I have been thinking a lot about this passage from Matthew in recent weeks. Even though it is a simple passage, I think it invites us to think about what Jesus was trying to teach in that moment and scholars emphasize two essential ideas. The first is that no one, not even the smallest child or those who are sick or ostracized or considered unworthy in any way would be excluded from the loving gaze of Jesus. He always had time to welcome those who others considered beneath them or lesser. The second message we might draw from this reading is the invitation to each of us to travel back to our childhood selves and consider the ways in which God called to us even then, inviting us to embrace our own spiritual experiences as important in our lives. Do we recall moments of grace or awe? Did we hear the message that Jesus loves the little children and imagine that included us? Let us pray,
I wonder if you can think back to your own childhoods and if you have any distinct memories of feeling surrounded by the love of God, or a moment when you felt a deep inner peace or you were moved by a song or story at church. It is often in our early years that God begins to invite us into an intimate relationship. Richard Rohr tells a story of a mystical experience he recalls that took place in his living room as a 5-year-old at Christmas. Gazing at the sparkling lighted tree, he suddenly knew the world to be totally good and himself to be totally loved. He never told anyone about this at the time, but he believes that such experiences are not uncommon and that it is so important to reclaim those memories and to share them with others as they are truly a part of our human experience, one that often goes untold.
The writer Parker Palmer shared a story he once heard about a three-year-old girl from Seattle. Her parents had recently brought her newborn brother home from the hospital, and she was so excited about having a brother that within a few hours of their return, she asked to be alone with him in his room. Her insistence about being alone with her baby brother made her parents uneasy, but they had purchased a baby monitor for the nursery, so they felt it would be okay to allow her time alone with him. They laid their baby in his crib, brought their daughter into his room, shut the door, then raced to the monitor to listen in. After a few seconds they heard their daughter’s footsteps moving closer to the crib, when suddenly they heard her whisper, “Tell me what God looks like. I’ve almost forgotten.” Have we forgotten… and how might we reclaim those precious moments as children that taught us something about the love of our God?
In this brief passage from Matthew’s Gospel today, we witness an important moment in Jesus’ ministry. Rev. Dr. Brian Blount
Writes, “For children, we would do anything. Children are the closest thing to a miracle in most of our modern lives. They are blessings we indulge with the best of our energy, support, protection, attention, and acceptance. We not only welcome them into our company—we make them the center of our attention. We watch what they do. Marvel at how they grow. Attend to what they say. In many modern contexts, it may seem sweet that Jesus welcomed little children; however, in Jesus’ setting, spending time with children would have seemed wasteful or useless. When Jesus blesses a crowd of children (after the disciples rebuke them and try to send them away), he invites all who are gathered to consider children and all of God’s children in a different way. If they are important to him, they should also be important to all who are listening. We know that throughout his ministry, Jesus emphasized the last, the least, and the lost, building upon the mandates of the Hebrew scriptures to care for the immigrant, widow, and orphan among you.
The book of Deuteronomy repeatedly reminds the Israelites, “you were once slaves in Egypt.” Their memory of oppression should compel them to provide for anyone under-resourced or cut off from the protection of a household. Similarly, Jesus uplifting children is a reminder that we were all once children and we have all been vulnerable at some point in our lives, relying on the protection and care of others. If we’re truly living out the good news, then anyone vulnerable should not only be protected from harm but cared for so that they have the opportunity to thrive.
It would be impossible to speak about care for our children without mentioning what is happening in our world today. From hundreds of immigrant children who are even now being held in detention centers in our own country, afraid, traumatized, getting sick…to the children in the Middle East, Ukraine and parts of Africa caught in the crossfire of the violence there. It is a tragedy for them and for their families who I’m sure are sick with worry and grief.
I certainly wonder what Jesus would say in this moment in time. To welcome the children includes a responsibility to make sure that we are doing everything to protect them from harm, much as we would our own children or grandchildren.
The Civil Rights Activist and distinguished lawyer, Marian Wright Edelman, was so moved about the plight of vulnerable children in our country that she founded the organization called the Children’s Defense Fund in 1973. She was raised in and was the daughter of a Baptist preacher who encouraged his children’s education from an early age. He died when she was only 14; however with her mother’s great support and her distinguished academic record, she attended Spelman College, graduating at the top of her class and then Yale Law School. She was active in the Civil Rights movement over many years and, moved by the plight of children who she saw as most vulnerable, she founded the Children’s Defense Fund as a voice for poor children, children of color, and children with disabilities. She has said, “If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much. “ The organization has served as an advocacy and research center for children’s issues, documenting the problems and possible solutions to children in need. She has worked tirelessly to persuade Congress to overhaul foster care, support adoption, improve child care and protect children who are disabled, homeless, abused or neglected. She believes, “If you don’t like the way the world is, you have an obligation to change it. Just do it one step at a time. The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people’s children.” As a woman of faith, she believes that her commitment to advocating for our children is central to the teachings of Jesus.
In our reading this morning, Jesus shows his followers that despite how society viewed children in his time, he embraces them with love and compassion. He wants his followers to treat these children the way they would treat him.
In an earlier passage from Matthew 18:1-5, Jesus warns that only those who humble themselves like children will receive entry into the reign of God. He follows up that startling revelation with the even more striking declaration that in welcoming the lowly child, one welcomes Jesus himself. When his disciples attempt to push the children away from Jesus’ sacred space, he challenges them to understand the radical truth about God’s reign that Jesus is trying so desperately to teach them. The reign of God belongs to children and everyone who, like children, are not granted society’s respect and acceptance.
The stories of Jesus, these Gospels, are good news, not because they are easy or always make us feel good, but because they challenge us to think in new ways, even when we think we fully understand his message. They open up our gaze and widen our circle of care; they also are good news to us when we feel vulnerable or less than worthy. They are good news because they transcend the lived reality of our world. In the Kin’dom of God, all are valued, even the smallest, the most vulnerable and yes, the children. I wonder how our world would look if we made all important decisions in our communities and in our government that asked how any of this would affect the most vulnerable children in our midst? In this season of Lent, the good news is that God, through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, extends the same radical welcome even to us.
I’ll close with this poem by Taylor Leonhardt…
Today if you hear him, Skipping rocks on the river, Laughing in the garden, Like when you were young Today if you hear him,
Walking through the pine woods, Racing down the big hill,
Calling you to come Don’t be too grown, oh, For your own sake.
Let the children come, Let us become like children today.
Today if you hear him, Let your feet take off running,
Don’t worry who is watching, Let him kiss you on the face.
Don’t be too grown, oh, For your own sake. Let the children come,
Let us become like children today.
Let the children come, Let us become like children today.
—Taylor Leonhardt, “Today If You Hear Him”