What is it about children that causes Jesus to tell us to emulate them in regards to membership in the Kingdom of Heaven?

Video link here:

Mark 10:13-16… About Children

Audio links  – iTunes and Spotify – are to the right.

Here is the transcript I used to record today’s podcast.

Mark

The Little Children and Jesus

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Jesus, continuing to teach on the basis of entry into the kingdom and thereby confronting the human love of greatness, returns to the theme of “little ones” (9:37, 42). Because God’s kingdom belongs to people who come to Jesus like status-less children (v. 14), entry into the kingdom is dependent on receiving it like dependent children, as a completely undeserved gift (v. 15; cf. Luke 17:10). This stands in striking contrast to the rich, law-abiding man who cannot let go of his great wealth.

Edited by Carson, D. A. (2018). NIV, Biblical Theology Study Bible. Zondervan

 

I am always humbled when I see a child’s reaction to the world around them. When my sister came home from school at the age of 5 or 6 she mentioned to Mom that she had a new best friend. When the class picture was taken, Phyllis pointed her out – a black child. And this at a time when the Civil Rights movement was in full swing, with racial tensions running high between the black and white communities. When Phyllis saw that black child, she saw a friend. When my children were little they took joy in so many things – when a leaf was falling from a tree in Fall, they would stop and watch it float to the ground – “Look, Dad! Isn’t it pretty?” On a hot summer day, the joy in our children’s faces as they ate a cold slice of watermelon while sitting on the worn wooden steps of our house… loved it. Our children saw joy and miracles in every aspect of the world around them.

I am not sure when it happened for me, but at some point I became a cynic, assuming the worst in the places and the people around me. I have spent years as a Christian pursuing the joy and contentment I had as a child from a poor family.

There is so much talk today of “white privilege”, and I get it. I really do – for centuries a white person had privileges that a person of color just did not have access to. This has led to the point where today – no matter what side of that debate you are on – there is an expectance of privilege (on both sides of the racial divide). It’s your right to have this thing or that thing. It’s your right to have this position or that position. People everywhere are demanding what’s theirs by right.

A child doesn’t act that way by nature. There is an acceptance of life, there is an expectation of joy. Christmas is magical, joy abounds. I so thoroughly enjoy CS Lewis’ series “The Chronicles of Narnia”. The adventure of Heaven from a child’s point of view is at the core of it all. The Pevensies did not seek out Narnia, they were called into it (another discussion for another time – hah!), a kingdom with talking animals, magic (good and bad), and heroic battles between good and evil, where good wins. Narnia is so different compared to where they came from (war-torn London), but in short order they accept it and move into their adventure.

THAT is how Jesus says we are to approach our entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Our entry into “Narnia” is not because we have a “right” to membership there (as a Pharisee would say about their membership in Heaven). Where The Pharisee spends so much energy on achieving purity that the joy is sucked from their life, the child simply lives in joy and expectation. I love it how a child doesn’t think about their station in this life – they pursue joy. That is their nature. Therefore, according to Jesus, that should be the earmark of the Christ-follower.

I love to look at children and see how they choose to pursue joy. CS Lewis when being castigated for writing stories centering on magic (i.e. Chronicles of Narnia) is reported to have replied “Of course there’s magic – ask any child”. There is a purity in a child’s approach to life that fades away as they get older. Yet the child’s approach to life is exactly the example we are to follow when it comes to pursuing the Kingdom of Heaven.

As a child, I believed something would happen simply because my mother or father told me it would happen. I went to sleep every night with a sense of security and safety because Mom and Dad were in the room next door. My faith in my parents was a faith that did not demand proof and answers to my every question.

The disciples were asserting their “privilege” as favored disciples of Jesus, assuming an importance that was not theirs and turning the children away from Messiah.

Here is a reminder from the previous chapter where Jesus referenced little children:

Mark 9:37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Whereas Herod and the Pharisees are concerned with their own honor (cf. 6:21–26; 12:38–39), Jesus’ followers should humbly welcome even the least.

Edited by Carson, D. A. (2018). NIV, Biblical Theology Study Bible. Zondervan

 

There is a simplicity and a joy that I am striving to regain in my walk as a Christ-follower. The simplicity, joy, and power of a child’s faith is not to be dismissed.

Blessings!

Paige