Oat and Oak
October 2024
Matthew 21:16
Y’know what I think, Grampa?”
Bailey squiggled her 10-year-old self onto the recliner, snuggled up next to her grandfather. She was warm and fragrant from playing. Her grandfather said, “Bailey, you smell like the outdoors.” The field and trees out back were Bailey’s favorite place to play.
“Ooh, Grampa, do I stink?”
“No, honey, it’s a good smell. Oatgrass and oak leaves and fresh air. So tell me, precious granddaughter of mine, what’s up. What do you think today?”
“Well, y’know how we learned about Jesuses’ disciples in Sunday School, ‘an how you and Gramma taught me about ‘em? Well, everybody thinks they were these serious guys, just walkin’ around with Jesus, listenin’ to him talk, watchin’ him heal folks ‘and do the miracle stuff. But I don’t think that’s right. Uh, uh. Nope. They weren’t like that at all.”
“What were they like, Bailey?”
“Well, y’know how puppies are so happy when you meet ‘em, all bouncy and want you to play with ‘em? How they’re so curious, wanting to find out about this, about that, hey, hey, hey, what’re we gonna do today?”
“Yes, I do know, and you’re right. Puppies are wonderful. I’ve seen how you lay on the floor and they run and climb all over you, bite your nose and ears and fingers with their sharp little teeth. Fun times. And I love how they smell. Nothing smells like a puppy.”
“Zactly! Well, the disciples, the ones that followed Jesus, they were like puppies. A pack of puppies. Not all from the same litter, though. No, they were all different.”
Bailey’s grandfather held his jaw tight; laughing at his granddaughter’s observation wouldn’t do. He gave his chin a good rub. That helped. “Ah, that’s very interesting, honey. Tell me more.”
“Well, it’s like this. Peter, he was like a Labrador Retriever. Had those big paws he tripped over when he got going too fast. Floppy ears, tail wagging all the time, knocking stuff over with it. Wanted to be part of everything that was going on, always first in line when it was time to eat or play. But he wasn’t the smartest one of the bunch, nope, not then anyway.
“Then there was Andrew, Peter’s brother. You’d think he might be a Lab, too, but he wasn’t. No, Andrew was an Airedale. Stiff-legged, curly hair, really bright eyes. Always ready to play, but right there with Jesus when he was ‘sposed to be.
“Then there was John. I think John, he was a Golden Retriever ‘cause he was so calm and he loved Jesus, loved everyone, actually. Really faithful. Loyal. Mr. Dependable. But his brother James, he was different. I think James was a German Shepherd, big, friendly, playful as a pup but serious when he got growed up. He was kinda the one you went to when there was a problem and you needed some wisdom. James, well, he was like the guardian of the pack.”
“Bailey, sounds to me like you’ve given some serious thought to this. This is very interesting. Got some more thoughts about the disciples as puppies?”
“Oh, sure. There was the other James, now, the really young one, so he had to be a Jack Russel Terrier. Always ready to play, like, I don’t know what all we’re doing but this sure is fun. Then there was Simon, the Zealot guy, well, he was a serious one, sort of tough, had this big attitude. So I think he was a Doberman.”
“Bailey, I think Matthew was an interesting character. How do you see him?”
“Well, Grampa, Matthew, I think, was sort of chubby, and kind of grumpy sometimes, y’ know, ‘cause people picked on him, bein’ a tax collector ‘an all, so I think he was an English Bulldog. You know, with short, stubby legs and the jowls, and the jaw that stuck out. Then there was Philip and Thaddeus, they were hunting dogs ‘cause there were times they could be kind of intense but mostly pretty much laid back. Philip, he was a Pointer and ‘ol Thaddaeus – that’s a funny name, Thaddaeus – he was a Setter.”
“And what about Thomas, the one who didn’t believe that Jesus had appeared to the disciples?”
“Oh, well, Thomas had to be a mutt. Wanted to be part of the pack for sure, but kind of held back. Kind of a loner.”
“And Judas Iscariot?”
“Oh, him. Well, Judas-‘th-Scariest, he wasn’t really a dog. No, he was more of a coyote. No, a jackal ‘cause they’ve got jackals over there in Israel. He never fit with the rest of the disciples. Didn’t act like he could be trusted, he’d kinda sneak around. I don’t think the other puppies liked him much.”
