During Lent, my Sunday School class of elementary students is looking at a series of the Faces of Jesus from Godly Play Resources. It is a beautiful series written by Jerome Berryman and illustrated by a mentally challenged artist and friend of Dr. Berryman's.
The first picture of Jesus is of him as a tiny baby-wrapped warmly in a blanket held close to the face of Mother Mary and Father Joseph. It is a drawing of the holy newborn and his earthly family - a birth picture of sorts. Dr. Berryman writes, "And the Word was born in a wordless child."
After showing the drawing to the children, they are invited to choose figures from the room and from a basket to 'decorate' or 'illustrate' this story. The children loved this and found a donkey, a star, a little baby and manger, some sheep, Mary and....a rooster?
P said, "If it was a barnyard they must have had chickens and a rooster!"
A rooster near the manger. It seems so bittersweet and yet so true. At the joy of the incarnation is the foreshadowing of the betrayal. Could Jesus really see the 'cross in the eyes' of his mother when he looked up at her? Was this rooster the great great grandfather of the rooster who would be the famous "cock that crowed?"
Joy is always found in the midst of sorrow and in sorrow is found always the presence of joy... I am learning these two seemingly conflicting feelings are not really opposites but companions in each moment of our life.
If you find yourself mourning this week...watch for the joy. If you find yourself celebrating this week, pay attention to the sorrow. It is the reality of incarnation and the uniqueness of the lived human experience. Jesus knew it and invites us to embrace both in the same moment so that we might know the fullness of life.
