Army Men

Today I had the chance to speak to our first-sixth grade students. I always enjoy joining the older children for their chapel. Our lesson was from James 5:7-11, on the virtue of patience and the Gospel was Matthew 11:2-11. In this section of Matthew we find an imprisoned John the Baptist sending his disciples to meet with Jesus. I spent a long time thinking about John and his time in prison, and so of course my prop for today was a box of army men.

When my oldest son was little, he loved building forts of blocks and populating them with army men. We have a box that now contains a time traveling assortment of soldiers from the revolutionary war, civil war and both world wars. My question for the children was, "Historically, what was one of the most dangerous positions for a soldier to occupy, a position that has to do with John the Baptist?" There were many excellent answers, but no one guessed correctly- the messenger.

Think of it. Instead of waiting to be ordered into battle, the messenger is sent out to the enemy, or even a friend, carrying news that very often no one wants to hear. Often messengers were killed and sent back to their commanders as part of a strong reply. That's why Shakespeare spoke of "not shooting the messenger." At this point in Matthew, John was in prison for his role as God's prophet, or messenger. John spoke the truth. It was a truth which Herod saw as a threat and it was for speaking God's message that John was killed.

Jesus also comes as a messenger of God's love, but Jesus is not only a messenger, he is the Good News- the message. The season of Advent is a time of preparation and waiting to celebrate the birth of Christ. Now is the time to consider how open we truly are to receiving God's message for us. Now is the time to prepare not just our homes, but also our hearts for Christ.