Children in the marketplace
I'll let you in on a little secret, I LOVE children and that is why I have six of them! I love, love, love being silly with my kids. I love making up silly songs and dances too, dressing up in ridiculous costumes, using silly voices when I read to them and being downright goofy with them. As my bumper sticker says, I am a DRAMA MAMA.
The other day, I had this for my daily scripture reading and it truly took me back while meditating on it:
Gospel
Luke 7:31-35
Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?
What are they like?
They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
Can you just imagine the little Jewish children in Jesus's time playing in the marketplace...every day was take your kids to work day back then. If I close my eyes, I can see them running around with dusty sandals and sun-kissed olive complexions, laughing, joking and teasing, and getting into mischief. I can hear one of the mothers call out to them, "Take your foolishness away from my tent, go play over there!" Can't you see them huddled together talking about "what to play", the vision is timeless. First, they act out a wedding with some playing invisible instruments and others dancing in the streets celebrating the event. They soon tire of this game and someone else suggests acting out a funeral, so they all solemnly process through the marketplace with some little girls acting like women weeping and wailing, as is so customary in the middle east.
The timeless games that children play
The games of childhood are timeless. Children all over the world, in fact, have acted out and pretended to put themselves in the "grown up" world ever since time began. This is how children learn to interact and communicate with one another, by mimicking what they learn is the "grown up" way to behave. I feel so fortunate to have been forever influenced by my Grandma Kidd, a kindergarten Sunday School teacher that fought for a different way of doing Sunday School. She believed on "hands on" Sunday School for Kindergarteners and preschoolers. She made every effort to bring the scriptures to life for each of them with biblical foods, tents made from sheets and little bible costumes, even sandals which she made herself. If you were to ask any one of her former Sunday School students, I know they would have fond memories of Sunday School, most of which would have been time spent with Mrs. Kidd. When she passed away, so many "grown ups" how they remembered all the fun "pretending" with Mrs. Kidd, and how their memories of bible stories were tied to "acting them out" during Sunday School. She was the original Drama Grandmama, and I'm so glad she showed me the way.
How many of us can recall being a participant in a "fake wedding" or "fake funeral". Personally, I recall that both Amy and I had "weddings" in our backyard using a silky old slip of Grandma Kidd's and about a half a yard of lace she'd given us to play with. Of course, I ALWAYS married Kevin and Amy ALWAYS married Craig and the not so appealing Wayne ALWAYS had to be the minister. We used azaelas from Grandaddy's prized collection and we even got rice from the kitchen for the "little kids" to throw at us. I also remember more than one "funeral" for more than one pet fish (we always made coffins out of matchboxes). Then there was the "full brass" military funerals complete with military accoutrements of the boys next door and the American flag for a few unlucky GI Joe "war heros". ( I grew up in Tidewater, with a lot of military folk). We learned rather slowly what could successfully be buried and unburied after a few very unfortunate stuffed animals literally bit the dust in a long forgotten shallow grave... poor Mr. Bun-Buns...sniffle, sniffle.
From fun and games to why don't you go home
I remember the fun and excitement so vividly and secretly hope to recapture some of that innocence once again for myself, when I "act out" things with my own kids. Oh, how simple life was when we were only the actors and not the players in the game of life! Inevitably, with all the fun we all had....the bossiness of two little girls, or the dis-interestedness of two little boys would eventually reek havoc on our camaraderie and begin the downward spiral with "play what we say or else, you dumb boys". They would look at us dumbfounded and the brave Kevin, my first puppy love, would get this crazy eyebrow thing going on and would say, "Let's go home Craig, they are dumber than dirt!" Time and time again, communication would break down, "I'm tired of this dumb game. YOU ALWAYS get to pick the game! This is so stupid and so boring!" and the boys would retreat to their own house. Early, the next morning though, as we'd be eating our breakfast, often on the back porch, we'd look over at the chain link fence and see two little boys. Soon enough we would hear, "Mary Beth, Amy, can we come over?" That's children for you.
This childish bickering is also timeless in nature....remember the scripture above? "We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep!" This is the way children act, we all know that, but it is also the way of many adults! If you are unclear, just watch the news coverage of some of the bi-partisan bickering before the November elections. This is precisely what Jesus is talking about when he refers to the people of his generation as children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another.....another timeless scenario, people stubbornly refusing to make progress, because of stubbornly digging in their heels and concentrating solely on what the other person did or did not do.
To everything there is a time and a purpose under heaven
This particular scripture's reference, I believe, is also a direct statement to the Pharisees who were bickering with the "common people" concerning the validity of the teachings of both John the Baptist and Jesus. In all their educated superiority they couldn't "get" what the common folk could plainly see. Jesus, brillantly of course, uses the words of the Old Testament, words well known to the Pharisees, to make his case when he speaks of dancing and weeping. It harkens back to the following OT scripture:
Ecclessiastes 3:1-8
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
The difference between being a child and an adult is that we are no longer actors, pretending to live a future life, we are the real players, this is the real deal. The decisions we make every day have long term implications, we can no longer dismiss one another one day and expect that our little friend will be back at the fence calling for us to play again the next, no damage done. This is an enormous undertaking. We as adults, have to make decisions, we have to evaluate what is happening in our own lives and we have to decide how to proceed. We need to be able to carefully calculate the appropriate response to life's begging questions.
Great News
The great news is that we don't have to do it alone. Many people like to state, "God is on O-U-R side!" when bickering with one another, but as Abraham Lincoln once said, "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." How can we be on God's side, if we don't know personally what God's side is? I give props to my evangelical friends when they speak of a personal relationship with Christ, they are absolutely correct. As Catholics, we believe you don't get any more personal than the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ that we believe is truly present at each mass we attend. The Eucharist is Jesus himself, being consumed by us, not as a symbol, but as Christ Himself, in the form of physical and spiritual food, in order to physically and spiritually transform us.
In the beginning there was the word (the word of God) and the word became flesh in Jesus Christ, His only son. The words of Christ are the words of God. God gave us the precious gift of His only son and He also gave us His word, to not sit collecting dust on a shelf but to be read, meditated on, prayed over and acted upon. It was also meant to be shared with one another during fellowship and worship in His houses, our churches.
We are all the body of Christ, we all have a job to do, a time to do it and a purpose under heaven....but how will we know if we don't invest some serious time in prayer, scripture reading and developing a personal relationship with the Most Holy Trinity....God the Father, Jesus the Son and The Holy Spirit. It is the only way to live, and it is the only way to die. Or perhaps I should say, it is the only way I'm surviving today given our present circumstance, being encouraged by the word, being uplifted by other believers, being guided by the graces only outpoured by God. I am a hopeless failure without Christ who strengthens me.
Mary Kidd Flemming blogs for The Handmaids of Mercy , The Splendor of Truth and The Compass Rose (Parenting and Family Life Issues). You may also enjoy her husband's website: Crossroads Family Center The Flemming Family is facing the greatest challenge of their lives as three of their six kids have health issues and were all diagnosed within an eighth month period. The children's illnesses include: Auto-Immune Liver Disease, Type I Diabetes (insulin dependent), and Ewing's Sarcoma (a form of bone cancer). This has been an incredible journey of faith for the Flemming Family. While they don't fully understand why any of this happened to their children, they place their trust and faith totally in God's goodness. By sharing their faith journey, their hope is that other people will be drawn closer to The Holy Trinity (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit). It is Mary's great hope that the sufferings of her children and family will be received by God for the conversion of souls. JESUS, WE TRUST in YOU!
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