3/7/11 Proper 9

Theme: Be Yourself!

Bible Reading

Matthew 11: 16-19

Introduction

How many of you have younger brothers and sisters, not yet in school?
How do you know when your brother or sister is tired? Sometimes it can be very hard work. Lots of small children get very grumpy when they are tired. Some cry for a drink, and when you give them a drink they cry for a dummy instead. They want Mummy - then they don't want her, wanting their teddy bear. It's very hard to do the right thing - and then, all of a sudden, the child is asleep!

Sometimes it's just like that with our friends. We're out in the playground, and they want to play one game, and then another - and perhaps none of the games are the ones you want to play. It seems that whatever you do, it's wrong.

And sometimes the adults around can be just as bad! They never seem to know what they want - if you don't do anything you're in trouble for sitting around watching the TV all the time - but if you do something, you get asked who told you that you could do that… Sometimes life is just so confusing.
And it's just as bad for adults.

The message

Jesus knew just what those moments were like when it seemed you couldn't please anyone. John the Baptist, who had come to prepare people for Jesus, lived in the desert. He ate just the simple food that he could find around him. He didn't eat very much, he word very simple clothes - and he possibly hadn't had a haircut ever! John probably had quite a lonely life, but he was doing what God wanted him to do. Many people said 'Uugh, look at him. Isn't he strange? Why does he live so far away from everyone, and why does he wear such simple clothes? Fancy only eating the food you can find in the wilderness! Is he really God's messenger?'

Jesus knew John - John was his cousin. Before he started his own ministry telling people about God's love, Jesus went into the desert to find John and to be baptized.

But Jesus didn't stay in the desert with John. Instead he went back to the towns and the cities. He chose special friends that he went around with. And Jesus obviously enjoyed parties and eating with people. His first miracle was at a wedding party.

The Gospel stories tell us of many times when Jesus ate with people - his friends, people he'd just met, thousands of people he didn't know. Many of the people that Jesus ate meals with were not the important religious people of the time. They were the people no one else wanted to know - the ones who had done wrong things, the ones who were sick, the ones who were strangers in the place. You might have thought, since people said 'Uugh' about the way that John the Baptist lived his life, this time they would say 'Oh, that's much better - at least he enjoys a good party.' But instead the people said 'Uugh, look at him. Isn't he strange? Why does he sit down to eat with bad people, or sick people or strangers. Fancy doing that sort of thing! Is he really God's messenger?'

One day, Jesus told the people who were complaining about him that they were just like little children, or children who can't agree in the playground. They complained about John the Baptist, and the way he lived. Then they complained when Jesus lived in a completely different way. They were so full of their ideas about how God's messenger should live, and so busy with their complaining, that they forgot completely to look to see that God was doing wonderful things through John the Baptist, and even more wonderful things through Jesus. Many people were learning to say sorry for their selfish ways when they heard John the Baptist. Many more were learning what it meant to know that God loved and accepted them, and even to change their lives completely when Jesus sat and ate with them.

I wonder how Jesus would live if he came here today? I think he would like a big party, and would like everyone invited, so that everyone here could hear stories about God's love and care.

But I wonder what we would be like? Maybe we would say ' well, Anna shouldn't be invited because she broke a school rule today' or 'if there's cake, I should get the first piece because I'm a monitor' and we might start moaning that 'It's not fair…' Or maybe, just maybe, we would say ' Hurray, Jesus is here, let's all celebrate and share.'

Jesus is unlikely to come to our school today in person, but he has sent his Holy Spirit to live with us. So everyday we should live as if it was a big party - not just in school, but right across the world, and we can choose to moan…or we can chose to celebrate and share God's love with others.

Prayer

(from St. Richard of Chichester)
O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
May we know thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly,
Follow thee more nearly,
Day by day. Amen.

(This prayer has been set to music - if you have a record of the musical Godspell you will have a copy. Also on You Tube.)

Taking the theme further this week you could:

• look at some of the stories where Jesus helped the poor and the sick of society, or mixed with women (who were then less highly regarded as men) e.g.:choosing poor fishemen as his disciples Lk 5. 1-11; the Pharisee and the woman who was a sinner Lk 7.36-50; who is my neighbour - parable of the good Samaritan Lk 10-.25-37;