Day 19: This week's gospel

 

I am having a hard time coming up with cool Sunday school lessons at the moment. 

I brought this up at spiritual direction and we talked a while about it. 

The thing is,  I  LOVE this set of gospel lessons from John. They are meaty and challenging but that perhaps is what makes it difficult to encapsulate them in a simple message that is accessible for children. 

These stories reveal a side of Jesus that is unpredictable. The set up is similar in each of them - one on one encounters with Jesus and some expectation about who he is and how he should be. But in each of the dialogs,  there is a disconnect between Jesus and the person seeking him. The person is grounded in the physical reality while Jesus speaks of spiritual things and its clearly going over their heads. Honestly,  there are times it goes over my head too and I wonder if the conversation would make more sense in the native language. 

But exactly that head scratching opens me to the mystery of God. It makes me remember a much as we use "what would Jesus do?" As a very useful thought tool. It isn't always clear what Jesus would do or what Jesus would say. And lingering in the mystery of what Jesus actually did and actually said in very ordinary situations draws me deeper into faith. It is both relatable and unpredictable.  

This Sunday, we find Jesus asking a woman for a drink,  then telling her she should be asking him for a drink.  Then they get into a spiritual discussion,  she's trying to keep up but he's clearly next level.  Then the disciples come and it seems like they are used to Jesus doing stuff like this because they don't even ask what's going on. But they brought back snacks and he says they should be asking him for food and i can almost imagine eye rolling,  like Jesus .. dude,  just like have some bread man,  it's not that deep. 

These verses make me laugh. It's easy to imagine these conversations as confused and a little absurd. What will Jesus say next?

They also open small windows into the nature of Jesus and the nature of God. What it means to live as "one reborn" or as "one from the wind. " Jesus uses words like food, water,  wind,  rebirth, reaping and sowing to paint what life connected to God is like. And every time I read them I catch a small unexpected glimpse into the mystery of God. 

Also, I'm not teaching the woman at the well in Sunday school,  if you are wondering. I'm teaching the good shepherd instead.  It's much easier to explain.... but i am trying to figure out how to reach the blind man story so if anyone had any suggestions i am totally open to crowd sourcing Sunday school.