Thoughts from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church • Birmingham, AL

Monday, April 15, 2019

Old Testament: Isaiah 42:1-9
Psalm 36:5-11
Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15
Gospel: John 12:1-11

“I have taken you by the hand…” Isaiah 42:6

Alain de Botton created several excellent talks about marriage in his School of Life series. He points out that as parents we take a lot of grief from our kids. In a fit of anger a child might say: “I don’t love you!” or even “I hate you!” As parents, when we’re at our best, we don’t respond in anger. Instead we try to, as my wife, Emily says, “one down them.” We think something like: “My child is hungry or tired and I need to be patient with them.” Unfortunately, when our spouses are angry we think: “Are you kidding me?! Don’t you know how hard I’ve been working!? Why are you persecuting me!?” We don’t tend to pause and wonder if our spouse is hungry, tired, or stressed and could use some patience, or even some mercy.
Alain de Botton says that sometimes that we should treat our spouses as tired little children, thinking that inside all of us are tired children who need some attention, food, and rest. This is, after all, how God treats us. God took Israel by the hand even when Israel rebelled; Jesus called us “friend” and forgave us even as we killed Him. Jesus sees past my sins clear through to His love for me. He knows that I’m often a hungry child in need of patient love. 

 The Reverend Geoff Evans