Suffer the Children
Paul Woodroffe's 1902 Two Light Stained Glass Window in St Ethelbert's Church in Herringswell. Suffolk, titled "Suffer little children." (Wikimedia Commons Photo by Weglinde)
October 7, 2018, 20th Sunday After Pentecost
Mark 10:12-16
“And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.“ (Mark 10:16)
“Mark‘s story of Jesus is by turns arresting, tender, and sometimes darkly satirical. It is written at a time of war and social upheaval, with its eye cast on losses, both large and small.“
So Mala Kotrosits and Hal Taussig, in their recent commentary "Re-reading Mark‘s Gospel Amidst Loss and Trauma," describe the devastated and desperate lives of these early Christians who staggered through their lives “with pain and confusion spilling over everywhere."
Imagine the toll that living in such traumatic crisis-times took on Jesus himself.
This is certain: Jesus received no solace or succor from his disciples. When he told them for the second time that betrayal, crucifixion and resurrection would soon be his fate, “...they did not understand and were afraid to ask him.“ (Mark 9: 30-32)
What the disciples did immediately do was start arguing with one another about who was the greatest. Can you imagine how defeated and depleted this must have made Jesus?
It might have all been too much---if it weren‘t for a blessed interruption.
“People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.“ (10:12)
These crackerjack disciples may have figured that taking time out for little children would only burden their traveling on their way to Jerusalem. After all, children were considered to be disposable, of little or no worth in much of the Ancient Near East.
“But when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdon of God belongs.‘“ (10:13-14)
Here and elsewhere along the way Jesus placed children in the center of God‘s Reign. (Mark 9:33-37) Not because children are cute or sweet-tempered or innocent but because children are vulnerable and needy, like Jesus and the rest of Jesus‘ sick, demon-possessed, poor, prostituted Reign of God regulars.
At this grim point in Jesus‘ journey, he needed to be in the company of children as much as they needed to be in his. He needed their companionship and blessing as much as they needed his. Jesus and the children were vulnerable and needy together. And so they blessed each other.
“And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.“ (10:16)
Mark 10:12-16 calls us to be reclaim our theological priorities:
* When feeling depressed at church, I‘d sometimes sit before the church‘s picture of Jesus and the children (every United Methodist Church has at least one.) and rest. (Have you ever thought that without that picture we‘d have no image of Jesus smiling?);
* When politicians talk about cutting nutritional assistance, always ask: “What about the children?“
* Why not petition General Conference planners to place the nursery front and center on the dais so attendees cannot forget that “it is to such as these that the kingdom of God (and the United Methodist Church) belongs.“
The Rev. Bill Steward is a retired clergy member of the Iowa Annual Conference. MEMO for Those Who Preach is produced by Rev. Steward and its founder, the Rev. Bill Cotton. It is distributed by email. To receive MEMO, email revcottonhill@hotmail.com.