The ‘Twitteratti’ and internet bloggers were going crazy this week, as they tried to figure out what to make of Pope Francis meeting with Kim Davis, the county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky. Is he endorsing her position as part of protecting religious liberty? What about his meeting with an ex-student and his partner that happened a day before then? What does that say about his belief in traditional marriage? And then there was the internet meme that got a huge amount of laughs – “Following the example of Jesus, the Pope surrounds himself with Prostitutes, Thieves and Tax Collectors.” It was a picture of Pope Francis addressing congress…
I suspect this would be one of the hardest parts of being Pope – people reading into or second guessing EVERYTHING that you do. But right up with that is what I think is the second hardest part – someone else sets your schedule! On a trip to a foreign country, someone else completely schedules you day. They control who you meet, where you meet them, and for how long. So, it was someone in the Nunciature in Washington, D.C. who scheduled the meeting with Kim Davis. I understand that this is a necessary function for the Pope, especially this one, for whom EVERYONE wants a piece of his time. Someone has to run his schedule to keep him doing the important things/meetings – otherwise, he would get sucked daily into the tyranny of the urgent – the people who ran to the front of the line and yelled the loudest – and in doing so, miss out on the important things.
The disciples get caught today trying to do just that for Jesus – to prioritize whom he will see and where and when and for how long. And though it would be easy to take them to task, what they were trying to do was commendable. “Let’s make sure Jesus gets face time with the folks who need it the most – those who were sick and in need of healing. And let’s make sure he stays ‘on mission’ – to fulfill his highest calling and most useful service to the larger good.” The disciples saw part of their job as being Jesus’ schedule handlers. It was thankless and difficult work, but someone had to do it, or the entire mission might be lost.
So when the disciples vetted the parents seeking an audience and learned that all they wanted was to have Jesus place his hands upon their kids, they made a judgment. The kids weren’t sick, they weren’t dying, and they were not in mortal danger. They were simply children whose parents who wanted to give their kids a photo-op – an experience that they would remember for the rest of their days. They would get to meet the famous JESUS, and they’d be able to tell all their friends in Hebrew school, and one day, THEIR children and grandchildren: “I met Jesus.” But the disciples would have none of that. ‘The master has more important work to do!’
But as Jesus so often did, he surprised the disciples with his response. Jesus not only cleared his calendar, but he created a safe and welcoming lap for these children to come to him. He gladly placed his hands upon these healthy children, blessed them and their parents, and cradled the infants in his arms. And while he did this, he used the moment to underscore a few important priorities of the Kingdom. I will mention just one.
Families matter. They matter to members of the family itself, they matter to members of a healthy society, and they matter to God. (I am so grateful for mine as we deal with mom’s aging.) We should not fail to notice that this story of the blessing of the children comes directly after Jesus offered his teaching about the sanctity and importance of marriage. God created us to live in loving relationships, and those relationships should not be started or ended lightly. The ripples of decisions regarding family commitments wash ashore for years to come, whether for good or for ill. God takes family seriously, and so should we. Perhaps that is one of the reasons he paused in his busy schedule to affirm the decision and commitment of these parents who waited in line so patiently just to have Jesus touch and bless their children. Like parents today who place a priority on the spiritual nurturing of their children, Jesus wanted to show that God notices, affirms their commitment to holiness, and joins them in that priority.
So, if Jesus puts a priority on the family, what might we do in response? Let me propose two actions: For the next three weeks I invite you to pray for the Pope and the Bishops around the world as they gather in Rome for the Synod on the Family. Ask that God inspire them to teach us once again how to honor the family, and how to prioritize our time, not around the urgent, but the important.
And, closer to home, in your family – whatever configuration that might look like:
● Schedule a family game night.
● Go out to dinner together.
● Go to a movie together.
● Take a walk in the woods.
Do some of those things that probably would only with difficulty make it onto the Pope’s schedule – but that are a sign of the richness of the life that God wants for our individual as well as our parish families! And as you do so, know that Jesus always has a lap open and hands ready to bless you and your children, and your children’s children…