Pentecost 18

Pentecost 18 Proper 21

I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.

Children love gifts.

Children loved to be surprised. They delight in exploring and discovering. They are just as happy to play with the boxes and the gift wrap as with the expensive toy we spent so much time tracking down. They are just as happy stopping a soccer game and observing a bug or butterfly or a formation of clouds that look like a dragon.

This can be exasperating for adults who have other values and skills we want our children to learn. We are focused on goals, resumes, service points. We know we know what it takes to succeed. We know the demands of a competitive society. We want the best for children. We know that imagination and play need to be directed, formed and fit to function, set to goals.

In Jesus day adults expected children to study hard, work hard, learn what they needed to know and prepare for the responsibilities of adulthood that would come at around age 13 to 15. Marriage. Military service. Work. Paying taxes. Caring for elderly relatives. There was too much for a child to do and too little time to allow other things to intrude.

The disciples knew all of this. When some people asked Jesus to bless their children the disciples were scandalized. The children were too young, too frivolous, too unformed to benefit from the teacher’s knowledge and wisdom.

As was often the case, Jesus viewed the occasion from a very different perspective. As was often the case, Jesus used the occasion to reveal just how different the principles of the kingdom are from the principles of the world, the culture, the surrounding society.

The essence of Jesus’ revelation about God is always the same because God is always the same. God is love.

By his very existence Jesus reveals that the One God is love. Jesus is the co eternal Beloved of the Father. The One God is eternal love. Because the one God is eternal love there was never a time when The Father did not love the Son and the Holy Spirit personify that infinite and eternal love of the Father.

When human beings consider God, if we consider God at all, we tend to look at God’s attributes. We look at God’s immense knowledge. But, God is not knowledge. We look at God’s power. But God is not power. We look at God’s Law. But God is not Law. That is why God forbids people from crafting images or idols and calling them "god".

An idol is merely the outward and visible sign of a human desire or demand. The Greeks who developed beautiful art, poetry and religious rituals knew this. They knew their gods and goddesses represented their own inner impulses, desires and demands. The Greek myths are still powerful and potent in their description of the human psyche. But the Greeks lacked what all people lacked. The lacked a personal experience with the Beloved, the Logos, the co eternal Son of God.

The religious people in Jerusalem, Judea and Galilee experienced the same deprivation of the spirit. The only difference was that the Greeks and other pagans knew their spiritual poverty and the depth of their spiritual pain. The religious leadership in Israel did not.

The disciples were modeling themselves after the very people who despised and rejected them. They expected Jesus to keep to the same old religious script that had been handed down over the generations from the time of Cain. It is the script that defines God according to our needs. It is the script that creates cafeteria Faith and a consumer religion. It is the script that honors God with words but keeps God at a distance lest his presence intrude into the real world of where we direct our time and attention.

So, some people brought their children to Jesus to receive a blessing. The disciples knew this was improper. They even knew they knew this was wrong. Jesus used the occasion to remind his disciples and all who will hear this story one simple and elegant truth.
God is love. God is relationship. All who seek God’s blessing are welcome. All who truly seek God for who he is will find him. And, they will find him in Jesus Christ.

The children delighted to be in Jesus’ presence. The children were open to the blessing. When Jesus teaches that we all must receive him as the children received him he is breaking the pattern of religious law and expectation that seeks to define God by his attributes and by a set of rewards or punishments.

That is what really scandalized the disciples. They had left their jobs, their families and their comforts to follow Jesus. They thought they were working for a reward. They thought they were going through a basic training to take over the religious and political power structure.
That isn’t why Jesus came. That isn’t who God is. God is love. His gifts are extravagant and free to all who desire to receive them. His message to us is clear and distinct and unambiguous.

Jesus welcomed the little children to receive the blessing. They came to him with no preconceived theology, demands, expectations or fears. They came with a mind and a heart to receive the blessing Jesus offered. They had nothing of earthly value to contribute to the Messianic enterprise. Jesus was giving them nothing their parents could place on a college application, no trophy, no certificate of accomplishment or merit.

