A CHILD?

Dr. Richard J. Henderson September 24, 2006

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James 3:13-4:3
Mark 9: 30-37

Introduction

The heart monitor bleeps more slowly; the respirator continues its steady rhythm. Their mother is in the Intensive Care Unit, while they stand outside the hospital's main door. They are arguing over who will get her belongs. One daughter wants her diamond ring; a son also wants it for his daughter; the other sister thinks it should be hers. Another son wants to sell the house right away because he needs the money now. One of the daughters insists on having her mother's new car.

Their voices get louder. Soon they are shouting at each other. Two of the siblings leave the hospital in anger.

We all know of these instances where a parent is dying and already the children are fighting over the inheritance. The mother hasn't passed away yet, and the children are arguing over who gets her belongings. It's obscene. Can't they see what they are doing? It's crass and heartless.

I

I get the same kind of feeling with this account of the disciples. Jesus speaks with strong emotion and halting speech telling them about the pain that is ahead for him - the humiliation, betrayal, and death. They look at him and seem to hear, but a short time later he overhears them arguing with each other about who is the best disciple. Jesus is painfully trying to tell them what will happen to him, and the next thing he knows they're arguing over who should get the lifetime achievement award. Jesus anguishes over his coming death, and all the disciples can think of is who is the most valuable disciple.

This is an enormous insult to Jesus, but he sits them down and patiently says, "Whoever wants to be first must be last and the servant of all."

II

The disciples must be very embarrassed. And then Jesus does a very unusual thing. He takes a child, picks him up and embraces him. "Whoever welcomes such a child in my name welcomes me ... and the One who sent me."

The disciples go from embarrassed to confused.

A child? What's going on here? Why would he choose a child? A homeless person we could understand, or a widow, or someone with leprosy, or a beggar, but a child? Why would Jesus choose a child?

III

Maybe it's because an innocent child is such a contrast with the ambitious disciples. The disciples argue over who's the greatest and Jesus offers them a shock - a little kid! No power; no ambition; no scratching to climb to the top.

The child has to be cared for, looked after. He's not trying to manipulate his way above the others. The child is simply living - accepting what's been given to him.

Jesus tells them of the anguish that is coming to him, and the disciples argue over who ranks number one. The disciple's attitude is so different from the child's. The disciples are elbowing each other to get ahead; the child accepts that he is powerless, and that he needs help. They have completely different attitudes.

IV

But if you look carefully at the Bible, Jesus' words aren't about the child's attitude, but the disciple's actions: "Whoever welcomes a child"

Maybe Jesus is teaching us to care for the helpless, those who can't get by without assistance, the innocent. Be servants to those who can be hurt and are hurting. Give yourself to those who need you, depend on you, and especially, those who can't repay you.

We live in a "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" world. I'll help you if you help me. Sometimes an apparently generous, selfless gift has strings attached to it. I'll give you a bundle of money; you name a building on campus after me.

But when you help a child there isn't anything he can give you in return. The teachers who give themselves to our kids never really are repaid by those kids, although they often mean so much in a child's life.

So maybe Jesus holds up the child to say, care for those who can't repay you, those who are vulnerable, those who need your help.

V

But there's more to Jesus' action. Children in Jesus' day weren't valued. They were too young to help in the fields, they often were sick; many didn't make it to adulthood. Two scholars have written a book about life in Jesus' time. They talk about children in that day.

"Childhood in antiquity was a time of terror. Infant mortality rates sometimes reached thirty percent. Another thirty percent of live births were dead by the age of six, and sixty percent were gone by age sixteen. Children always suffered first from famine, war, disease, and dislocation.

Children had little status within the community or family ... the term "child" could be used as a serious insult." (1)

So Jesus is saying here to embrace the rejected; help those who are powerless; be there for the people considered worthless.

Jesus took into his arms this one who could be considered an insult and embraced him. "When you welcome such a child in my name, you welcome me and the one who sent me." In that act he is showing us to offer ourselves to the ones of lowest social rank, the most helpless. Rather than vying for the top spot, make yourself comfortable with those at the bottom.

Conclusion

In the third century a document was written for churches about how they should live their life together. One part of this guide explains what to do if a needy person arrives at church unexpectedly and there is no room for him at the table. "If a destitute man or woman, either a local person or a traveler, arrives unexpectedly, especially one of older years, and there is no place, you, bishop, make such a place with all your heart, even if you yourself should sit on the ground, that you may not show favoritism among human beings, but that your ministry may be pleasing before God." (2)

Can you picture a bishop in full regalia getting up from the table to give his seat to a homeless man, and then going off to the side and sitting on the ground?

That is exactly what Jesus would like you to picture.

Amen

©Richard J. Henderson 2006