Rocks, Plastic Army Men, Hot Water, and Brown Sugar
by Travis Carlson
This sounds like a recipe my sister would have tried to feed me growing up. In actuality, these are the ingredients to my favorite children’s moment. I would always go in and make sure I had everything ready the night before. Almost always, there was no brown sugar in the church kitchen so I would have to go buy some. I would also have to get army men because I’d always forget I melted them during my Priests of Baal lesson. After a quick run to Dollar General or Walmart, I would have the ingredients I needed.
Next, I would get a glass cake pan. In the pan, I would build a little mound of rocks and set a little plastic man upon the top. Next to that, I would pack some brown sugar into a bowl to form another hill, dump that into the pan, and put an army man on top. Finally, I would put a couple of little plastic houses on each hill. I was ready for Sunday morning, but I was not ready for the questions that would come.
Sunday morning, it was time for the children’s moment, and all of the youth came down and sat in a circle around me. I brought out my cake pan and began to tell the parable of the wise and foolish builders. As I told the story, the part came when the flood happened. At this point, I would pour the hot water in and the brown sugar would erode away, while the house on the rock would stay. To end the story, I would explain that Jesus is the rock that we build our lives on. Right? Nope; here came the questions:
Did the other guy die?
Did he get washed downstream?
Did the guy lose electricity?
The question that caught my attention was this: Why didn’t the other guy save the man when the flood came? This took me aback. I had to think on the question for a moment. I know that the main point of the story is to explain that we should listen to and follow the words and wisdom of Jesus, and that those who might listen but don’t put it into practice would be lost. But this new question struck a chord with me. Why wouldn’t the other man try and save another’s life?
As I thought (with the eyes of the youth and the rest of the congregation on me) this idea came to mind. Jesus told parables to teach his followers (and us) different lessons. It helps to ask questions to figure out what new lessons we can learn. If we look at parables as a whole, they teach different ideas, but they all work together to help us see where Christ leads.
For instance, this parable about the wise and foolish builders could work in conjunction with the parable of the lost sheep. Not only did the guy’s house fall, but also I believe that Jesus would want that person saved. Probably we could say that the other guy could go away to search and help the poor soul drifting downstream without a home.
The parables are a guide to follow, not to be taken literally, but as stories to help us see the truth in our own life. The parables of Jesus are a part of the greater whole. I want to challenge you this Lenten season to look for those interlocking parables in your own life. Be mindful when reading, and question and search for answers. The only way to discover who and what you are called to do is to listen to the stories the Holy is telling through you and to you. Even though we may feel stable on our own rocks, we need to reach out to our neighbors floating downstream.
