Can We Be Like Children?

Rev. Seth Patterson
with Flora, Eve, and Sabrina Scharback

August 25, 2024

Scripture: Mark 10 (selected verses)

Seth

Good morning, friends! What a gift it is to be together today. Not only are we in the splendor of this Minnesota late-summer abundance, but this morning we have been given the gift of welcoming a child into this community through baptism. [at 11a: We were given the gift of welcoming baby Tulia into our community at the 9a service. This is our amazing guest cellist Noah’s littlest sister.]

Child

It’s our sister too!

Seth

That’s right, I didn’t mean to forget you three older sisters—Flora, Eve and Sabrina. It is a gift that you are here today too! Your parents have told me many times how amazing you have been as a sibling unit in this kind-of unexpected new gift of a baby sister. Your mom wrote to me and said…

Child

We know what she said! She’s our mom!

She said that Tulia has really been “our baby” as a family since her delightful surprise beginning. We were all SO thrilled and sweetly present throughout the pregnancy and then encircling our mom at the home birth to witness Tulia coming to the world. It was very special and we have given such love and care to her every minute since. We think that this tight-knit relationships will continue all our lives. Our parents are so proud of all of us for expanding our hearts so wide each time our family has grown.

Seth

Wow. That sounded almost verbatim what your mom wrote to me in an email this week.

Child

Duh! She’s our mom!

Seth

And I have witnessed this love and care. You all are very fortunate to have each other, just as this community is fortunate to have you and you are to have this community.

Child

I don’t want to be rude, but can we get on with this?

[9a] We still have another service to do today

[11a] We have been here since before 9!

Seth

Yes, of course. Should I read the scripture for today?

Child

Yeah, that seems like your job to do.

Seth

Do you want to introduce it or should I?

Child

I’ll do it. Let us all take a deep breath together [pause] and open our ears, hearts and minds to the words from our spiritual ancestors written in the book of Mark.

Seth

Well done! You said that beautifully.

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

How did I do?

Child

You read it clearly and said all the right words.

Seth

But did it make any sense?

Child

—- [Silence] —-

Seth

Hmmm. Do you have any questions about it?

Child

Yes! Why is Jesus touching children?

Seth

Ahh! That certainly is a good question. Well…

Child

Because isn’t it part of an adult’s job to receive consent before touching a child? Seems like the disciples were doing the right thing by stepping in here.

Seth

You are absolutely correct. No one has the right to touch another person, especially a child, without permission. And this story takes place about 2000 years ago in a very different place with different rules. I am glad you reminded us of the obligations of our current society, but I’m not sure it is applicable here. We can look at the Greek word translated as “touch” to see if that helps.

Child

We know this! The word is Haptomai (hap-toe-my) which means to modify or change by touching.

Seth

You knew this?

Child

Yes, we have been studying Greek since we were babies.

Seth

Really?

Child

Who knows? It could be true. Keep going…

Seth

Ok…So, the story here seems to be that people were bringing their children to Jesus so that he may affect them positively through his touch. This same Greek word is used to describe Jesus touching and healing sick people. There is an assumption that Jesus has the power to heal, change, make people better through his touch.

Child

Like when I get hurt or feel sad and I get a hug from my mom or dad?

Seth

It certainly could be something like that. Maybe parents were bringing their children to Jesus for a super loving and healing hug!

Child

Why did the disciples try to stop them? This just seems kinda nice, why stop it?

Seth

That is a good question that no one really knows the answer. It could be that in that ancient society children were not important in the same way that we take care of children now. Not that parents didn’t care (they certainly did!) but because the child mortality rate was so high that everyone protected their hearts by keeping children at a bit of a distance until they were pretty sure they would survive. By that point, they were almost adults and could work and help support their families. The Roman Empire only cared about its wealthy and elites and these people were likely very poor and marginalized.

Or, it could be for narrative effect? Jesus can’t proclaim the importance of being like a child unless there is an antagonist of some kind. Maybe the disciples were just playing a role to help get to an important point.

Child

And what is that point?

Seth

The point seems to be exactly what Jesus says: “Let the children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

Child

Right. (Pause) And again, what is the point? What is the kingdom of God and what do children have to do with this?

