22 September 2024
But Why???
There’s a small child (Brutus) together with his mother down aisle number 3 in the supermarket. As everyone knows aisle 3 is not the health food section. Aisle 3 is where all the good stuff is. The chips, the chocolate, the confectionery, the Mars bars and the Freddo frogs.
The inevitable conversation begins.
“Mum, I want to 2 snickers bars and a bag of salt and vinegar chips”
“Not now darling” rushing to get to a safer aisle where the herbs and spices are kept.
"But why?”
“Because I said so” The answer is curt and clear.
“But why?” whines Brutus.
“Because too much sugar is bad for you” - now trying to make a dash for the cleaning aisle.
“But why?”
“Because you’ll ruin your lunch”
“But why?”
You know how this conversation goes and if you haven’t participated in such a conversation you will at the very least have witnessed such an exchange.
And I want to come back to Brutus and his beleaguered Mum a little later.
Today’s gospel also stars a child.
The disciples have been toddling along to Jerusalem and in the 2nd of three attempts. The Master Teacher predicts his own suffering and death. It’s almost like the tolling of a funeral bell.
They do not hear what Jesus tells them or at the very least miss the significance of what their rabbi has told them.
Instead, they have a lively debate about which of them is the greatest.
Thank goodness that would never happen in the Church of God today … would it?
It can’t have been easy for the Master. For the second time he has passed on a vital piece of teaching and they have chosen to chatter about who should win the Gold Logie of apostleship. That’s got to hurt.
And what is even more painful is that when he confronts them about their ‘Vote 1 for me chatter’ they are silent. Why?
One of two things is going on here.
Either - they don’t want to appear as confused and muddled-headed as they really are. They are too embarrassed to offer an explanation. They are so caught up in their straw poll for leadership that they can’t offer any excuse for their egoistical mutterings.
Or, they do understand … very clearly, exactly what has been said. Their friend, master, teacher and brother, the one who has walked and talked with them, shared their daily bread and their wine, the one they have simply grown quite fond of is going to suffer cruelly and die. What on earth do you say to such a grim prognosis and a heart rending forecast? Sometimes there are no words in the face of such potent grief. They don’t want to ask anything else, they don’t want or need the scenario clarified because it is breathtakingly clear that a messy chapter is just over the next page.
The flip side of this, the good news for us and the disciples, is that even when we are afraid, even when we don’t understand, even when we are arguing about who is the greatest, even when we are embarrassed, even when we don’t ask the questions that we should …. The Master still welcomes us.
When the disciples are mute in today’s gospel the Master doesn’t desert them or berate them. Instead, he brings into their midst his own living, breathing visual aid. A child. His very own version of the Brutus that we heard so resoundingly in the supermarket.
Here gentlemen! Here is what it is all about. Take note. Aspire to be a child. A child is innocent. A child is vulnerable. A child doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. For a child, every day is a fresh new page with no mistakes in it. Every morning when they wake up, they experience a day brimming with blessings, surprises and opportunities and they just sail through it. The past never existed and each experience is fresh and exciting. When and why did we lose that and is it possible to recapture this shine and wholesomeness?
The sad bit about the disciples is that instead of asking the questions, instead of asking ‘why’ they miss a valuable opportunity to learn and become childlike. Instead, they have diverted themselves onto a path of self-aggrandisement, the flip side of which is to belittle everyone else in order that they might seem big.
In our own time, no one wants to look uninformed, confused, or clueless. We withhold our toughest questions, often within our own churches and within Christian fellowship. We pretend we don’t have hard questions. Yet the deepest mysteries of life do indeed elude us.
So just as our mythical Brutus asked lots of questions in the mythical supermarket, so I finish with lots of questions for myself and if you find them helpful then I am sure Brutus would be pleased.
How would our stories be different if we asked Jesus our hard questions? What kind of conversations might we pursue with Jesus and then with each other? How would our daily life as disciples together be different as a result?
Is there any question we can’t ask God?
And what would happen if we looked him in the eye and said
‘I don’t understand that last bit. Could you tell me more?’ What do you think his response would be?