Parents, “You’re killin’ me Smalls!” I don’t know if you have used this classic pop culture expression of exasperation from the 90’s movie, The Sandlot during this “stay at home” time, but maybe you have wanted to. Gen Z’s this movie was before your time, but is worth the watch, if not just for this and other classic lines from the film, there are some teachable moments we can all learn from it. It is PG, so maybe wait a few years with the younger kids. The movie blurb says, “When Scottie Smalls moves to a new neighborhood, he manages to make friends with a group of kids who play baseball at the sandlot. Together they go on a series of funny and touching adventures.” In the final adventure, a valuable signed baseball that Smalls “borrowed” from his stepdad gets hit over a fence. It's a team effort to help him get the ball back, each kid making huge sacrifices to help out their buddy.
Today is Thursday of Holy Week. It is known as Maundy Thursday. Maundy is a fancy word derived from a Latin word that means commandment. Jesus would tell his closest friends several times that Thursday that real love for each other is about enduring hardship for each other; to follow Him means loving people sacrificially. He says, "This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13 (CSBBible) Like the kids in The Sandlot, real friendship is willing to endure hardship for the benefit of others; to take away some of their suffering, to lessen the hurt they are experiencing. Maturity says, "if anyone has to suffer, let it be me," let me take the hurt you are experiencing. (Wilder)
The opposite of this command is to say, “if anyone has to suffer, it's not going to be me” and we make sure everyone else hurts instead of us. It says things like the idiom, ‘you’ve made your bed, now lie in it;” you have to take the unpleasant consequences from your choices on your own. I’m so glad Jesus has so much grace for us that He lays down His life for us.
As we are #homealonetogether this Maundy Thursday, maybe we will have the opportunity to live sacrificially for those we love, to take some of their hurt on ourselves.
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35 (CSBBible)
Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for you all!
