Pick Me! Pick Me!

We've all been there, probably on multiple occasions.  We're back in elementary school and it's recess time.   The teacher says we're going to play a game and we need to choose up sides.  So the teacher picks two captains.  "OK, you two pick your teams, one person at a time."  And the agony begins.  Hearts start racing.  Some with excitement.  Some with panic.  Some with sheer dread.

"Pick me!  Pick me!"  comes the refrain from the eager kids.  With their hands raised high, they exude self-assurance and confidence.  They refuse to be left out.  Their animated, relentless chants demand notice -- and so, sometimes out of sheer annoyance, they are picked early.

Then there's the "I'm your friend so you'd better pick me"group.  This group doesn't really have to say anything.  The silent code is powerful enough between the chosen leader and his/her friend group that the leader simply must choose his/her friends.  That, or face the dire consequences later.

And then, depending upon the selected game, there's the gifted/talented/"ringer" kids.  These are the ones any leader would be absolutely foolish not to choose.  Friend or not, if you want to win, you gotta pick them.


Finally, there's the "left overs," the kids who already feel like outcasts but now they are on display for all to see.  Most of the time they are grateful just to be ignored.  But now they can't even take refuge in their anonymity.

So what brought me back to those days on the playground?  Why do I have such a vivid memory of my young peers, huddling together, hoping someone would pick them for their team? 

As I'm working on finishing my grades,  I'm looking over my class rosters.  The semester is over, and I am so very thankful that I got to know so many students.  But it saddens me that many of the names are much less familiar to me.  I saw their faces, but I never really got to see their hearts.  I read their papers and graded their tests, but I never had the privilege to hear all their stories.  And I truly wanted to hear their stories.


I just hope they know how important they are.  Whether they sat in the back or the front.  Whether they tried to hide in the corner or sat prominently in front by the podium.  Whether they eagerly answered every question or lived in fear that they would be called upon, I hope they never felt excluded.

There are no outcasts in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus made it very clear that those who wish to be great in His Kingdom must actually be the most humble.  Leaders must be servants.  Those who take up the rear will ultimately be at the front.  Love for all.  Concern for all.   Attention for all.  That's the Way of Jesus. 

Jesus sees the unseen -- those who are hiding in the shadows, hoping no one will notice them, and yet secretly praying that someone WILL.  As followers of Jesus, we need to pray for eyes to see -- ears to hear -- hearts to love -- not only the ones who are right in front of us, but especially the ones who often go unnoticed.  The "left overs."  The Kingdom of God belongs to them.

It's not about getting an "A" (although I do like "A's"!)

I've been a student and I've been a teacher.  Sometimes simultaneously.  I really enjoy both.  While each role has its unique rewards, many are shared by both student and teacher, such as:

• those moments when real learning takes place and there's this incredible sense of connection and transformation

• when a quiet student finally speaks out in class and everyone realizes what a gift it was

• when the weather outside is absolutely beautiful, so the tennis courts become our classroom 

• when the semester is over, all papers are turned in, exams taken, and all grades submitted.  

But sometimes, the rewards are a bit more one-sided, such as giving and taking exams.  It is by far more fun to give an exam than to take one.  Now if you ace the exam, then it might be more rewarding as a student.  But almost universally, from a teacher's point of view, it's more fun to give than to receive.

There's an art to putting together a good exam.  I'm not claiming to be good at this art.  A good exam engages students with the material learned, making them process, analyze, and apply it more broadly.  If you can create an exam that can do all this AND is easy to grade, you're not just an artist -- you're a Michelangelo (or DaVinci, or Rembrandt, or...) 



I had a professor in college who wrote some very challenging exams.  I still remember them (and it's been many, many years!) His multiple choice questions were legendary.  He had a way of composing them so that you not only had to know the correct answer, but also why the other answers were incorrect -- or what you could do to make the other answers correct -- or why one answer was more "right" than another.  On the day he handed back the exams, we were allowed to "argue" with him over the answers -- arguments which we rarely, if ever, won.   Truthfully, I think he thoroughly enjoyed those days!


In John's Gospel, the disciples gave Jesus a sort of "multiple-choice" question when they encountered a man who was born blind.  Their question had only two possible choices.  "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?"  The man was blind.  There had to be a reason.  These are the two possible reasons:  A)  the man sinned,  or  B) his parents sinned.

