A corrupt judge, an old lady, God the Father, Jesus and us—the characters in our Middle School mime about this week’s gospel. After doing nothing, the corrupt judge finally did something; he gave into the nagging, old lady and gave her what she wanted, but we never find out what that is. She could have been asking for injustice. But, without a thought about the old lady or anyone else, the judge only gave her what she wanted, and not what she needed. Problem: whether nothing or something, the judge never did justice. Because justice begins with listening to the needs of everyone and working hard to satisfy those needs with fairness and equity.
Jesus points to his Father, who listens to our needs. “Trust him,” he tells us, “and if you do, you will pray to him always, and the Father will give you what you need.” Sounds good! But why then is Jesus so sad at the end of the gospel? Because he looks around and doesn’t see us trusting in God enough to pray always.
Our Elementaries played a game that tested their trust. The two First Grade teams each received one ball, one throw and one basket in which to score. Fair, right? Not exactly: one team’s ball and basket were big, making it easy to score; the other’s were real small, making it almost impossible to win. The kids got the injustice right away and made their complaints heard. But I told them I didn’t care; then I asked if that were true would they ever trust me again. “NO!!!” Jesus tells that we can always trust God to do what is right for all of us—one at a time. And if we believe that and trust in God, we will always pray to God to do what is just right and give us what we need.
And that’s the Good News from KidsRelig.
Love,
Deacon Charlie
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