“Hmm. All very curious and creative, granddaughter-mine. What do you think about Paul?”
“Well, Grampa, you know Paul, he wasn’t one of the ‘riginal twelve, so I’m not sure he was ever much of a puppy. But I’m thinking if he was like a dog, it woulda been one of those English Sheepdogs, you know, the shaggy ones with the hair over their eyes.”
“Hah! You know, I rather see him like that myself. So what got you to thinking about the disciples as puppies?”
“Well, there’s this lady in our neighborhood, she’s a dog walker. Every day, she’s got maybe a dozen dogs on leashes, all different kinds of dogs, big ones, littles ones, every one of ‘em’s different, and when she walks the dogs past our house, I go out and help her walk the dogs. She walks them around the neighborhood and tells me ‘bout the different kinds of dogs. It’s really neat, how all the dogs walk together and don’t fight. She says they’re really well-behaved.
“Anyway, I was reading my Bible a while back, you know, the one you and Gramma got for me, the one with the pictures in it, and it seemed to me that when the disciples first started hanging out with Jesus, there woulda been a lot of excitement, like lots of sparkly enthusiasm that bubbled over. Just seemed to me like all these new guys coming together to follow Jesus was a lot like that bunch of dogs our neighbor woman takes for walks, ‘cept the disciples would have been more like puppies than grown-up dogs, y’know, at the beginning. Whenever Jesus showed up, it would have been like, c’mon, guys, Jesus is coming! The boss is here! They’d bop and boop around, tumble over each other, trying to get his attention. Hi, Jesus! Hey! Me! Me, Jesus! Me too! No, me! You know … puppies.”
Bailey’s grandfather gave his cheek another rub. His eyes twinkled. “Yes. I can see that.”
“Well, going around ‘th lake of Galilee, I think they would always hang out close to Jesus. I mean, what Jesus did was all brand new to everyone! Here’s this carpenter guy from Nazareth that everyone knew, shows up after being gone for more than a month and now he’s teaching stuff like nobody’s ever heard before. ‘An if that’s not enough, he’s healing sick people and he’s giving blind people their sight back and he’s making crippled people walk again. He even makes demons come out of some of ‘em. Whoa! Wow! This is new! This is different! And, y’know, it’s kinda weird, too!
“So all through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you know, the Gospels, Jesus has this pack of puppies that follow him around. He tells them, ‘Sit. Stay. Watch what I do. I want you to learn from me.’ But it’s all so new and different, so the puppies have lots of questions like fer Heaven’s sake, what’s he doing now? What did he say? What does that even mean? Tommy, do you understand what he said? No? How ‘bout you, Johnny? Nope, me neither. Petey, did you get that? Oh, man, lookit that! He just made that woman’s crippled hand all well! And that blind man! He can see again! Oh, oh, look out, here comes one who’s got leprosy. ‘Cept leprosy doesn’t bother Jesus, he just heals it. Wow! We gotta ask him about all of that. When do we eat?
“I can just see big, boopey Labrador Peter putting his big ‘ol puppy paw on Jesus’ arm, giving him those big brown eyes. “Hey, Jesus, whatcha doin,’ huh, huh?” Then Jesus pats him on his head and Peter-the-Labrador smiles and wags his tail and says to himself, I don’t get it all, and Jesus knows that and says that’s okay, you’ll get it later.
“Well, Jesus does all this cool stuff, y’know, like he turns water into wine, and he walks across the lake, he takes a handful of fish and bread and feeds few hundred people not once but twice! I guess it took two times for the puppies to really get that one, but then when he goes and stands in front of this tomb place and yells at it, and here comes his buddy Laz’rus, all alive again. With all that stuff, y’know, the puppies, they gotta be blown away. Put that all together ‘an what other conclusion could they come to ‘cept Jesus is the Messiah.
“So, this goes on for three years like that. By then, most of the puppies mostly get what Jesus is doing, ‘specially after Jesus gives ‘em the power to heal and sends ‘em out to do what he’s been doing. That part, I think, was where most of ‘em began to grow up, get a better sense of the Kingdom of God, you know, how it was where Jesus really came from, where he got his power, where he learned what to teach. They understood how it was different than the kingdom here on Earth, too. I mean, how could they not? They had it drilled into ‘em every day.
