People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

 

 

     Usually, when someone tells you that you’re acting like a child you take it as an insult. It means that you’re acting in an immature manner, you’re doing silly things. And usually that’s true. Adults sometimes act like children. I know someone (and it’s not me!) who - every time the Leafs lose a game - threatens to beat up fans of the opposing team and rip their heads off. And sometimes I (and others) have to treat him like a child, and we’ve told him regularly, “You’re acting like a 7 year old! It’s a game! Grow up!” But he doesn’t. And he doesn’t make himself look good by doing it! But it’s not always bad to act like a child. In fact, sometimes it’s the most faithful thing we can do, and the most faithful way we can act. In the Gospel reading today, people were bringing their little children to Jesus to ask for a blessing. This was pretty typical behaviour in the day. Jewish families often brought their children to rabbis to be blessed, and that’s basically how Jesus was perceived. But the disciples didn’t like this. I don’t really know why they objected. Maybe they thought Jesus was being overworked? Maybe they thought they should have Jesus all to themselves? Some people think the rebuke was because the disciples felt that the parents were being superstitious - as if having Jesus touch their children would do something magical in a child’s life. Whatever it was, the disciples rebuked these parents for bringing their children to Jesus. And what’s most important, of course, is that Jesus rebukes the disciples in turn.

 

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them.

 

     Whatever the objections of His disciples were, Jesus apparently though rather highly of little children, and I suspect that His words must have cut His own disciples to the core: “anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” So, the question is, why did Jesus make little children an example for his disciples, and I guess then, for us as well? We usually think of childhood as something to grow out of. I guess for Jesus, though, there’s a big difference between being child-like and being childish. Childishness - like threatening to beat someone up because they support a different hockey team - is something we should leave behind. But to be child-like seems a precious thing to Jesus.

 

     Marjorie Foerster Eddington is an educator. She works with children and teens, and she’s involved with a ministry called “Bible Wise” that tries to teach the Scriptures to young people. She identified five qualities of little children that she thought Jesus was particularly attracted to. I want to share those five qualities, and I give credit to Eddington for pointing them out and helping to define them.

 

     First, little children are completely trusting of their parents. Whatever they need - a shoulder to sleep on, a diaper change, milk or food, a hand to help them walk, arms to crawl into -- they turn to their mommy or daddy with wide eyes, open arms, complete trust. Obstacles may be in the way, but as long as they’re holding onto the hand of a parent, they’re totally confident that they’ll make it. Jesus wants us to be completely trusting of God. No matter what happens we should trust that God is going to take care of us. Even with God at our side, we might have to take a few nervous, deep breaths - but that’s what children do. They trust their Parent. We trust our God.

 

     The second thing is that children love discovering things and learning things! Children point to everything. They have a sense of wonder. They want to know what this is, what that feels like, what it smells like, what something tastes like. They’re open to everything their senses tell them is around them. Jesus is asking us to be always wanting to learn more about God. Jesus wants us to be humble enough to say “God, teach me everything there is to know about You and Your creation.” Jesus doesn’t want us to stop doing that. After all, God is infinite and eternal, so just imagine how much we have yet to learn!

 

     Then, when little children (especially babies) discover something new, they look at it from every angle, they put it in their mouths, they roll it around. They are totally focused on now. They have the quality of immediacy. They’re totally focussed on what they have at any given moment. Jesus is asking us to be more absorbed in the present moment with God? Jesus wants us focussed on “now” - on “today.” Not lamenting yesterday and not fearing tomorrow, but focussed on today. Think of how our lives might change if we were completely focused on what God is giving us to work with, to do, to think about, to love - right now at this very moment. We wouldn’t worry about our career, or our pension, or our health, or the mistakes we’ve made or the sins we’ve committed. We’d find it so much easier to forgive and to move forward.

 

     A fourth quality that I suspect Jesus admired in little children was sheer joy. Children laugh and take delight in the simplest of things - a silly face, a little tickle, a tumbling toy. Ever play peek a boo with a baby and enjoy the laughter and smiles you got in return? Children don’t even think what others will think of them. They’re just joyous. They smile. They laugh. Jesus wants us to have that gift. Not to be worried about what somebody else thinks of us, but just to be ourselves. Just to be able to express our joy without limits or worries! Really - isn’t that what God wants for us? Repeatedly in both the Old and the New Testaments, we’re told to “rejoice.” How many of us lose the joy of living as we grow up? How many of us become deadly serious? That’s not what Jesus wants.

 

     Finally, Jesus admired the purity of children. Children don’t find themselves burdened by worldly concerns or issues or problems. How many people do I know who grew up during the Depression and have shared with me that “we never knew we were poor. That’s just how we lived.” Children see the good. Nothing’s more tragic than when a child’s pure and innocent view of life is taken away. But no matter what happens to us, God loves us and God heals us and God can restore us to purity. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” So it’s possible. If we can see and understand the goodness of God’s Kingdom around us, we’ve claimed for ourselves the purity of a little child.

 

     “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” I don’t think that’s a threat by Jesus. It’s not an attempt to keep certain people out of the Kingdom. It’s a way of throwing open the doors to the Kingdom to let everyone in by telling us what we need to reclaim for ourselves to truly understand that the Kingdom is all around us every moment of every day.

 

     Trust, wonder, immediacy, joy and purity. These are the qualities of little children - they’re also the keys to the Kingdom of God. May they be what defines our lives of faith!