It was moment of grace as pure and simple as can be possible in this world of separation.
To come to Christ with the mind of a child is not to act childish. Childish behavior is very obvious to all who have raised children or who are raising children. The whining and the complaining and the demands of the selfish will are all too evident and all too challenging and all too close to the surface of our own adult experience of life.

In this story, it was the disciples who were acting childish. They were not open to receiving Jesus’ teaching at this moment. They in fact thought they needed to correct Jesus from making a mistake.

Their idea about God was still too small. Still too narrow. Still too grounded in the categories of rewards and punishments. Jesus used this occasion to remind the disciples that the old covenant category of grace is still the same reality in the new covenant. Jesus wanted to remind his disciples that to be chosen of God is not to be chosen for rule but for service.

The reality of God is the reality of Jesus Christ inviting all people everywhere to receive a personal and life transforming relationship with God.

As Jesus blesses the little children he teaches his disciples and us: God is love. God wants you to be in a relationship with the co eternal Beloved. God wants you to receive the great gift of blessing Jesus brings into the world.

What the disciples needed at that moment was to listen. They needed to ask: what does this mean? They needed to hear Jesus with fresh ears. They needed to see Jesus with fresh eyes. They needed to become questioning and curious as children.

They had acknowledged Jesus was the Messiah. They had heard the voice of God the Father proclaim that Jesus is the Beloved. It was clear Jesus did not accept their understanding of God or their expectations of God.

If there was a problem it was not with Jesus. The problem had to be within the disciples. And of course, the immediate problem was their certainty that they knew all about God, the Kingdom of God, and the role of the Messiah. Their minds were closed. Their hearts were rigid. Their wills were inflexible.

Jesus points them to the little children, pre school age, early elementary age, and shows his disciples the wonder and delight in the children’s eyes. The awe and excitement in their approach. Their joy as Jesus reaches out to place his hands on theirs heads to confer the blessing.

This is what Jesus wanted from his disciples. He never got it before the crucifixion. He dealt with their fears, frustrations and childish demands but never received their child like delight in the gift of divine love and compassion. He knew this was part of his mission. He also knew that one of them would finally come to the place of divine love in the last hours of his life.

For three years, he worked with the disciple knowing they would not and could not receive the blessing until after the torments of the crucifixion. They would only begin to receive the blessing in the resurrection and at the day of Pentecost.

Jesus delights in our accomplishments but he passionately desires our love. There are only four basic ways we can give love to Jesus. They are worship, prayer, Bible study and service to others.

How are you showing your love for Jesus Christ? Are you coming to Jesus with childlike delight to receive his blessing? Are you stuck in childish demands of rewards and childish fears of punishment?

The blessing God offers to all people is not in the things of this world. They are there for us to choose if we decide we really want them. God will not block our ability to make money and to enjoy the legitimate pleasures and diversions of this life.

The blessing God offers is himself. It is his eternal love. It is the co eternal Beloved incarnate in Jesus Christ and present to us in the blessed sacrament of the altar.

The kingdom of heaven is an eternal relationship with the infinite transcendent reality of God incarnate in Jesus Christ. That relationship begins at the baptismal font. That relationship is nourished by the blessed sacrament of the altar.

We grow in grace as we choose to grow in love. We grow in love as we choose to immerse ourselves with delight and with passion in the real presence of Jesus Christ. That real presence can, if we choose, change every aspect of our lives.

That real presence can transform marriages, friendships, the family dynamic. That real presence manifests for us a new way of living. It creates a new culture, the culture of life, the culture of grace, the culture of blessing.

How do we avail ourselves of this new life? It requires a choice to come to Jesus as the little children came to him: open, trusting, focused, expecting nothing less and nothing more than Jesus placing his hand on their heads and saying: you are my beloved. You are blessed.

There is a fundamental Biblical principle that says we reap what we sow. How we choose to live our lives, where we choose to spend our limited time and attention, forms our souls. In that context, every choice we make is an eternal choice that brings us closer to God or perpetuates separation.

It is not about rewards or punishments. It is about the real choice to live in the real presence of our Living Lord Jesus Christ. The real choice is to live the blessing.

Jesus shows us the way as he says to us and to all people everywhere: I tell you, whoever does not recieve the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.