Mark 10:13-16
For
many people in the world today, children seem to be a nuisance. They get in the
way of the fun we had planned, the independence and free-flowing lifestyle.
They take our time, attention, energy and patience. They can push us in ways we
never imagined possible, even to the edge of sanity! But children can also be a
wonderful blessing, bringing more joy and fulfillment than anything else in
life. And grand parenting, don’t get me started!
In
our culture babies have been devalued repeatedly. I imagine you heard about the
church denomination that said it is OK to kill the live-born baby after a
botched abortion. That’s right, the baby is born alive and they said it was OK
to kill it, or let it die without intervention. So they have moved from killing
babies in the womb to killing them outside, if they aren’t wanted. I sure hope
I don’t end up on their “Not Wanted” list. I might be next.
Jesus’
disciples had a problem with children. They were a product of their culture,
just as we are a product of ours. Because infant mortality was so high,
children were often not given much value until they had made it for a few
years. If they didn’t get killed off by some disease or malnutrition, then they
were given status as a person. This sounds familiar. We don’t grant value to a
baby until ‘viability’ in the womb, an artificial line in the sand. The baby is
a human before that point and after that point, just as an apple is an apple
even when it is small and green.
Some
people “don’t want to impose” their values, especially religious values on
their children. They want them to be able to choose. What foolishness. They are
already passing along their values to their children by the way they live. They
are actually saying that these most important issues of life are irrelevant by
not purposefully passing along the values. They pass along the value of not
lying to them, and yet they lie about their stated beliefs and their lived
beliefs.
Jesus
gathers these small children into His arms in order to flip the value system on
their day on its head. The simple trust that children have is the kind of trust
we should have in our relationship to the LORD. Simple faith, not blind faith.
Children learn that their parents can be trusted or not trusted by their
interactions with them very early on in life. Long before they have language to
express needs, they communicate those needs. When parents respond, the child is
soothed and they learn that other people can be trusted to meet their needs.
Jesus
challenges His disciples, and us, to trust Him. He has been faithful in the
past. He has not changed. He will be faithful in the future.