One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them!” (Mark 9)
The disciples were right, you know! When they locked arms to make a barricade, and shouted at those moms and dads to cease and desist. Their words and actions were simply reflective of the societal view in which children were not valued in the same ways they are these days. On top of that, these kids would only be a bother to someone so important as the Messiah. The disciples were right, at least from the perspective of the world’s ways.
But they had much to learn about God’s ways, and they had God with them to do some shouting of his own. “Don’t stop them!” imagine Jesus blaring out with the veins in his neck bulging. His anger is meant to provide a teaching moment about this Kingdom of God he preaches and teaches. It is counter to the world’s ways, turning the norms upside down and inside out! Let them come! Welcome those who are unimportant, who are devalued, who have little or no power, who are not supposed to have access. It’s children here, and tomorrow and the next day it will be lepers and the demon-possessed, prostitutes and tax collectors, Samaritans and Roman Centurions.
The Church’s welcome should be unqualified! It should bear stark contrast to the world’s ways because of humility, because of our open wide embrace and hospitality that flies in the face of power and privilege as the only assess markers. This is the way of Jesus; this is the Kingdom of God, and an important posture for us as the Christian Church in a time when those who we are trying to witness to often experience distance or rejection.
Dwell on the picture above for a while. Make it your screen saver! It’s a reminder of our welcome. This little girl, without warning, stormed the pulpit! And the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholic Christians was well protected. Nobody, not even this girl, was supposed to get anywhere near him. The only way it happened was because Papa Francis dealt with the access issues and welcomed her. He embraced humility, as he first did when announced to the world, and appeared not in pope attire but in the garments of a parish priest.
Dwell on these things. And pray with me that we can learn from Jesus, let go of our fear, and welcome the world — the whole, messy, sacrosanct world — and every person in it who Jesus loves.
Peter Hawkinson
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