities of
life have a way of just robbing us of the beauty of it.
Not too long ago I found
something and this person was describing his experience one morning. He was on his way to work going down a busy
street. And all the cars are rushing and
you can see everybody wanting to try to get to work. There on the side of the street he said there
was a little girl with blue shoes and a little backpack on the side. And she was waiting there on the curb to
cross the street. And a crossing guard
came up of course, stood in the street with the stop sign, motioned to the
little girl to cross the street. Of
course all the cars stopped. And then he
described it this way, “With the crossing guard as a protector the little girl
steps off the curb with exaggerated caution, like she is sticking her toe in
cold water. She is totally oblivious to
the fact that all the cars are waiting on her.
And half way across the street something on the ground catches her
eye. Of course she has to bend over to
look at it. The crossing guard beeps her
whistle, gives her head a jerk to move the little girl along.” And he says, “She seems as though she uses
three different walks to get to the other side.
A skippy little pony walk, a bunny hop or two and then finally just a
slap-happy walk like that. So all of
sudden there is a flash of blue and a backpack and she is gone and all the
traffic starts up again.” And this man
said, “I pledge on allegiance to a little girl in blue shoes yesterday. We all did.”
And this is what he writes, “Little blue shoes girl. You do not know who you are but we know and we
are struck dumb. We can only stare
through the parted waters as you dance your way across the Jordan. Did you know we have a law for you. We made a law so that in on our worst days we
do not forget. Even on days when we
think being at work on time is more important that the little girls in blue
shoes, a woman with a glove and a whistle stops us and makes us remember who
you are. Some of us say there is
something eternal about you. Something
we call a soul. If there is anything in
you, little blue shoes girl, any sense of the creator lying soft on the back of
you neck, then you are worth more than all the good and all the mountains in
all the world.”
That’s the innocence that
Jesus is calling you and me to. We can’t
go back and become children again but we can remember a time when you had that
innocence.
Think of it. You know you read the book of Genesis, Adam
and Eve. They were naked before the
sight of each other and before God. They
were not embarrassed about it or ashamed.
But after their sin, then they felt they had to cover themselves up and
they were wounded. Innocence goes back
to that pristine Garden of Eden, before we were wounded, before we knew shame,
before we knew blame.
Can to think of a time like
that in your life? Can you go back, to
maybe you remember before you started to hate?
Before you started making judgements?
Before you started looking at people based on their color, or on their
language? Before you started thinking
you were better or worse because of your education, how much money you made, or
where you live, or what you’ve accomplished, or what team you’re on, or how
strong you are, or how weak you are? Can
you go back and recall that innocence?
I think that is really what
Jesus is calling you and me to. It’s
that place in our soul, down deep within us, where you and I know we literally
are naked before the Lord. Because God
looks into our heart, into our soul and there is no need there to compare
ourselves, to judge, or to think less or more of anybody else.
Notice in the gospel, the
disciples were afraid to question Jesus.
Why? Isn’t it in a child’s nature
to question, to wonder, to seek, to search?
They were afraid to question Him.
Why? As the gospel text says
further on, they were arguing among themselves, “Who was the greatest?” And because they were arguing that, they had
lost their innocence. They were in their
woundedness. They were in that
pain. They were in that complexity of
life, and they lost their innocence.
They could not come before Jesus and acknowledge that. And that’s why Jesus then give this beautiful
image. Takes a child, places the child
in their midst and says, “Anyone who receives this child in My name, you
receive Me.”
So again, what is Jesus
trying to say to you and to me? When we
take the child that is in every person.
When we welcome the child in every person we welcome the presence of
God. Because God is present in you and
me. Look how beautiful that is. In the presence of God we realize who we are. We become, I guess the word is, humble. There are no airs before that. You’re not better, you’re not worse. You’re an innocent in the presence of God and
that humility in turn leads you and me to service and that’s what Jesus is
pointing out in the Gospel as well. “If
you’re going to be my follower you must server.
The last will be first and the first will be last. You serve one another.”
So again, Our Lord is
calling you and me to the innocence of a child.
When we welcome the child in ourselves we welcome the child in each
other. We have that sense of trust. We have that sense of dependence. Because a child what? Looks to mom and dad for everything,
right? When we grow up to be adults we
think we are independent. We are
self-sufficient. And it’s the illusion
that we live under.
So Jesus is calling you and
me to something so beautiful and so wonderful.
Look at the child within yourself for the innocence before God, to that
trust, to that humility and let that lead you and me in turn to serve each
other in the same way that Jesus serves you and me.
And today, and throughout
this week, every person that you meet, mom and dad, spouses, brothers and
sisters, parents, uncles, aunts, strangers, people in the church sitting in
front of you or behind you, the strangers that you will encounter today and
throughout this week, honor the child in each of them. When you do that you bow before the presence
of God in each of them.