What Jesus says about children

Mark 9-10

          A dad walks into a market followed by his ten_year_old son. The kid is spinning a quarter in the air and catching it between his teeth.  As they walk through the market someone bumps the boy at the wrong moment and the coin goes straight into his mouth and lodges in his throat. He immediately starts choking and going blue in the face and Dad starts panicking, shouting and screaming for help.

          A middle_aged, fairly unnoticeable man in a gray suit is sitting at a coffee bar in the market reading his newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee.  At the sound of the commotion, he looks up, puts his coffee cup down on the saucer, neatly folds his newspaper and places it on the counter. He gets up from his seat and makes his unhurried way across the market. Reaching the boy, the man carefully takes hold of the kid's neck and squeezes gently but firmly.  After a few seconds the boy convulses violently and coughs up the quarter, which the man catches in his free hand. Releasing the boy, the man hands the coin to the father and walks back to his seat in the coffee bar without saying a word.

          As soon as he is sure that his son has suffered no lasting effects, the father rushes over to the man and starts effusively thanking him saying "I've never seen anybody do anything like that before. It was fantastic, doctor."

          "Oh, heavens, I’m no doctor," the man replies, "I just work for the Internal Revenue Service."  Everyone ready for Tuesday?  In case you haven’t heard, that’s the day for you to cough up those quarters, especially if you have been choking on them for some time! 

          We’re looking in two passages today at tax deductions – children.  And in these passages, the ones who would look and act like the plain vanilla man in the gray suit sipping coffee would be Jesus’ disciples.  Except that they weren’t necessarily interested in helping the kids.  They didn’t even seem to be interested at all.  And yet, in reaction to these disciples, Jesus teaches us the importance of children. 

I.  OF SUCH – “Of such is the kingdom of God.” Children as a class help us define Christ’s kingdom.  What is the kingdom of God like?

Mark 10:13 “Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." 16 And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.”

          A.  People were bringing their children to Christ.  These are parents who want Jesus to touch their children.  Matthew says that they brought them so that Jesus could put His hands on them and pray for them.  There is a Jewish tradition of bringing young children to the Rabbi for him to lay hands on them and pray for them.  Luke 18:15 says that they were bringing even their babies to Him.

          We see how Jesus treated these children in verse 16: “And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.”  The picture here is one by one hugging these children, laying His hands on their head and blessing them or praying for them. 

          Why do you think He did this?  Was there something magical in His touch?  I don’t think so.  Was He baptizing them?  I don’t think so.  Why take His time to individually hold, bless, and pray for children and babies.  Do you think the baby would understand anything?  No.  Even children wouldn’t understand what was going on.  So why bother?  Think about how you would react if mothers brought their children to you for you to hold and bless them.  What would you say?

          B.  The disciples saw no point in this activity.  They didn’t see any value to this parental intrusion.  Why bother the Master with something and someone so trivial as an infant?  Isn’t His time more valuable than that?  After all, He is training 12 of the future leaders of Israel, He is reaching thousands of people with the good news, He is cleaning out hospitals and funeral homes with His healings.  Why bother Him with kids, especially babies?  He was busy packing all of His time and information into adults.

          They were doing nothing more than making Him more efficient.  They were cutting down on His interruptions.  They probably viewed themselves as the “bouncers,” employed by Jesus to keep the “riff-raff” at bay.  And it’s obvious that they didn’t see much value to children themselves, much less the blessing or hugging of children, much less interrupting your schedule of ministering to and changing the lives of adults with some kind of impromptu baby blessing.  This sounds almost as “bad” as a “bike blessing” that is done by Praise and Thunder!  Why bless a bike?  Why bless a baby?

