This passage sounds like a contradiction. So much of the Christian faith is about growth and transformation. We are encouraged to seek more depth in what we believe. We are encouraged to not stay in the shallow end with the children. As always with Jesus however, the world is turned upside down. Just when we think we have the answer, that we’ve figured it out and we have a handle on who we are and who were called to be, God’s grace surprises us. The last is first. The greatest is the servant. And we are told to be like children. The gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, October 3rd was Mark 10:2-16. Verses 13-16 says…
People were bringing little children to him 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 little 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.
Our daughter Ruby is 7 years old and our son Everett is 3 years old. This week as I reflected on the verse, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it,” I was intentional to sit back and watch our children receive things. Children receive things with excitement. They get so excited they can’t contain themselves. They get so excited they literally have to run around and jump up and down just to burn off all the energy that life gives them. And children are curious, very curious about the world and things happening around them. They ask a lot of questions and they're not so judgmental when they receive a response. They're inquisitive. They want to know why and they want you to tell them what you think. They listen. They don’t look down at their phones and they're not thinking of the next thing they're going to say. They are very present. Children have so much wonder, which they experience and receive generously. Children are hopeful and optimistic. Their hope and joy radiates from their very being and it has a way of spilling over and affecting everyone in the room.
Some people push back on this text. They say it's used to teach people to have a simple child like faith that its sentimental and doesn’t lend itself to questioning and growth. But it was an ordained minister, Mister Fred Rogers who said, “deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.” God calls us to live and be in the world in a different kind of way. A way that is loving, and gracious, and not judgmental, but kind. A way that sees people and welcomes them in, not with an eyebrow raised sizing them up with suspicion, but rather with openness and genuine curiosity about who they are and what their story is. Life is far more sacred and has much more depth than we can possibly imagine. When we embrace the grace of God, we tap into life giving water that gives us a joy that is unbearable. It’s unbearable, it has to spill out into other people’s lives and into the world. It takes a lot of effort and intentionality to grow into receiving the kingdom like a child. We live through transitions and we journey along hopefully slowly becoming the kind of person and the kind of community that spills over with God’s love.
Recently the show Ted Lasso has been getting a lot of attention. Have you seen it yet? The show just won seven Emmy awards after receiving 20 nominations, more than any comedy has ever received in its first season! There have been a lot of columns written about how Ted Lasso is unlike any TV character we’ve met. Ted Lasso is an American college football coach who is hired to coach an English soccer team, even though he knows practically nothing about soccer. If you haven’t seen the show, SPOILER ALERT: Ted is hired intentionally by the team's owner so that the team will do so poorly it will die a miserable death and spite her ex-husband. When Ted Lasso arrives to town, he’s surrounded by cynics. The other characters constantly backstab and lie to one other to get ahead. It’s all kind of nasty and a really toxic environment. Ted Lasso is thrown into the middle of all this and throughout it all he is just really kind to everyone around him. And he’s really optimistic and encouraging. Ted Lasso brings the boss, the one who hired him hoping he would fail, a shortbread pastry every morning. She loves this pastry so much she sends her assistant out to all the bakeries in town to figure out where Ted is buying these for her. They never figure it out. At the end of that particular episode, we learn that Ted is actually baking them every night himself. Everybody around Ted initially thinks he’s this naive, foolish oddball, but through the series Ted’s optimism starts spilling over into the other character's lives and they start changing. They become more idealistic and optimistic and kind to one another. Ted Lasso’s witness changed the hearts and lives of the people around him. The really neat thing is now as the show is half way through its second season, it’s way less about this oddball character Ted Lasso and it's now more about a community of people who are really kind and supportive of one another. And somehow in the middle of all the on demand TV available, Ted Lasso is a modern parable of what it means to be the church.