As the summer shines many of us are getting the chance to have some much overdue playtime. For kids that means camps and sleep-overs and the chance to travel with their parents to see relatives and new places. For grownups the chance to play is a welcome relief: trips to exotic places or to enjoy friendships formed over many years. Some will escape the pressure of work to see nature and live simply. Others will see the best Toronto has to offer down at the waterfront or the city islands or Nathan Phillips Square or by catching a summer concert. Whatever form your play takes this summer, know that the Lord plays with you!
In the Gospel lesson appointed for this Sunday (Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30), Jesus seems frustrated that the people he encountered would not accept with child-like simplicity the truth of the kingdom: "But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds" (Matt. 11:16-19) Whether God's Word came in the form of flute (Jesus's message of liberation and hope) or wailing (John the Baptist's call to repentance and reconciliation) the people would not listen. Apparently it was the will of God that these things should be hidden from the "wise" and revealed to "infants" (vv. 25-26).
Nor is this the only time our Lord spoke of the need to be child-like in our approach to His Word. In Matthew's eighth chapter he places a child among them and says plainly, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me" (vv. 3-5). Clearly, we can learn a lot from our children.
Perhaps the most important thing children can teach us is how to play. For kids play is absolutely essential to development. With play they rehearse roles and learn about the world through experimentation and fantasy. Adults can do the same. When abandon ourselves to joy and imagination we open ourselves to every possibility the universe has to offer, including the ultimate potential of experiencing closeness with God.
So be playful this summer as though your salvation depended on having a little fun!
Heavenly Father, your Son showed us that the path to you is the way of simplicity and innocence. Help us to play with a child-like spirit in your creation that we may know the joy you intend for us through our adoption as your children. Help us to find the rest that comes from accepting your Son's yoke--for his yoke is easy and burden light. We ask this in His Name, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
In Christ,
Tay Moss
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