There's a great deal more that could be said about the connection of sin to disease, and I acknowledge the importance of that theological discussion.   But I'm more fascinated with Jesus' response to their multiple choice question. 

"Which is it, Rabbi --  A or B?"  And Jesus responds,  "C."  Jesus rewrote the question!

Isn't that what following Jesus is all about?  We so often see the world, we see our problems, through such limited eyes.   Just like the disciples, we see limited options -- limited possibilities.  And sometimes none of them look promising.  But they're all we have.

Until Jesus enters the picture.  And He rewrites the question.  How can He do that?  Because He is God, that's how.

He turned water into wine.
He gave sight to the blind.
He fed the multitudes with just a few loaves of bread and two fish.
He rose from the dead.
He promises to never leave us -- ever.

Following Jesus means there are ENDLESS possibilities.  Following Jesus is the way of HOPE.  It's not about being right or wrong.  It's about loving Him, loving others, and being open to all the possibilities.
 

Honestly, I want to be bored...

I guess I was naive.  You see, I assumed that as I got older, the world would start to make more sense to me.  There would be fewer questions.  The clouds would slowly disappear and the bright sun would dissolve all the shadows -- the questions, the inconsistencies, the uncertainties.

I assumed that all my experiences (some of which have been more painful than I care to admit), would not only have helped prepare me for any future struggles, but would have also granted me a sort of "protective wisdom" for my mind and heart.  A wisdom that carefully deflected any unsettling information because, of course, I've already been down most of those roads before so there is no need for me to face the pain and discomfort again.  I've already learned the lessons.  I will prayerfully and lovingly sit with others who are going down these paths.  In fact, it will be my honor to travel with them.  But spare me the internal dissonance and in-congruence. I've been there.  I've done that.



In short, I assumed I would find the "settledness" that had eluded me for most of my life.  Not just answers to the deeper questions, but also a sense of peace concerning the ones that cannot be answered.  I assumed that by this time I might even be a little bored, and would need to seek ways to keep my mind engaged.


Nope.  But I wish.

As I look around at my closest traveling companions on this journey of faith, some of them are pretty settled.  Some are not.  I am blessed to have both kinds in my life.

But I am MOST blessed to have those who will put up with all my "unsettledness" -- the ones who will sit with me and listen to my questions, and who don't bail when we disagree or when the questions become uncomfortable, or when they hit too close to home.  The ones who will love me enough to listen, and to push back.  Those fellow travelers, those fellow followers of Jesus Christ, are rare and priceless gifts.

There is no shortage of "experts" in our world today.  There is no shortage of people who will tell you what to believe on any and every issue.  People who will tell you how Christians should act, what Christians should believe, how Christians should worship, how Christians should vote, who Christians should marry, where Christians should live, how Christians should spend their money, what movies Christians should see, what movies Christians should NOT see, what Christians should drive, what Christians should eat, etc., etc.



So who's right?  Who is the REAL expert?  It depends upon who you ask.  So, instead of agreeing or disagreeing with the experts, I'd rather affirm a Truth.  What should Christians do? 

 Christians should love.  

 In an attempt to discredit Jesus, to test Him with a trick question, the Pharisees asked Him to pick out the greatest commandment in the Law.  This was His reply:

 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." 

And interestingly, even though they didn't ask Him for the second greatest, He gave that to them as well:

"Love your neighbor as yourself." 

In all my unsettledness, I have become more and more settled upon this all-important truth for MY life -- I want to follow Jesus Christ.  I want to follow this miraculous Human Being, God "in the flesh,"  who changed all of history.  

I would really like to be bored.  But I'm not sure that's an option for me.  I don't feel as though God has granted me permission to stop asking questions. Even if it hurts.  Even if I'm wrong.  Even if I'm right.

It can seem very lonely at times.   But I'm becoming more and more convinced that I'm really not that alone. I'm pretty sure there are others out there who are finding "settledness" an elusive dream.  We will probably not all agree on the answers to the questions.  For that matter, we won't all agree on which questions even need to be asked.

But as followers of Jesus Christ, we can agree to love Him -- and to love one another.   In fact, on this we MUST agree.