Two boys and the Beatitudes

Note to parents:

The Beatitudes that Christ Jesus gave in his Sermon on the Mount are deep and beautiful. Christians and scholars have studied them for centuries; children have instinctively understood and cherished them. Jesus' own words defy simplistic paraphrasing and uniquely encourage each child, adult, and scholar alike to renew his and her own inspiration as to "what the Beatitudes mean."

And yet it is natural, especially for little children, to want to explore the Beatitudes in terms of their daily lives. In that spirit—an exploring, an offering of a few among endless possibilities of adaptation—we offer this narrative on the Beatitudes.

Brook was in second grade. So he was allowed to cross the street by himself to go to school. And he helped his brother Christopher with things like tying shoes and doing zippers. After school they played together, and sometimes they even played school because Brook liked to pretend he was the teacher. He knew how to read.

That was fine with Christopher. Anything Brook wanted to do was fine if Chris could be part of it.

This afternoon Brook • decided to play school and teach the Beatitudes. ^{Children who attend the Christian Science Sunday School (as Brook and Chris did) are taught their first lessons from the Bible. They learn the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:3-17), the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13), and its spiritual interpretation by Mary Baker Eddy ( Science and Health, pp. 16-17). and the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3-12). (See Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy, Art. XX, Sect. 3 .)} "OK," Chris said. "I'll hold the Bible."

• "Now, to start with, do you remember who Jesus was?" Brook said.

"Oh, sure. He built the ark," Chris answered.

• "No, silly. That was Noah. Christ Jesus was the one who had twelve disciples, and healed people, and loved God more than anybody."

"Did God love him a lot too?"

•"He must have. God said he was His beloved Son."

"I remember, Brook. Jesus was born at Christmastime, where the cattle lived."

•"Yeah, a long time ago. Even before Grandma and Grandpa were here. Now, Jesus wanted people to know how to live close to God."

"So does my Sunday School teacher. Is it time for recess yet?"

•"Not yet, Chris. Now, Jesus gave some lessons on how to know you're living close to God. They're called Beatitudes. And this is the first one: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'"

"Are you poor in spirit, Brook?"

•"I guess so."

"Are you going to get a kingdom?"

•"I probably have one. My teacher says you find it when you always know God is your friend. And you know you need Him and trust Him a lot."

"Is God my friend too, Brook?"

"Oh, sure. He likes big kids and little kids. Now, the next beatitude is simple. 'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.'"

"Daddy told me you mourn when you think there's nothing good to hope for, or you believe what error says. Or you are sad because you lose something good or someone. Like when Grandpa died and I was sad."

•"Yeah, like then. I cried too. But Daddy said God doesn't end so Grandpa can't either, and we never will. Not really."

"Then we didn't cry anymore."

•"That's being comforted. You find out what's true so you don't feel sad anymore."

"Brook, can I be teacher now?"

•"You're too little. You can't even read."

"But you can read it for me. Then I'll tell you about it."

•"OK. The third one is 'Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.' "

"I know that one. My Sunday School teacher said 'meek' is when I tell you I don't mind if you get to sit up front in the car with Daddy. Even twice in a row."

•"Then later you get your turn, Chris. And meek is when you know you can do things very, very well because God makes us so good. But you don't think you're big stuff and someone else isn't."

"Show me where it says 'meek,' Brook."

•"Here. M-E-E-K. Now, the next one has a very big word—righteousness. This beatitude is about listening for angel thoughts that tell us the right thing to do. 'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled,' it says. If you really, really, want to be a good boy, you keep asking God about it."

"I think Mummy and Daddy must ask Him about it too, so we will pick up our toys."

•" 'Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.' That's next."

"Now, that says you can be nice to the other guys, since God is already nice to all of us."

•"Chris, even if the other guys are mean, we can be nice back to them."

"I know. Now is it time for recess?"

•"No. Do you know what this one says? 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.' "

"It says I am God's child?"

•"Right. I can tell you a story about that too. Once when I was your age, this big boy kept picking on me for no reason. He punched me and took my hat and tripped me. Even in school he did it. For almost a week."

"Did you cry?"

•"Not till I got home. And I was afraid to tell the teacher because the boy said then he'd really beat up on me. But I told Mummy."

"Did she call his mother?"

•"No. Mummy said we could just be so pure in our hearts that we would only see good. That boy had to be good and loving because he was God's child too. Mummy said we could pray that everybody's Father-Mother God, takes care of us all. There aren't really bad or good boys, Just God's children."

"What happened?"

• "Nothing. I wasn't afraid anymore. And the big boy didn't walk down my street anymore, and I didn't see him at school except once. Mummy said seeing good is having good, and that's seeing God."

"I love Mummy."

•"Me too. And Daddy."

"Who do you love most?"

•"Both of them. Now, next is about playing without getting mad at anyone. Or blaming. 'Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.' "

"Brook, I'm a peacemaker. Remember I told you not to throw apples into Tommy's yard."

•"He did it first."

"Still, if you want to be God's child, you better not throw apples."

Then it was recess. Mummy brought cheese and crackers, and Chris told her ... they were doing the "blesseds." "Mummy, I'm the teacher," Brook said. "But you can do the next one because it has that big word."

"All right. 'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' You see, if Tommy makes fun of you when you go to Sunday School, or because you won't throw apples back at him, you still do what you know is good. You are listening to God, so you do what's good. Then you feel loved, and satisfied."

•"But sometimes Tommy says mean things to us because we won't say bad words with him."

"I know. Still, you have to keep on trying to do what's right, even if nobody notices, or if someone tells lies about you. That 's in the beatitude, 'Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.' "

"Is that all the 'blesseds? '"

"Almost. There's one more part It starts 'Rejoice... '! And that means be very, very happy and give each other huge hugs, like this."

by Parm.