GOD’S KINGDOM IS IN THE LITTLE ONES
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mark 10:13-16
20th Sunday after Pentecost, October 6, 2024
Rev. Dr. Ritva H. Williams
We meet Jesus this morning in the region of Judea beyond the Jordan (east of the Jordan River in what is today the Kingdom of Jordan). “They” are bringing young children to Jesus in order that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuke “them.” Who are “they” and “them”?
The most likely scenario is that they are women — mothers, grandmothers, aunts, older sisters — who are bringing their own children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and/or younger siblings to Jesus. In ancient times, women were not legally independent, autonomous persons, but had the same status as minors. Some men even insisted that women should not step outside their homes except to go to worship. The disciples seem to buy into these ideas. By publicly rebuking these women seeking Jesus’ help they are trying to shame them into return to their proper place.
These women fear for the health, safety, and survival of their little children. Lacking clean water, adequate nutrition, modern sanitation and scientific medicine, 25-30% of babies died before their first birthday. The majority never reached puberty. These women want Jesus to bless their little ones to keep them safe and healthy, and to heal the ones who are sick, failing to thrive, or actively dying.
When Jesus sees the disciples rebuking the women, he is indignant.
Indignant: adjective referring to a feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, or insulting. Synonyms include furious, livid, irate — you get the picture. Jesus is not just displeased by the behavior of his disciples, he is furious. Why?
Jesus is consistently counter-cultural in lifting up those whom patriarchal society puts down. In the previous chapter, Jesus declared, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” (Mark 9:37). The disciples have not understood that every weak, helpless, vulnerable and dependent child is “a sacrament of God’s presence.” The disciples fail to see God’s image in these children and in the women who bring them to Jesus with so much hope and trust. Are we like that too?
Jesus orders the disciples, “Release the little children to come to me, do not hinder them, for in such as these is the kingdom of God.” Jesus did not say God’s kingdom belongs to children like these (as in the NRSV). That’s not in the original language. God’s kingdom belongs to God. I know many of you have been taught that God’s kingdom is a place somewhere up above, called heaven, and you might get to go there after you die. If that’s the case, you have wonder what Jesus means when he says “in such as these is the kingdom of God”?
Two clarifying pieces of information:
In both Hebrew and Greek, the word “heaven” is the same word as “sky,” and refers to everything within the earth’s atmosphere to the vast expanses of outer space. Science teaches that the earth’s atmosphere begins just above ground level. We walk upon the earth while our bodies move through the skies-heavens.
Jesus explains to his disciples that the Kingdom of God is (a) within, among, or in the midst of y’all (Luke 17:21) and (b) spread out on the earth, but humans don’t see it (Gospel of Thomas 113).
In today’s gospel Jesus is saying that God’s kingdom exists, happens, finds a home, and is present even in the weakest, most helpless, and most vulnerable members of the human family. Children (like little Nora whom we just baptized) are completely dependent on others for survival. They rely on and trust others to protect, provide and care for them. What is Jesus trying to tell us? Could it be that God’s kingdom manifests itself in relationships of faith, trust, reliance, and interdependence? It would make sense, since we worship a God who is a trinity of loving, gracious, faithful, interdependent beings. This triune God invites all of us, without exception, to join their circle by loving and relying on God and on one another.
Jesus’ statement, “whoever does not receive God’s reign like these little ones do, may not enter into it,” challenges the disciples’ way of relating to people in their society. The patriarchal values that give male leaders permission to publicly rebuke women, dismiss children, ignore those who are poor, push aside persons with disabilities, and actively oppress those who are strange or foreign or just different, are obstacles that inhibit their participation in God’s kingdom of loving, faithful, trusting, interdependent relationships.
Jesus challenges us today also, to consider what gets in the way of our participating in God’s kingdom here and now. Belief in rugged individualism, self-reliance and independence from all outside influences? The notion that our personal success is entirely the result of own talents, skills, efforts, and merit? Unacknowledged prejudices about the people we live and work among? Focusing on me, myself and I as the center of life? I’ll come back to this in a moment.
Our gospel reading closes with Jesus taking the children up in his arms, laying hands on them, and blessing them. What does it mean to bless someone?
The poet John O’Donohue writes,
The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable.… A blessing is not a sentiment or a question; it is a gracious invocation where the human heart pleads with the divine heart … When a blessing is invoked, it changes the atmosphere….a person or situation becomes illuminated in a completely new way. In a dead wall a new window opens, in dense darkness a path starts to glimmer, and into a broken heart healing falls like morning dew….in the activity of blessing [the quiet eternal that dwells in our souls] emerges to embrace and nurture us.
Have you ever received a blessing? Whether or not your experience matches John O’Donohue’s description you are probably familiar with the practice of “counting your blessings.”
During October as we listen in order to perceive how God is calling us to grow in faith and spirituality, I will be sharing snippets from this little booklet, Living Gratitude — 28 days of Prayer and Thanksgiving. The first week focuses on “gratitude,” and begins with a reflection by Amy Linneman. She describes counting her blessings, cataloging all the things she was thankful for. Each list gave her renewed energy and optimism that crumbled in the face of the next day’s frustrations. A Bible study helped Linneman realize:
…the only thread connecting my blessings was their net effect on me … but I had entirely neglected to direct my gratitude toward the One I was thankful to … That afternoon marked a spiritual shift. Instead of propping up my tenuous contentment with lists of things that made me happy, I slowly began to thank God directly for creating and sustaining me, for designing and loving my family, for diffusing pink light into a … sunrise, and for inventing … song …
Linneman realized that blessings were not about making her happy, but about God’s constant presence in her life even when “the good things” faltered.
Let me give you some homework for this week. Instead of counting your blessings (as in things that make you happy), make a list, write a story, color a picture, sing a song, do something creative about how God shows up in people, places, and things you didn’t expect.
And may you experience each day a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder. Amen.
