The pretty
girl who sat opposite me on the train must have been about twenty-one or so.
She was well-spoken and charming, but there was one thing about her appearance that I just
couldn’t accept as a contribution to her beauty. About half an inch below her bottom lip and a
little off-centre, toward the corner of her mouth, protruded a silver ball, the
end-piece of a stud which clearly penetrated to the inside of her mouth. As she chatted to her friend, I became
suspicious that there was a similar adornment through her tongue, and this was
confirmed when she later gave a yawn.
At the risk of appearing somewhat impolite, I studied
her more closely. (In my defence I
should point out that this took place on an underground train, so there was
little else to look at. Suffice to say
that no alternative was half so interesting to me as I mused upon this young
lady’s appearance). There was no doubt
that she had reached ‘years of discretion’. She had chosen to use her discretion to make
a comprehensive fashion statement in terms of body piercing. In addition to studs through her lip and
tongue, she also wore two pairs of earrings and bore in the side of her nose a
small stud which sparkled as she turned her head.
Later, I researched that phrase ‘years of
discretion’. I found it in the Book of Common Prayer, where it's part of the fuller title of the Order of Confirmation, which is
described as the ‘Laying on of hands upon those that are baptized and come to
years of discretion.’ The rubrics go on
to define this expression in terms of children who ‘are come to a competent age
and can say, in their mother tongue, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten
Commandments.’
My dictionary refers to ‘competent’ in terms of being
capable or effective, and it links ‘discretion’ with the right or ability to
manage one’s own affairs. In other
words, grown up and independent; and it occurs to me that the victims of this
independence are often the parents of the young person newly-matured. Jesus was talking with the Pharisees one day
when someone told Him that His mother and brothers were outside and wanted to
speak to Him. His reply (Matthew
12:48-50) might well have been hurtful to Mary had she heard it; it certainly
left no doubt as to His independence!
Next month we celebrate the ultimate expression of
Jesus’s management of His own affairs.
In the gospel accounts of the events of Good Friday we are reminded that
He was in control to the very end.
Rather than being killed, we are told that He gave up His spirit
(Matthew 27:50). This was not the tragedy
it may seem on the surface, for our celebration takes place in the knowledge of
the aftermath of these events: the wonder of the Resurrection.
The prophet Isaiah spelled out the purpose and meaning
of the events we celebrate. Writing many
hundreds of years before they took place, he explained, “He was despised and
rejected by mankind ... like one from whom people hide their faces. ... We considered him punished by God, ...
but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are
healed.” (Isa. 53:3-5). Somewhere - I’m
not sure where – I remember singing the words ‘piercèd through and through’, which
I believe rhymed with ‘and all was for you’ ... words that sum up this passage most concisely.
Next time you see a young person displaying a stud in
a prominent place, let him or her be God’s messenger to you, reminding you of
the full significance of the piercing of Jesus’ body, and the sacrifice of a
Life ‘given for you’.
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