Brad Sullivan
Proper 22, Year BSunday, October 7, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Psalm 26
Hebrews1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
“Jesus is the reflection of God’s
glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being…” (Hebrews 1:3) That statement from our Hebrews reading tells
me is that in any action of Jesus, we see an action of God, and we come to know
more fully who God is. In our Gospel
reading today, Jesus says, “’Let the little children come to me; do not stop
them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive
the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ And he took them up in his arms, laid his
hands on them, and blessed them.” (Mark 10:14-16) This tells me that as God’s children, we are
as important to God as the children in the story were to Jesus.
We’re important in God’s eyes because we are
God’s children. If you look at the
enormity of the cosmos, we’re on a tiny planet in a small galaxy in an enormous
universe. We’re cosmically very
insignificant. Sometimes even looking at
life, we may seem unimportant, compared to other seemingly more important
people, and yet, we are God’s children and matter enough to God for him to
become one of us, to live, die, and be resurrected for our sake. The enormity of how much we matter to God
cannot be over stated. Intellectually,
many of us might agree with that statement, that we matter to God, and yet many
of us might also feel like we don’t matter as much to God.
“I’d pray
about this, but it’s such a little thing, I don’t want to bother God with
it.” “It’s not important enough for
God.” “I’m not important enough for
God.” Does that sound familiar at
all? Those may not even be conscious
thoughts but feelings that folks have at times.
I wonder if part of the reason for that is because of how people treat
each other, beginning with how people are sometimes treated as children.
In our
Gospel lesson today, the disciples were thinking Jesus was too busy with
important things to be bothered by unimportant children. Jesus was again saying, “no, children are
just as important as adults…if not more so.”
I read this, and I’m solidly on Jesus’ side. The disciples look kind of bad because they
are so uncaring toward the children.
Then I think of how often I, and maybe we, and people in general, tend
to act more like the disciples than Jesus.
I’ve noticed this over the years in
the church when there are many people around, and a child will want to tell me
or another priest about his or her latest toy, or something like that, and an
adult wants to talk about a sick family member or some important church
business. I’ve noticed that we often
don’t think twice about ending a conversation with a child or even interrupting
a conversation with a child, to have a more important conversation with an
adult. As adults, we know that
conversations about sick people are more important than conversations about
toys, but to the child, that toy may be about the most important thing there
is, at least at the time. While wanting
to teach children the importance of people over toys (in this example), we may be
unintentionally teaching kids that they are not as important as others.
We do this to adults too. It’s not that we think children are
unimportant or that particular adults are unimportant, but as adults, we know that
we have important things to do and to talk about, and sometimes we can’t be
bothered by less important things that children have to do or to talk
about. Their things can wait. Our important things need to be done right
now, and yet, Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs to children and people who
are like children. So, what is it about
children, what is it about being childlike that allows us to live in and
experience God’s kingdom?
Well, you could
say that children have not yet eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. In the second creation story in
Genesis, Adam and Eve were in Eden, walking and living with God. They were naked and unashamed, totally open
with each other and with God. Then, they
ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and immediately were
ashamed of being naked and hid from each other and from God.
Really
young children are often not embarrassed about being naked, physically or
emotionally. I’ve heard stories from
friends of mine whose three year old kids would run right out the front door of
the house, naked as they day they were born…other stories of kids who will say
whatever in the world happens to be on their mind, whether it’s overly
appropriate or not. I’m not advocating
this behavior in adults…or in children for that matter, but there is an
innocence and an openness with children which can at times be a little off-putting
for adults, but it is an innocence and openness to the other which is also kind
of beautiful.
Children
haven’t yet eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There is an enormous amount which they don’t
know, and all that kids don’t know gives them a delight in the wonder of
creation. There are so many new
experiences. The world is still
beautiful and fascinating to kids. Even
the things which we know are dangerous or could be harmful, to kids, those
things are fascinating and fun.
Children’s
lack of knowledge makes them utterly dependent.
Kids needs loving adults to help guide them as they explore the
world. Young children need help with all
kinds of daily tasks: eating, getting
dressed, sometimes getting from point “a” to point “b”, and this makes them
dependent upon loving adults.
Kids forgive, easily. They haven’t eaten from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. They don’t
yet know that punishment and restitution should be given before forgiveness is
deserved. Where, as adults, we know
about justice. We know about balancing
the scales. Our knowledge is perhaps
right, the scales maybe should be balanced, and yet a child’s way of forgiving
even without balancing the scales sure seems easier. It sounds a bit like God’s forgiveness. Young children’s emotional memory seems to be
a bit shorter than adults’. As adults,
we can hold a grudge and be upset for a long time, even against people whom we
love. Kids tend to get over stuff with
people whom they love pretty quickly, and so they can forgive rather easily.
Jesus tells us to be like children in order to
enter and live in the kingdom of God.
That’s a tough thing to do for adults and even for youth and older
children, when we’ve got jobs, households to run, responsibilities, homework to
do, sports and clubs and music demanding our time and attention. With all of the responsibilities and demands
placed upon, it is difficult to receive the kingdom of God like a child. Doing so may even seem irresponsible, and yet
the God of the universe told us that receiving his kingdom like a child is the
best way to live.
The best way to know and love God
and to know and love each other is to receive life, God’s kingdom, like a
little child. Receive God’s kingdom,
receive life with childlike innocence, with wonder, with trust and love, with
dependence on God and others, with short memories of wrongs, with forgiveness,
and playfulness. God knows what it is
like to become like a child. God became
one of his children so that his children might be invited into a loving
relationship with him, to know and love him more.
In a similar way, we invite
children into loving relationships by becoming like them and receiving the
kingdom of God like a little child.
Doing so can help reverse some of the effects of our eating from tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. Doing so
may help remind us also of God’s love for us and our tremendous importance in
God’s eyes, which then may help us to treat each other as beloved and
important.
See the world through the eyes and
mind of a child, Jesus tells us.
Recapture some of the wonder and beauty of God’s creation. Live with trust and love, with dependence on
God and others. Keep no record of
wrongs. Live with forgiveness, and
playfulness. Amen.
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