What comes to mind when you think about the kinds of things an apprentice of Jesus Christ should do on a regular basis? I think of Scripture study, contemplation, reconciliation of conflict, evangelization, works of mercy - all essential and beautiful parts of the Christian life. Sometimes I wonder if my vision of apprenticeship is entirely accurate. I often imagine the most mature version of myself in Christ to be stoic and wise, perhaps even stern.
Is that what Jesus was like?
Of course we see Jesus taking His time throughout the Gospels to pray, to go into the desert to fast, to heal the sick and proclaim the inbreaking Kingdom of God. A more careful examination reveals something else: He almost seems to be… playful. Consider the Wedding at Cana, wherein the first miracle of Jesus isn’t a work of epic glory but an increase in the festal wine to guarantee the party could keep on going, or the way He chastises His disciples for stopping the little children from playing with Him. Of course in Jesus we see depth, gravity, and attention, but we also see joy, even delight.
Our natural tendency as fallen human beings is toward extremes, as philosophers as ancient as Aristotle were correct to point out. When it comes to joy, a good to be greatly desired in our journey of discipleship, the temptation is to fall into either levity or, for lack of a better term, “being a wet blanket.” In other words, we have to make sure we take following Jesus seriously but that doesn’t mean that everything in our discipleship needs to be serious! It’s a good thing to have fun and to play with the heart of a little child.
I have two kids under three and as I figure out life as a father, I’ve come to deeply appreciate the philosophy behind the Montessori approach to education. One of the most profound findings for me was that, for children, there is rarely a distinction between what we’d call “play” and “work.” Their “work” is to put all of themselves into what we could call “developing fine motor skills” but what they would call “assembling and disassembling Duplo blocks with great gusto.”
I can’t help but think that this is how God approaches His work - as something serious and important but with all of Himself and resulting in great delight. The writer G.K. Chesterton says it beautifully:
“It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
Crucial to this aspect of discipleship is wholeheartedness. In his book, “The Life We’re Looking For”, writer Andy Crouch points out that the Hebrew word Jesus quotes from Leviticus in the Great Commandment for “strength” (“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” in Matthew 12:30) is me’od which can be roughly translated into English as “muchness” or “allness.” It’s less our physical strength that Jesus is referring to so much as the “all of oneself” we see a child give to every one of their tasks. That’s the state of heart we enter into when we play or when we do a kind of work that delights us so much that it feels like play.
The way it feels to be all in looks different person to person and context to context. It’s important to note that Chesterton’s quote about being a “boring” adult who has not lost the capacity to delight isn’t childish or imprudent - just that they’re willing to see the world through God’s eyes, whether for the first time or the millionth. Sometimes, to be all in, to be “young” like our Father looks like dancing and singing wholeheartedly in worship, other times it looks like being so engrossed in spiritual reading that you can’t take your eyes off the page. The activity doesn’t have to be stereotypically “playful” or “serious” for us to give our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. I would hope to one day develop the capacity to be equally overjoyed at Mass, riding a bicycle, playing board games, or studying Scripture.
Delight is not opposed to authentic discipleship. Neither is joy or play. Every one of these is an essential aspect of Christian discipleship alongside the more “serious” disciplines of prayer, the Sacraments, or the works of mercy. If we approach each one with the heart of a child, seeking to sincerely imitate Jesus Christ, we will find ourselves transformed more and more into His likeness, as one who takes His call seriously but who also delights deeply in the world He created.
