Thursday, March 24, 2011

Jer 4:9-10, 19-28, Rom 2:12-24, John 5:19-29

Careful the things you say
Children will listen
Careful the things you do
Children will see and learn
Children may not obey, but children will listen
Children will look to you for which way to turn
And learn what to be
Careful before you say "Listen to me"
Children will listen – 

                 Stephen Sondheim “Into the Woods”

I’ve always seen the John passage today from two perspectives.  The first, and most obvious, is the deep connection between God, the father and Jesus, the son.  “The son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the father doing; for whatever the father does, the son does likewise.”  They move together in the dance of life on earth, completely in sync.  Even as Jesus is battling what it is like to be completely human as well as completely God, his focus is steadfast; he wants to emulate the love of God here on earth. So, he must do what the father does.  Trinitarian theology states that Jesus cannot be separated from the father nor the father from the son.  

But, a second lesson is also evident in this father son imagery.  In some ways the father/son, mother/son, parent/teacher etc. relationship is not so far from the one described above.  The child watches the adult to learn, to replicate, and hopefully to become even better.  Jesus says, “The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.”  Isn’t that what we want for the children in our lives? To be even greater than we are.  I buy into the imagery of father and son in the trinity because it so true to the human relationship we have with the children we love.  We do our best to love and care for and are teachers to a new little person and we hope and pray that we will get it right.  The Sondheim above serves as a gentle reminder of the importance of role models. Children will listen and copy and see all that we are doing. Ideally our actions would be as connected with God’s will as Jesus and the father are connected.  So that everything the children see is really a reflection of God’s actions in the world.  An impossible feat I know, but we will with God’s help. 

(Jill Williams)