Where the Children are Blessed (Mark 10.13-16) 10-3-2021

There is a story of a pastor taking a group of confirmands through the church and asking them what certain things mean. This included the stain glass windows in the sanctuary. As they went around the room, they came to one where Jesus was surrounded by children. When asked what this window represented, a student piped up, “Oh, I know this one. It was when Jesus ran a preschool.”

All too often our notions of Jesus with children are a lot like that student’s notion, that Jesus had children hanging off of him all the time and that he was giving them all the attention that he could. It is a romanticized version of the events in today’s scripture that is captured in many songs about Jesus loving the little children. And in some cases, this is true. Jesus did love children and wanted them around him when they came. But there is so much more to what is happening in our text today.

This text follows Jesus’ teaching on divorce and marriage. As always there was a group testing him and asking what his thought on divorce would be. Jesus answers them as he always did, by going to the scriptures and seeing what Moses had said about this. But Jesus’ answer is not really about divorce. It is about marriage and the sanctity of that institution. Jesus did not come down hard on divorce and say no divorce. Rather he was telling them that they were hurting people, specifically women, with divorce and that the ideal was for marriage.

See, in the ancient world there were many takes on divorce. For some divorce could only occur in a case of unfaithfulness which Jesus describes in Matthew. For others divorce could have been for anything that displeased the husband, which would have included the wife not looking as good as another woman. It was a fluid time. But when there was divorce, there was no safety net for the woman. There was no alimony, no child support. A woman either had to go back to her family (if she were lucky) or take to the streets to beg or to turn to prostitution. It was a bad thing for a woman when divorce came in. All the rights that she might have enjoyed were taken away.

And so, Jesus makes a statement that stands for women. In a world that favored the man of the family, Jesus is telling them to remember to take care of the women. That just because they get tired of someone is no reason to cast them aside. It is a statement of grace and mercy that he tells them what he does about marriage and divorce.

Which leads us to today’s passage. Now one may wonder how a text about marriage and divorce can play into a passage about children but stick with me for a little while.

Jesus had been teaching when asked the question about divorce. That would mean there was a large crowd that was gathered around him. And in this crowd, there were parents with children. These parents were doing whatever parents did when a holy man was nearby, they brought them to be touched by him. To be touched would have meant that a blessing or even healing would have been passed on to the child. This even included touching the hem of the garments that the teacher was wearing. It was a time when there would have been many people gathered around to have the children (they were not all small children. Some could have been at least 12) be touched and they were gathered around Jesus.

The disciples, seeing this, took charge. They began to scold, or rebuke, the parents or guardians not to bother the teacher with children. Did they not see that he was busy with bigger and better things than to be bothered with children? Take them away and come some other time, but when is a good question because he is always busy with the people asking him questions.

But Jesus would have none of this. When he heard what was being said to the parents and to the children, he became indignant, or irate, with the disciples. He told them to stop preventing them from coming to him. That the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like the children.

Jesus then tells them that whoever does not receive the kingdom as a small child will never enter it. Now, there are those who say that it is because of the innocence of children that Jesus says this. But this is not the case. We have a romanticized vision of what children are in our society. They are to be sweet, caring and innocent. This not so, as any parent can attest. Children can be as belligerent, conniving and uncaring as any adult. So, what is Jesus talking about when he says that those who do not come as children will not enter the kingdom?

In the ancient world children did not rank high at all in the social order. Today, children are seen as precious and worthy of status. Then children were seen as immature adults. They had no status whatsoever. Some slaves had more status than children did. Children could also be seen as temporary due to the high mortality rate among children and infants.

In this world the family was ruled by the paterfamilias or the father. And the father’s word was law. It is said that in the pagan world that if the father wanted to keep child born or to get rid of it, all he had to do was give the word. He therefore held the power of life and death in his hands. And even as the children got older the same thing was applied. The father could expel from a family anyone who did not meet their standards. It was the father who held sway over a family. And it was the father who determined what happened with children. They had no say in the matter.

And so, Jesus is telling the disciples and the crowd that to enter the kingdom, they must come as children without any expectation of rewards or titles. They must come relying only on the grace of God. And because they expect nothing, they are given everything in the kingdom.

With that Jesus embraces the children, he hugs them in what we might think of as a big bear hug. This is showing the crowd that the children belong and that they are as special as the experts of the law that are gathered around him.

We sing Jesus loves the little children. And we believe that. Texts like the one for today prove that. But do we love the little children? There is a statistic from 2012 (and I am sure that the numbers are higher now) that one in five children were poor in America. That was 16.1 million children. That was 16.1 million who did not have adequate housing, food or medical care. In 2019 those numbers were higher and with COVID they will be higher still. These children are like those in ancient times, unable to have a voice and unable to be a part of the larger society.

And what about those at the border? There are still children who are without parents. They have done nothing but to come looking for a better life even if it is not something that we would consider better. There are the Haitian migrants who have been forcibly removed from the border towns as they seek a safe place to live. What about those children who have done nothing but come with their parents? What do we say about those, the least of these? Do we love them as Jesus does?

Finally, what about us? Do we come as children to the kingdom of God? Do we come with receptive hearts for the kingdom and expecting nothing for our efforts? Or do we come expecting that the kingdom will be open to us because of what we have done to enter the kingdom?

On this World Communion Sunday, may we be reminded that we are to come as children, expecting nothing because we can bring nothing, but gaining everything. May we see the gifts of bread and juice as they are, gifts of God that we have done nothing to earn. May we come to the table as children, the children of God. Amen.