Imagine that you have a daughter who, from a very early age, shows talent in gymnastics. You enroll her in classes when she turns three, and the coach is amazed at her performance. By the time she’s six, she’s practicing at the gym fourteen hours a week. At twelve, she’s competing at the junior national level.
At fifteen, your daughter makes the Olympic team. A few months later, you travel with her to the Olympics. You’re there for every moment of competition as she earns a spot in the top tier of gymnasts who will go on to compete for medals.
Then, it happens. She hits the springboard, mounts the balance beam…wobbles…and falls. You hear the gasps and murmurs of disappointment from the people sitting around you.
She finishes with a dismal score on beam, and her scores on the other three events aren’t much better. Newscasters and media articles rip her to shreds for not living up to expectations. It’s obvious that they’re not only disappointed in her performance, but angry at her. They pour out their anger upon her, and your mother heart hurts for her.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have understood how you feel. She, too, watched her precious firstborn grow up to become the darling of multitudes. Certainly, there were a few people who hated Him, and she herself didn’t always understand what He was doing. But everyone else loved Him and sang His praises.
In fact, as He entered the city of Jerusalem a week before Passover, they were literally singing. Not only that, they were also throwing their garments on the road in front of Him and waving palm branches, shouting His praises.
Yet a week later, they had turned on Him, demanding His blood.
Why?
Most of the Pharisees and other religious leaders never liked Him, so it’s no surprise that they wanted Him dead. But why would a crowd who loved Him a week ago turn on Him and shout, “Crucify! Crucify!”?
One reason was because they were angry. By doing all the miracles He had done, and by putting the oppressive religious leaders to shame with His perfect answers, Jesus had gotten the crowd’s hopes up. Surely this was the Messiah. Who could do more amazing things than Jesus had done? He must be the one!
But then, the people saw Him arrested and beaten, and not fighting back. Wait a minute; what kind of Messiah was this? He must be a false prophet after all. Bitterly disappointed, the crowd became angry and vengeful.
We know what happened next. The sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ, allowed humanity to put Him to death as part of God’s perfect plan for the redemption of our souls. He took the punishment we deserved because of our sins but never could have borne, so that we wouldn’t have to. Why? To bring glory to God the Father by reconciling us to Him, if we will repent of our sins, accept His sacrifice on our behalf, and acknowledge His lordship.
But that’s not what the people were hoping for. They wanted liberation from Rome, not liberation from sin. And Jesus hadn’t met their expectations.
Precious mom, what do you and I do when our children don’t live up to what we expect of them?
Far too often, we sin. We get angry. We yell, or use sarcasm, or worse. We don’t crucify their bodies, but we wound their little spirits.
We get disappointed, and we take it out on them.
Clearly, there are times we have to discipline our children. But do we do it in a redemptive way? Or do we punish them, not for their sin, but for disappointing us?
Other times, we punish them when they haven’t even sinned. Whether Johnny doesn’t have an athletic bone in his body, or Suzie doesn’t want to dress “frilly” like other little girls, we show our disappointment in our words (or lack of words), our tone of voice, or our body language.
I wish I could say that I always discipline rightly, but I can’t. Perhaps you can’t either. Our hearts should grieve over our sin.
Oh, God, help us. Forgive us for wounding our children’s precious souls. Grant us wisdom, that we may know when and how to discipline, and self-control, that we might always discipline for our children’s benefit and with love. Help us rise and begin again to shepherd Your precious sheep with the same lovingkindness with which You shepherd us. May our homes be a place where it’s safe to be imperfect, and where unconditional love is shown all the time.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
James 1:5— If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
1 Corinthians 16:14—Do everything in love.