I do a lot of listening in my counseling work. Clients regularly entrust their stories to me, an honor I try hard not to take for granted. As I’m listening, I’m also praying for the Holy Spirit’s help to connect the dots in my client’s story, to draw out themes and trace them to their origins. I want to understand their particular sin struggles, their temptations, their specific suffering. Recently I was listening to a client share how anxiety ramps up in his body as a result of intrusive thoughts. The thoughts keep coming and coming, never slowing down until finally he feels like he’s spinning out of control, hanging on for dear life. As he was sharing so vividly, I was taken back to the playground on the Marietta Square when I was about 8-years-old. I had felt exactly what my client was feeling when I would get on the playground spinner!
Playground spinners, also known as roundabouts or carousels, are one of the classic playground fixtures that daredevils love to push to its limits. This spinning equipment allows kids to hop on and spin around as quickly as they can by kicking against the ground to develop momentum. They are also extremely dangerous and have been removed from all playgrounds, but when I was a kid, we played on all kinds of dangerous equipment. Remember the metal slides that would heat up to dangerous temperatures that we’d slide down in shorts?
I had a love-hate relationship with the playground spinner. I loved kicking the ground with my right foot while the left was on the spinner floor, gaining momentum until I would pick up my right foot and spin round and round. But when a bunch of kids got on it all at once and we all began to push and spin, it would reach speeds that made me uncomfortable and then scared. I wanted to get off, but there was no safe way to jump off. I wanted it to slow down, but it just got faster and faster. What could I do? First, I could resist the urge to keep pumping the ground with my right foot and instead allow gravity to bring the spinner to a stop, or at least slow enough that I could safely hop off. Or second, I could ask for help. There was always an older kid who would help slow the spinner down. If I didn’t ask to get off, they would keep going faster, assuming that everyone onboard was having a grand time.
My client didn’t need me to make the connection for him. A light went on for him and he said, “So my mind is the playground spinner and these intrusive thoughts don’t start fast but increase in speed because I’m actually kicking the ground. At some point they’re coming around and around so fast that my body becomes anxious - my heart rate increases, I feel lightheaded and sometimes nauseous - to the point where I am no longer in control.” Exactly! There are two solutions he can employ when this happens. He can stop the speed of the intrusive thoughts by thinking on something else, preferably someone else, slowing the increased speed and its effect on his body. He could also ask for help - from a trusted friend and family member, his counselor but first and foremost, God.
Jesus is the consummate storyteller. I love how He works to connect with different people in ways that “click” for them. At times His parabolic style can appear to be redundant, but that is far from the case; Jesus is purposeful in this form of teaching, desiring each student to connect to at least one of His parables. He wants everyone to understand more and more fully who God is and what His kingdom is like. In today’s reading we hear two of Jesus’ parables that come from different angles to the same truth: our position in relation to a just, holy and merciful God.
Read Luke 18:1-17
Are there things, people or issues of justice that plague you in prayer? Does it seem at times that God has turned a deaf ear to your voice and pleas for help? In His first teaching session of the day, Jesus shares through a parable of a woman begging a judge for help, the importance of praying persistently, even when it seems that God does not hear or answer. He asks rhetorically, “Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (vv 7-8) It’s really all about perspective. From God’s view, justice will come to his chosen ones speedily, but from we humans’ perspective, justice may seem to be a long time coming. God’s people must persist in prayer, as the widow persisted until she received justice. (from vv 2–5) Jesus poses these questions to encourage his disciples to be vigilant in watchfulness and prayer, for when he returns, Jesus will be looking for those who are doing just that.
In the second parable, Jesus provides a clear interpretation before even beginning and addresses the story “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.” (v 9) The audience, most likely Pharisees, had an unrealistic sense of their self-worth and importance. Falsely confident of their own righteousness, they treated others with contempt. C.S. Lewis declares in Mere Christianity, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” The characters in Jesus’ story couldn’t be more different from one another. The Pharisee knew what he was supposed to do while in the temple and was quite proud of himself. He prayed the right prayers, fasted weekly and gave a 10% tithe. God was lucky to have this guy on His team! The tax collector, however, was overcome with his sinful condition and prayed fervently for God to have mercy on him. Jesus concludes that the tax collector left that time of prayer more justified than the Pharisee, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (v 14)
Jesus continues to expound on this theme of humility by calling everyone’s attention to the children who were regularly brought to Him to meet and bless. Kids adored Jesus and were often playing nearby. I imagine Jesus calling all the children to join Him for a game, laughing with and encouraging them until they were all worn out, then saying, “Thanks for playing! I need to go teach the grownups a thing or two now.” Because they had received such intentional attention from Jesus, and because He helped them get their wiggles out, they were ready to sit quietly and listen as He taught the larger crowd of adults. Actually, I would bet that the kids understood many of Jesus’ parables better than their parents did! The disciples struggled with the high value Jesus placed on children, going so far as to rebuke them as well as their parents. But Jesus was quick to rebuke His disciples and invite the children to circle round and sit up front. Then He said, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (v 17) Children lead with wonder and inquisitiveness, with trust in those with whom they feel safe. The kids with Jesus didn’t need to understand everything perfectly to trust in Him, and neither did any of the adults listening and learning from Him. They simply needed faith to believe that He was more than a great storyteller and they could trust in Him.
Big Picture Questions for Today:
Are there things, people or issues of justice that plague you in prayer? Does it seem at times that God has turned a deaf ear to your voice and pleas for help?
Which parable has been your favorite so far? Is there one in particular that helps you understand the Kingdom of God better than the others?
Pray for eyes to see and ears to hear what Jesus is communicating through His parables. They aren’t just for His students in 33AD, but for us as well.