Seth

There is a lot of debate about what is meant by the Kingdom of God. It could be that it is a hoped-for situation for humans in the world where the oppressive power of Empires and wealth and strangling rules are eliminated, and people are free of their poverty and pain.

Sometimes people interpret it the way we might now talk about heaven: the Kingdom is something that we enter into only after we die.

It can be conceived of in a broader way too, that God, the source of all goodness and love, becomes more important than our human greed, violence and power and we all live in loving community with each other. It can be interpreted in so many ways.

Child

Gotcha. What does this have to do with us? You also used this story in the baptism of our sister earlier, so being a child seems important somehow.

Seth

Unsurprisingly, there are debates about what this means too. There are three main theories that I want to name, but others may be possible. One is that children, while important to every family and necessary for the continuation of communities, were not the focus of that culture at that time. So, Jesus naming you (children) as important was seen as a way of extending the love of God to people of all ages and not just adults.

Child

Is that the connection to the baptism? The love of God being extended to our sister?

Seth

Exactly. God loves all of us, of all ages, no matter what. A baptism doesn’t magically make someone more loved. This community gets to practice following this example by extending that love to a new person—in this case your baby sister—into our loving community through this ancient rite.

Child

We like that!

Seth

Me too! Another interpretation is one that this church doesn’t give much weight to, but is common in many other faith communities. This interpretation says that children are the example of the way to the Kingdom because children are innocent, unknowing and believe blindly. This interpretation holds power in the idea that we should all be children and just believe what we are told and not question it.

Child

So…children are stupid?

Seth

I don’t think anyone who lifts up this interpretation would say that explicitly. And I can see why you would react that way. It does seem to assume that children are empty vessels who will blindly believe whatever they are told.

Child

I don’t believe everything I’m told! Just ask my parents.

Seth

I believe you! I see the same thing in my child and I am pretty sure I was the same way too.

Child

Ok, that’s two. What’s the third possibility?

Seth

Ah, yes! Here we have to extend our reading a little bit. Do you know what story comes next?

Child

Of course! It’s possible we know everything!

After this story comes the story of a young man who asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life.

Seth

Right. And Jesus answers this way: “You know the commandments: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.” He follows this saying: “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

Child

Give everything to the poor. Very Jesus-y. What’s this have to do with children?

Seth

The author of the Book of Mark (unlikely anyone named Mark, by the way) was intentional in the story’s order. While we often break things apart, it was intended to be experienced as a whole. So, one story often reinforces the message of another. One interpretation is that children are the way to the Kingdom of God because they possess nothing. They don’t have to give anything away like the young man in the story because they have nothing to begin with.

Child

But we have stuff, we have possessions.

Seth

That’s right, you do, but in the time of this story, it was unlikely that children had anything to call their own. They likely had no possessions at all. Even now, the possessions that are “yours” are in many ways still the property of your parents. They can take them away from you and there isn’t much you can do about it. If a parent confiscates something that is “yours,” you can’t really claim that they stole your possession because they have a right to control it.

Children may be the way to “the kingdom” because you have no possessions. Adults are asked to become like children, to give up all that we own and support the poor. You are already in that position of being possession-less so we need to be more like you.

Child

Can you be like children?

Seth

That’s the question that is being asked today. That seems to be the question that Jesus was asking two thousand years ago. Can we be like children and give up everything, give it to the poor and follow the expansive love of God as exemplified through Jesus.

Child

And?

Seth

I don’t speak for all adults and I know that I have certainly not done this myself. Our society is so different now, we have organized ourselves in a way in which giving up everything in the way Jesus describes would be unsafe. Maybe it was always unsafe. Maybe we are being asked to trust in something larger than our own safety which is incredibly difficult for humans to do.

Child

So, can adults be like children?

Seth

We can certainly give up a whole lot and still have plenty for our own safety and health. We Americans often have WAY too much and can give a whole lot away to serve our communities and those stuck in cycles of poverty. We can also give up our need for comfort, for control, for power, for being right, for certainty. In addition to material things, we can give up the ways that we grip so tightly to both possessions and ideas. I think in that way we can also be like children, open to the wonders of the world and the abundance that it provides, to a hoped-for future, to the nourishing nature of love and the care of our loved ones. Can we be like children? I hope so and it will take good, intentional work of each of us alone and all of us together. May it be so.

Child

May it be so for us all.