18th Sunday after Pentecost

First, I'd like to say, "I can't believe that I have led worship at my two churches 19 times now. OK, here is Sunday's sermon:

Mark 10:2-16

2Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

10Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

13People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dewey have always lived in or near Chicago. Currently they have a house on the corner of Oak and Sedgwick streets. Although this couple was never able to conceive children of their own, they loved to have kids around. They filled their front yard with all sorts of toys and playground equipment, almost anything that a child could possibly want. All of this was open for any of the children in the neighborhood to come and to use whenever they wanted. For the children, it was heaven. There was only one catch. You see, the Deweys had fashioned a large fence around their yard and the only way in or out without a key was through a small hole in the fence. The hole was high enough off the ground that a child had to be able to stand upright to get through. It was also too small to let any adults through. This playland was for children only. This playground was a magnet for kids. Everyone knew where the Deweys house was, and just as importantly, they knew that the children were safe when they were playing there. Although they never had children of their own, the Deweys were a blessing to the kids in that town – and to the adults too.

The gospel text for today, the story of Jesus blessing the children, is one of the best-known stories in the Bible. It is one that is close to our hearts as well. It is an endearing scene, one that we can easily draw in our mind’s eye: Jesus, a great rabbi, the Son of God, spending time with children. In most of the depictions of this story you might see, the sun is shining warmly, everyone is smiling, there might be a butterfly in the air, a bird is chirping. Jesus is sitting down, a wiggly toddler on his lap and perhaps an older child or two standing just behind him, grinning ear to ear. As heart-warming as that image may be, I cannot help but wonder about Jesus words at the end of our text, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” Could it be that God’s kingdom is like the Dewey’s yard? Could it be that I have aged out?

To understand this passage more fully, it is worth remembering some of what we learned about children in Jesus’ time last week. In those days, children were not thought of as a blessing from God, at least not in the way that they are today. Children were thought to be completely unable to understand – incapable of being taught. In fact, it was considered a waste of time for a learned man to spend any time with children. Instead children were dependent upon their fathers, not only for the day to day needs of life, but also as a source of authority and instruction.

This story of Jesus and the children seems like a strange interruption to all of the teaching that Jesus is doing before and after this section. These teachings are becoming more and more counter-cultural and more and more troublesome to those who are trying to follow him. What are the disciples to make of all of this? If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; whoever among you wants to be great must become servant of all; it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom? It seems like Jesus has set the bar too high, establishing standards that no human can achieve. It is at this point that we hear the good news that Jesus offers with his teaching about children. What Jesus is telling the disciples, and us, is that it is not the children’s size that lets them into the kingdom, it is God.

Children of Jesus’ time, like those in our own, had no hope of providing for themselves or finding their own way in the world, yet God brought them through. That is why they are perfect examples of how one enters the kingdom, not by any act of piety or any amount of good works. The life that Jesus lifts up is a life that recognizes that everything that we have and everything that we are; even our very lives come as a free gift from God.

God gathers all of His creation into a family which he nurtures and sustains. Just as God cared for those who have gone before us in the faith, so too God cares for us in this time. It is Jesus who takes the children in his arms and blesses them. It is Jesus who invites us to place ourselves entirely into his care, and trust him for everything.

From all over the neighborhood, all over the world, Jesus calls to us, inviting us to step up to the gate to the kingdom of God. He has prepared this place for us. It is a place of warmth and safety, a place where joy and peace abound. And there is a hole in that fence that is just your size, prepared by God especially for you. On the other side of that fence is our loving savior waiting to take you into his arms, place his hands on your head, and proclaim for all of creation to hear, “This one belongs to me.”