What Kind of Playmate Am I?

Published by christi on July 9, 2022

“You guys are like stubborn playmates on the playground…I suggested a great game full of delight, and you poohpoohed it. When my friend told you a sad story, none of you were willing to listen and cry over it with him.”

When I came across this passage (my paraphrase), I had to double down on what Jesus was actually saying to this group. The words were familiar, but Jesus’ intention was a bit fuzzy. To whom was He referring? What was He talking about? And what did it have to do with me?

Things having to do with the scribes and Pharisees (S & P) are often troubling…and this was no exception.

John the Baptizer had come with a message they did not want to hear:  “Houston, we have a problem. You are not being the people God requires you to be in order to be close to Him. Change your thinking to line up with God’s thinking.”

Jesus had come with a very different-sounding message:  “God is planning a party for everyone who knows they don’t deserve His invitation. He has great things in store for every one of you who knows you are lacking in what He requires.”

These were the tales they heard, those religious elitists. They wanted nothing to do with either story. They were good enough. (Heaven knows they worked hard enough at it.) The S & P didn’t like either idea, because both robbed them of their status.  As I was processing their sorry state, I realized that lack of repentance (the thing John said they needed) is the same thing as rebellion. Because agreement with God is bringing ourselves into alignment with God’s thoughts, disagreeing with Him works out to rebellion! This is why John’s words to the people of First Century Judea were so important, and how they fit with the words Jesus spoke:  Happy, fortunate and to be envied are the folks who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy because God’s response to that acknowledgment of emptiness is to fill it to overflowing!!!

So long as I think I’ve got this, I’ve missed it. It is only as I join Him in recognition of my desperate, continuing need for Him, that the need is filled. Otherwise I can take my place among the grumpy rebels outside the closed door of the best party the universe has ever known!

I don’t want to be part of the stubborn playmate group. I choose to recognize my need and holler for Him to fill it!

Desperate and continually

Following Jesus every day in the everyday,

Christi