“Well, anyway, here it’s time for Passover and Jesus and the puppies, they get together in this big ‘ol room and have supper together. After they eat, Jesus gives ‘em communion, like, bread and wine – I really like that part, there’s something super special about it – and then ‘ol Judas-Poodas slinks out into the night and skitters off to tell the big poobah Jewish priest-guy that if he wants to arrest Jesus, he and all the puppies are gonna be in this garden place over on th’ Olive Mountain.
“That’s when it all comes apart. Judas wrecks it all, leads the way for the temple priests and soldiers ‘an goes up and kisses Jesus on the cheek ‘an says, here he is, guys, he’s the one you’re lookin’ for. Then the soldier-guys arrest Jesus, the puppies get scared and all of ‘em run away ‘cept for the boopy ‘ol Labrador, Peter. He follows along, watches how the poobahs try to trick Jesus into saying how he’s gonna overthrow the government and take over the Jewish church-what-ever-ya-call-it.”
“The synagogue?”
“Yeah, that. Anyhow, the poobahs turn Jesus over to the Roman soldiers, they knock him around some, then they make him stand in front of the governor, Ponchus, the Pilot. Well, he dithers around some, the poobahs yell at him and everything goes from bad to worse. The Pilot, he gives the order, the soldiers drag Jesus off to nail him on a cross and they kill him. You know the story. Every time I read that part of the Bible, though, it makes me mad, it’s just so wrong, so unfair.
“Anyway, by then, all the puppies are hiding, all ‘cept one, good ‘ol faithful Golden Retriever John. He’s there standing near the cross with Jesus’ mom and a bunch of other women, watching and weeping. Jesus, up there on the cross, he looks down and says, ‘John, take care of Mom, okay?’ And John, he wags his tail and says, ‘Sure, Jesus, don’t worry, I’ll take care of her. And y’know what, Grampa, I can just feel the love that fires back and forth between the two of ‘em.
“Well, then Jesus does this really astonishing thing. He looks down at the Roman soldiers, the ones playing dice to see who gets his clothes? Those soldiers, they don’t have a clue about who he is, don’t hardly even care, crucifixion’s no big deal, they’ve done bunches of ‘em. But Jesus, with the same kind of love he just gave to John and his mom, now he gives to those dopey soldiers and says, “Abba, Dad, these guys, they don’t get it, whatall is goin’ on, so I want you to forgive them. That way, maybe they’ll get what I’m about, y’know, later on.”
Bailey stopped talking. She leaned her head on her grandfather’s chest. As she quietly drew her breath in and let it out, her grandfather thought of how Jesus quieted the storm over Galilee’s waters.
“Grampa?”
“Yes, sweetie.”
“The crucifixion part of Jesus’ story always makes me sad. Not just ‘cause they killed him, but because all the puppies ran away and left Jesus alone. I’m sure Jesus understood, but heck, if I was one of his puppies, I think I woulda been right there, right next to John and Jesus’ mom.
“But then, it makes me glad, too, ‘cause the part where the angels open up his tomb and Jesus comes out, he’s all bright and shiny, good as new. No – he’s better than new. Then he goes and shows up in this room where the puppies are hiding and it’s hey, hey, look, it’s Jesus! Jesus is back! Hey, waitaminnit! Didn’t you just get killed, like two days ago? What is this? What’s happening? How come you’re alive again?
“Well, he talks to ‘em and that’s when the puppies get it. They understand Jesus is the only one in the world who can’t be killed, and it’s like everything changes. I mean every thing!
“They get it! Jesus really is God! He showed up with skin and hair and eyes and ears and hands and feet but he’s really God, and it’s all just like the old-time prophets said it was gonna be. And that’s when the disciples aren’t puppies anymore.”
Bailey’s grandfather reveled in this brightstar bundle of life, who sat on his lap with her head on his chest and knew so much without knowing how or why and it made no difference. He wrapped his arms around her and was sure that his most important prayer had been oh, so graciously answered … that Bailey’s eternal life was a certainty, a surety, a fact, a truth for all time.
“Grampa?”
“Yes, Bailey?”
“That’s a happylujah, huh. Can we go out and play?”
Oat and Oak © copyright 2020 Peter K. Schipper