          C.  Jesus saw great value in the activity.  It says that He was “greatly displeased.”  That’s a pretty strong term.  Christ was indignant; He was stirred up.  And He charged, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them (or hinder them); for of such is the kingdom of God.”  Do you see the little “for,” there?  That introduces the reason for His indignation.  Why is this baby blessing so important?  Because “of such is the kingdom of God.”  The disciples do not realize how important children are in God’s economy.  They have their priorities wrong.  They are men; they are worried about the task.  They are businessmen; they are worried about efficiency.  And children don’t usually mix well with efficiency.  Their presence usually adds inefficiency along with other complications to the picture. 

          Have you ever noticed how we men tend to overlook the importance of children?  “Not now, I’m busy,” is a fairly worn out phrase of the male species.  Dave Barry said, “If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.”

          And that’s where the disciples are.  They are telling Jesus to catch the fly ball and not worry about the babies.  He can save the infant’s life later.

          But Jesus responds that there are things that are more important than efficiency.  People are more important than the task.  And His reason for slowing down, and letting the fly ball drop in left field is contained in this phrase, “OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”  What in the world does that mean?  “Of such is the kingdom of God.” 

          “Of such” refers to a category, a class.  He is not referring to specific children around Him, but to the class of children in general.  There are three classes of people in the discussion going on here, adults and children, and occupants of the kingdom.  What Jesus is saying is that occupants of the kingdom are modeled by the category of children rather than the category of adults.  The disciples want Jesus to catch the fly ball because there are adults on base, especially adult men, but Jesus says that the kingdom of God is best represented by the infant in need rather than the men on base. 

          He’s saying that people are more important than tasks.  And especially children.  And if you want to know what the kingdom of God is like, what the flavor is, what life is like, study children.

          Do you find that as much of a shock as I do?  What He is saying is that,

          D.  The Kingdom of God is composed of child-like people.  Not childish people, but child-like.  What are child-like people like?  When we normally think of children, we think of the problems, the dirty hands, and the diapers, and the spit up, and the late night interruptions, and the unanswerable “why” questions, the screaming.  What does it mean to be “child-like?”  Is there anyone in this building, other than children, who is child-like?

          If you take children as a category, you have a group of human beings who are unable to do things that adults can do, are powerless in the adult world, are limited in terms of adult thinking and talk, are ignored as a class by adults, are defenceless and vulnerable against the will and plans of adults, and are, in effect nobodies, insignificant, to anyone except their parents.  Think about that, “of such is the kingdom of God.”  God’s rule and reign is over “such.”  Is that striking?

          In other words, the kingdom of God is made up of those with inabilities, like children, and the humble, like children.  It’s sort of like saying that the kingdom of God is made up of insignificant people, those regarded as nobodies, those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless, those who are poor in spirit, who mourn over their sin and loss, who hunger and thirst after righteousness (ideas from Gundry-Volf, 38).

          Are you in the kingdom?  Are you “child-like?”  It’s not a question of “are you great enough to enter?” but do you realize your need and lack?

II.  “RECEIVE AS” – “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child . . .”  Children as a class help us define “entrance.”  Who enters the kingdom of God?  How do you enter?  Is it those who are good enough?  Is it those who are religious enough? 

Mark 10:15 "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." 16 And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them.”

          A.  Children are examples of people who are entering.  In what way could anyone say that children are models for adults?  Nowhere in Jewish literature are children put forward as examples for adults.  To Romans, this statement would go over as an insult.  Adults should be “as a little child?”  Why?  We normally tell children to act like adults, but here Jesus tells adults to model themselves after children.  We would think that a baby must receive the kingdom as an adult receives it, “grow up and get serious about religion,” but the reverse is true.

          What does it mean to receive the kingdom as a little child?  How does a child receive in a way that is any different from an adult?  Doesn’t everyone “receive” the same way?  I think that part of the answer is in the word, “receive.” 

