I love children’s books. I love their large size and bright colors. I love that the pictures are almost always bigger than the words. And I love that, for the most part, the messages offered by the authors of children’s books are easy to understand. There is very little ambiguity in children’s literature because a young child’s mind hasn’t developed enough to understand subtleties of language and thought. Children’s books are filled with simple words and simple ideas. That’s another reason I love children’s books: many of the better ones are written to help children learn right from wrong. In other words, they help build character by helping children become better people.

Lessons from a Rainbow Fish

In the story Rainbow Fish, author Marcus Pfister is simply that sharing what you have with others will lead to happiness. Or, to put it in childlike terms, sharing is good, vanity is bad. It seems very cut and dried, right? But are there other lessons to be learned here? Does this story offer shades of gray to consider? I believe we, as adults, can find a different message in the story of Rainbow Fish.

In tonight’s gospel, Mark 10: 17-22, a rich man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to follow the commandments, which the rich man says he has always done. I imagine the rich man getting his hopes up about making it to heaven. After all, he has kept the commandments, he has wealth and presumably status in his community. But then Jesus drops the hammer. Mark says,

“Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

Although this story appears in the gospels of Matthew and Luke as well as Mark, I like this version best because it’s the only one that says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Jesus knew this man was not going to be able to trade his earthly riches for heavenly treasure. Jesus knew this man was not going to follow him. But he loved him just the same. I can easily see the rich man sadly walking away, hanging his head, realizing he would never inherit eternal life.

By contrast, Rainbow Fish is a similar story with a different ending. Rainbow Fish’s treasures are his beautiful, shiny scales. He displays them proudly, expecting all the other fish to admire his beauty. When the other fish start to ignore him, Rainbow Fish becomes unhappy, and he asks the octopus what he should do to find happiness. The octopus tells him to share his shiny scales with the other fishes. Unlike the rich man in the gospel, Rainbow Fish doesn’t swim away sadly, knowing he could never share his wealth with others. Rainbow Fish decides to give away all but one shiny scale. The other fish are so grateful for Rainbow Fish’s kindness that they welcome him into their community and they all become friends. Rainbow Fish finds happiness by giving away the very things he thought made him happy.

I wish that the rich man in Mark’s gospel had reconsidered his decision to walk away from Jesus. I wish he had waited a little longer to hear what Jesus said to the disciples after he had left. Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” It’s strange that this is the part of the story we remember, maybe because it seems so absurd. Or maybe it’s because we all worry that we are much more like the rich man than we wish we were. For whatever reason, we tend to forget the next part of this passage, the most important part. Mark tells us, “The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’”

All things are possible with God

The rich man should have stayed to hear these words. They would have given him the courage to make changes in his life, to share his wealth with the poor, to follow Jesus’ teachings. All things are possible with God, especially those things that turn our eyes toward heaven and away from earthly matters.

Questions to ponder….

What might you have to share with others?
What could happen if you choose to share with others?
What holds you back from being a Rainbow Fish?

I chose Rainbow Fish for tonight’s sermon because I have been working on VBS preparations for the past month or so. I have been involved in VBS at Saint Luke for about the 15 years. It’s a big job for everyone involved, and it takes many hours of planning, many volunteers, and quite a bit of money and resources to ensure a successful week of faith and fun for about 100 children each summer. We run one of the larger VBS programs in the area, and we are one of the few that doesn’t charge children for attending.

Years ago, when my children we young and attended VBS here, most of the students were from our congregation. Today, most of the students come from our greater community. They attend other churches in the area, or they do not attend church at all. Most of the families who send their children to VBS here simply want them to spend a few hours having fun in a safe environment where they will learn about God’s love for them. That’s it. Some of these families send their children from VBS to VBS, from one church to another, throughout the summer. Most of these families will not join St. Luke because they have their own church homes.

So why do we spend so much time and so many resources on this ministry year after year? Because we choose to be Rainbow Fish, sharing our wealth of resources, our abundance of talent, our depth of compassion, with the children of our community. We choose to share our shiny scales every time we share the love of Christ with our neighbors by welcoming them into our church for a week of Bible stories, games, and crafts. We make this choice, year after year, because we want to follow Jesus and we know that we can’t do that if our doors are closed. We choose to open our church, and our hearts, to everyone who wants to know about God’s love for them.

Lord, when the choice is hard. When it seems like it’s not worth it. When we just want to close the doors of our hearts and keep our shiny scales to ourselves. Give us the boldness to choose to share. We know that all things are possible with You. Amen.

Special thanks to our guest Roberta Menapace. Roberta is a long time member of Saint Luke. This week you will find her with our kids at VBS. During the rest of the year, she is involved in many different ministries around Saint Luke.