CW* Trinity 17 - Proper 20

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition (Matthew 18)

He called a child, whom he put among them, 3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Mk 10:15). 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition (Luke 9)

“Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me, for the least among all of you is the greatest.”*

“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Thank you for having me back with you at your lovely Church, it’s a delight to be here.

What does it mean to welcome a child in the name of Jesus? Does it mean that when we welcome a child in Jesus’s name we see the child as Jesus? Or does it mean that to represent Jesus accurately in the world, to bear his name, entails welcoming children in a loving way? To welcome the child in the name of Jesus.

Yes and yes! Children, like many adults too, are exposed and vulnerable to the systems of the world which they cannot influence. God, in Jesus, makes Godself vulnerable to the systems of world in becoming a human child and is exposed to the world’s attempt at cultural self-preservation in his death on the Cross. In our Gospel reading, just before speaking of welcoming children in his name, Jesus speaks of his death, that “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” When we welcome a child with love and patience, when we treat those with whom we have made promises as more than contractual obligations, when we offer space and generosity to understand the other, when we are ready to say sorry, we welcome Jesus. When we welcome a child, or anyone with little power, when we welcome them in Jesus’s name we see them as Jesus, the one who gave up his power for the sake of the children of God.

But it is also true that we welcome a child in the name of Jesus by doing as he did, recognising what power we have, which may be great or small, and not using that power to override the freedom of others. In doing so, we represent Jesus accurately in the world. We welcome children of God in the name of Jesus.

“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

It’s always good to make clear that this does not mean that victims of abuse should just put up with their abuse. It is those who have power who are called to follow God in Jesus and give up their power, to become a servant, to become a child, to become a child in the sense of loosening the control one might have in a system, in a relationship, in a conversation.

There are of course lots of ways in which becoming like children isn’t what we are called to do: the phrases, “It’s mine,” “I need it,” “No, I won’t,” come to mind! We are called to mature as Christians. To grow up in the faith by learning to let go.

But, as well as the handing over of power, there are ways in which we are called to become like children. GK Chesterton suggests one way in his book, Orthodoxy. He speaks of the assumption upon which ‘the towering materialism which dominates the modern mind rests.’ It is supposed, he says, ‘that if a thing goes on repeating itself it is probably dead; a piece of clockwork. People feel that if the universe was personal it would vary; if the sun were alive it would dance. This is a fallacy even in relation to known fact. For the variation in human affairs is generally brought into them, not by life, but by death; by the dying down or breaking off of their strength or desire. A person varies their movements because of some slight element of failure or fatigue. They get into a bus because they are tired of walking; or they walk because they are tired of sitting still. But if their life and joy were so gigantic that they never tired of going to Woking, they might go to Woking as regularly as the Thames goes to Sheerness. The very speed and ecstacy of their life would have the stillness of death. The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning; but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction. Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because she never gets tired of rising. Her routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks their legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until they are nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that God has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.’

“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.