          You can give children gifts and they take them.  What happens when you try to give a gift to an adult?  They have trouble accepting it and honestly saying, “thank you.”  They say, “oh, no, you shouldn’t do that; that costs too much.”  The child reaches out and takes it.  The adult hesitates, feeling that they now “owe” you one; they are indebted to you.  They tend to hesitate perhaps because they don’t want the responsibility of the debt.  If they take it, they try to pay you back.  And of course, they pay you back with more than you paid them, so you feel like you owe them one.  And so you pay them back and they pay you back and so on forever.  Children don’t have that problem.  They can take a gift with wholehearted, excited, acceptance.

          B.  Adults struggle with receiving gifts.  Here’s the problem with the kingdom of God.  It’s a gift.  You say, “what’s the problem with that?”  Children will receive gifts and adults will try to pay for them.  What is the greatest gift?  The greatest gift is heaven, the kingdom of God.  And adults will say, “let me turn over a new leaf, let me do some good things, notice how much money I have given to charity, I’m putting a lot of time into helping people.”  What’s the implication of those statements?  “Am I good enough for the gift?” 

          Adults want to pay for gifts.  Children accept them, receive them freely.  Occupants of the kingdom are there because they received a gift, not because they were good enough.  You either receive the kingdom of God as a child receives a gift, or you miss it.  You can’t subtly try to pay for a gift and it remain a gift.  The children who came to Jesus did nothing for Him; came with nothing, had nothing to offer Him in return.  He took them into His arms and blessed them.

          We enter God’s kingdom by faith, like little children: helpless, unable to save ourselves, totally dependent on the mercy and grace of God.  The key is to realize that we HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER HIM.  Like the publican praying, "Lord be merciful to ME THE SINNER."  Humility is essentially a right estimate of yourself.  God only responds to those who come with the glaring realization of their bankruptcy, realizing that they have nothing to offer God.  He wants to give us what we don’t deserve, what we cannot manufacture, but what we desperately deserve – forgiveness of sins, entrance into His family, status as a child of God.

          Children set the standard.  Have you ever approached God as a child?  Have you ever come to Him with an empty slate, with nothing to offer and pleaded, “Lord be merciful to me the sinner?”

          The kingdom of God is not as sophisticated as we sometimes make it.  It’s very simple.  But it’s simple in a reverse way from what we expect, which makes it hard for adults.

III.  RECEIVE ONE – “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me.”  Children as a class help us define “serving God.”  What is “service?”  “Receiving” children.  Serving children.  Or serving people who are of that category – the weak, the insignificant, the poor.  It’s that simple.  It’s that upside down.

Mark 9:33 Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?" 34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. 35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." 36 Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, 37 "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."

          Do you see the connection between “servant of all” in verse 35 and the little child in the middle of the disciples in verse 36, coupled with “whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me?”  “Servant of all” describes the person Jesus thinks is important.  And in the next two verses, “servant of all” is directly related to “receiving one of these little children.”

          A.  The disciples were concerned with personal greatness.  They were having a heated exchange over which of them was number one on the disciple chart.  Can’t you imagine hearing this kind of discussion?  Verse 34 suggests that the disciples were a little embarrassed to have to admit the subject they were so worked up over.  What criteria were they using?  Who was the best fisherman?  Who was the greatest disciple? Who displayed the most wonderful humility?  Who was the most popular disciple of Christ?  The discussion must have been strangely childish. 

          B.  Jesus connected greatness with serving a child.  Jesus sets a child in front of the disciples.  The child is the test case for greatness.  It’s interesting that the words “child” and “servant” are the same in the Aramaic language.  Maybe that’s why Jesus connected the two.  It takes the heart of a child to truly serve a child.

          "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me.”  Do you catch the pure irony in that statement?  Children occupied the absolute lowest rung on the social ladder at this time.  Even today, caring for children is a low-status activity.  Compare the wages of baby-sitters with that of Government employees.  Jesus is saying that what appears to be an insignificant activity, is more valuable than anything else you can do.  If you want to serve God, caring for children, and by extension other insignificant people, becomes the most important thing you can do.  You minister to Christ by ministering to children; you minister to God the Father by ministering to Christ, by ministering to children.  Do you see the inversion here?  Jesus places our children at the center of our collective attention as the prime objects of our love and service (Gundry-Volf, 44).  It is not how high you can reach, but how low you can bend.  It’s not an issue of how “great” you can become, but of how clearly you can recognize true significance. 

