Children

In our text about greatness Jesus pulls a little child into his arms and uses him as a visual aid. When Jesus says we must be like this little child, what picture do you get? Is this child 2 or 3, or 10? Does it matter? It might in the way we envision Jesus' point. There is a lot of difference between a two year old and a ten year old. The characteristics are different, what is age appropriate is different, what we expect is different. But, I am not sure that matters for the point Jesus is making here. I suppose if it were He would have told us the age, and made some point of our becoming like a ten year old child. But, He didn't. We also get the picture (at least I have) that this child came and stood quietly before the group, smiled up at Jesus sweetly, and was cute as could be. Maybe! But, he or she could have been squirmy. The child might have wiggled a lot. Or, the child might have not wanted to be held in Jesus arms and wanted to go play or go to mommy. It is not clear if the child was a cooperative visual aid. But, I am not sure this mattered either for Jesus' point.

The Bible does not always depict children as worthy of imitation. In Matthew 11:16ff Jesus compares his generation to children playing in a marketplace. They call out to their peers to play this game or that game, and the children do not cooperate, and want to do their own games. This was the way people acted in response to John's ministry and subsequently to Jesus' ministry. He was not commending children here. Paul did the same in 1 Corinthians. In chapter 3 he compares children to the carnal Christians who are full of jealousy and strife. Children can fuss and fight, can't they? They do not always play sweetly with one another. In chapter 13 he says we should grow up and stop acting like children. In 14:20 he says we should not think like children, although in regard to evil we should be innocent as children. Children are often depicted as being full of folly and in need of discipline and instruction. Children are not mature. They are under authority. They are being trained. They have no status. They are peons.

This is Jesus' point. Children often have visions of greatness. In their play they can be whoever they want to be, king, warrior, cowboy, president. But, in reality they are children. When I was ten I started an organization called the United States Jr. National Guard. It had 2-3 members. I started out the first day as a private, and by the next day rose through the ranks to become a general. My cousin was a private, maybe a corporal. But, when dad came home do you think he saluted me and called me General Rod? No, he would say, "Boy, go get your bath and get to bed." He knew who I was. He saw me as I am. Jesus saw his disciples as sons and brothers even if they were envisioning themselves into some man-made hierarchy for new kingdom business. Jesus knew they were merely servants, children of God under His authority and His servants. Jesus knew that no matter what was in the head of this little child in His arms, the child was still going to be told, "Boy get your bath and go to bed." Humility was the point. Children are subject to the orders of others. They have a lot of bosses and little personal, self-generated authority. Whatever authority they might have is permissive authority, delegated authority, coming down from someone who has the real authority. There is only one Master, and the rest are brothers (Read Matt.23). Perhaps it is time to treat children as they are, and not as they envision themselves to be. Perhaps it is time for us to learn this lesson.