Year
B, Pentecost 18
Mark 9:30-38
One
of my favorite paintings of Jesus depicts him seated with children surrounding
him. He is talking to one boy with his
arm around the boy’s shoulder. A little
girl has her head on his shoulder. I
have had this print for as long as I can remember. The picture is so ingrained in me that when I
think of Jesus, I see that Jesus. Most
of us have probably seen a picture or painting of Jesus with children. There is
a reason politicians are always kissing babies. It’s heartwarming. It makes you feel good. It makes you want to
trust them. We want that image of Jesus
as much as we want that image of national leaders. This image comes in part
from our Gospel for today.
Our
Gospel for today is jam packed. The
children only come in at the end of the reading. It starts with Jesus teaching his disciples,
explaining that he would be killed and then rise again. The disciples were understandably confused by
this, but didn’t not ask for an explanation.
Instead, they got into an argument about who was the greatest. Greatest at what we do not know. Greatest disciple, greatest miracle worker,
greatest fisherman. We don't know. What we do know is that Jesus didn’t like
it. In response to their petty argument,
he told them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of
all.”
Now,
if you have been coming to church for a while, you have probably heard this so
many times, it no longer seems shocking. Yet, if you think about it, it must
have sounded kind of crazy to the disciples who were hearing it for the first
time. And Jesus knew it sounded
crazy. He knew that his disciples were not
catching on to everything he was teaching.
So he decided to show them what he meant. He took a child and held the child in his
arms. He said, “Whoever welcomes one
such child in my name welcomes me…”
Well
isn’t that sweet. Can’t you just see the disciples nodding along with big
smiles? I have always imagined the scene
with loving parents not far off looking on-- proud of their son or daughter and
grateful to Jesus for taking such an interest in their child. It must have been as heartwarming then as we
perceive it now. Perhaps not. You see... the way we treat children in our
culture or social circles is not how all people perceive or treat children. We expect our children to be doted on and
loved. We expect them to have family
looking after them. That may be our
experience--and we are fortunate if it is, but it is certainly not the
norm. It is really only in modern
history when children had rights, let alone the exalted place they currently
hold in our culture.
In
the time that Jesus was living in, children were the least of these. They had no rights. The mortality rate was high and people could
not assume their child would live to be an adult. Women had lots of children to ensure that at
least some would live to carry on the family name and tradition. Today, if there was a food scarcity, the
children would be fed first. Then, they would have been fed last, if fed at
all. Not only were they not highly
regarded, they were a nuisance. They had
to be taken care and could not contribute much to the family. Therefore when Jesus told his disciples, “Whoever
welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me…” ---That would have been
shocking.
While
this view of children seems unimaginable to most of us, it’s not actually that
unthinkable. I can’t speak for you all,
but I have been very fortunate in that in my world, I have almost always seen
children treated well. I have been
sheltered. I remember there was only one
time in my life when I saw children in a desperate situation. When I was 9, my parents took me on a day
trip to a border town in Mexico. As soon
as we crossed over the border, we were surrounded by children asking for money. I gave all my money away in the first 15
minutes. It just blew my mind that these
children were just wandering the streets. The scary thing is, that is a lot
more common than most of us want to admit.
There are a lot of children
out there who are unloved, who are hungry, carrying contagious and deadly
diseases, disfigured because they didn’t get the proper nutrition in the womb,
deserted because they were born a girl, scared and desperate because their
parents have been killed in war or they have been separated from their parents
for reasons beyond their control.
Children are suffering all over the world.
There
are the children who occasionally pluck the strings of our heart when we see a
horrifying image on the news, but these are images that we can push back
because they are not our own. I want to
paint you a new picture. These are the
children who are surrounding Jesus in this story. They are dirty, hungry and sick. They are neglected and unwanted. They are
being shot at because of the color of their skin. They are being bought and sold as slaves. They
are dying. And Jesus wasn’t just handing them some loose change, he was holding
them in his arms and telling his chosen 12 that these, these were the people
who mattered to him. And if they
mattered to him, they should matter to his disciples as well. They should matter to all of us.
I
know that there are a lot of you who are working for children in our community
and some outside our community. St. John’s has been working with Downtown
Hampton Development Center that provides low cost early education for many
years; we have parishioners who take children shopping for school supplies; we
have people who tutor at the local schools; our St. Anne’s Guild works with the
Boys Home in Covington and many of you serve on boards of various agencies
committed to helping children. Our music
academy is currently reaching out to provide music lessons to children who
might not be able to otherwise afford it. Those are all such important things.
We can do more. Right now violent crime
by youth and to youth is up in Hampton. Some of these teenagers who are the
victims, witnesses, and offenders of these crimes have never known the love
that Jesus asks us to share. Right now the Mayor’s office is working with local
churches at forming mentor programs for youth in junior high. This is another opportunity to follow Jesus’
charge to his disciples, to care for the least of these…not just the cute
children we see depicted in religious art, the children who really desperately
need our love.
Typically, when we think of Jesus
loving the children, we think of innocence, curiosity and loyalty. But Jesus was talking about the aspects of
children that are harder to love. While
that is a challenge to all of us, it is comforting to know that he loves the
parts of each of us that are hard to love.
As a wise person once said, "Jesus loves us just the way we are,
but he loves us too much to let us stay that way." Just one chapter after our reading for today,
Jesus and the disciples once again interact with children. The disciples rebuked
the children for seeking his blessing.
It seems they did not learn that lesson very well. But that's ok- they were slow learners like
most of us are. Jesus took the children
in his arms and blessed them again. I bet he also blessed his disciples, because they needed love too. It's
not easy to be Jesus' disciples. It's
not easy to love the least of these.
Thankfully, we have many opportunities.
Even if we mess up and don't love as we should, we have countless
opportunities to share Jesus’ blessings, and if we take these opportunities, the
potential is unlimited.
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