          This doesn’t mean that Mark is suggesting that reception of a little child is equal to believing on the name of Christ.  You don’t get credit for heaven by your treatment of a child.  Salvation is always a gift.  But when one welcomes a child he does it in Jesus’ name, to serve Him, to say “thank you” to Him.

          How do you respond to children?  To the insignificant?  To those who take extra time and interrupt your program, your efficiency?  Do you view them as burdens?  Or as precious? 

          George Washington Carver said, “how far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.”

          One of the most important things we can do as a church is going on down stairs right now – the training of the next generation for Christ, teaching our kids the exciting things that have changed our lives.  They really are the key to our future.  Are you involved?  We have many opportunities for you to interrupt your schedule and become less efficient – and drop the fly ball!

          C.  “Pearls Before Breakfast.”  Last Sunday’s Washington Post had a fascinating article entitled, "Pearls Before Breakfast."  Did anyone read it, or the dozen or so articles that have come out of it?  It’s a story about a 39 year old man who emerged from the Metro at the L'Enfant Plaza station at 7:51, Friday morning, Jan. 12 during rush hour, and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket.  He was white, in jeans, a long_sleeved T_shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap.  From a small case, he removed a violin and placed the open case at his feet.  He threw in a few dollars and pocket change and began to play.

          In the next 43 minutes, as he performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by, probably all of them on the way to work in the federal buildings upstairs.  What none of the people knew was that the fiddler standing against the wall at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, Joshua Bell, playing some of the most elegant music ever written for violin, on one of the most valuable violins ever made.  Just last Tuesday, Bell received the most coveted prize in classical music, the Avery Fisher Prize. 

          But how did he do at L’Enfant Plaza?  Out of the 1,097 people, seven stopped to hang around for at least a minute, 27 gave money, amounting to a total of $32.17, most of them on the run.  That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious to their brush with greatness.  Many of them were within three feet of Joshua.

          It was all videotaped by a hidden camera. You can play the recording on the Post web site.  Only one person recognized him.  Bell, who commands ticket prices of $100 or more at his concerts, and makes about $1000 a minute, said, "I was quite nervous and it was a strange experience being ignored,"

          A couple of minutes into the performance, something revealing happened. A woman and her preschooler emerged from the escalator. The woman is walking briskly, and therefore, so is the child in her hand.  But the child, who is three, keeps twisting around trying to look at Joshua as his mother propels him toward the door.  So the mother moves her body between her son’s and that of Bell, cutting off his line of sight.  As they exit the arcade, the son can still be seen craning to look.  When the mother was told what she walked out on, she laughed and said, "Evan (her 3 year old son) is very smart!"

          Here is an interesting part:  There was no ethnic or demographic pattern that distinguished the people who stayed to watch Bell from the ones who gave money from the vast majority who ignored him. But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.

          Striking?  The article says that the poet Billy Collins once observed that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry because the lub_dub of the mother's heart is in iambic meter.  Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us – so we have no time to stop and listen, or stand and stare.

          Now I don’t know if that is true or not.  And the kids who wanted to listen to Bell play just may not have been in the hurry their parents were in.  After all they had to get to their government jobs, and their children had probably made them late.  And thus the rush.

          But it gives a picture of the point Christ is making: how often we walk by the most important responsibilities of our lives because we are busy – maybe too busy, maybe unaware of the price tags that God has placed on children, on our children.

          I have two questions in closing: Are you like a child in your approach to God?  Are you involved in receiving and serving yours and our children?

04/15/07, BBC am

23Mk9-10.MEF, 04/23/07