Vision Comes When We Love …
As Jesus Loves the Least…Children
Text: Mark 9:30-37 ; Mark 10:13-16
Proposition: When Jesus emphasized the importance of children it was not only a model of trust and humility it was a picture of how salvation is grace dependent.
Introduction: Have you ever heard of the term ‘a visual paradox’? It refers to something that you can see right in front of you that contradicts itself yet there it is. A famous example would be the Primrose Stairs, a series of ever ascending stairs that contradicts itself, a visual paradox.
I believe that Jesus was very familiar with the concept of paradox. It shows in statements like ‘But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.’ This morning we want to continue our research into how a church refines its vision, how it discovers what God’s next step for it is. The simple phrase that we’ve used to help us in this is that ‘Vison comes as we love what Jesus loves.’ We’ve listed seven things that we know for a certainty Jesus loves and they are the very things that we too are called to love:
Jesus loves the Father; Jesus loves the Word; Jesus loves the Lost; Jesus loves the Least; Jesus loves the Lonely; Jesus loves the Unlovely; Jesus loves the Church. We’ve looked at the first three of these so this morning let’s take a look at the fourth one, Jesus loves the Least. Though there are many ways the term ‘least’ can be applied but this morning let’s apply it to Children. Turn to Mark 9:30-37.
I. To Receive the Least is To Put Your Arms Around Christ.
Jesus and His disciples arrive at Capernaum and He confronts them about the way they have been arguing among themselves about who is the most important. It’s particularly troubling to Jesus because He’s just told them that soon He’ll be crucified and then resurrected after three days. The contrast is between human pride and redemptions cross and it sets the scene for what now takes place. Jesus sits down and says, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” The ready example of that was a young child there in the crowd so Jesus invites the child to come to Him and wraps His arms around the child. “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” Is this just a lesson about humility, is it a teaching about the importance of children, is it some strange metaphysical promise that Jesus is with the child? In part the answer is yes to all of these and yet that’s not the context. The context is the sharp contrast of human pride verses the blinding beauty of the cross. So the lesson Jesus is presenting to the disciples is straight forward: Move from a pursuit of being the greatest, the one who receives attention, to being the one who by choice is least. In the act of doing that pride is abandoned and a humility that seeks to place confidence in God is pursued. The greatest presence of the Least will be found in the children around us, they are so different from adults because sin, though present in them too, has not obliterated their innocence. It’s such a value to Jesus that He sees in them the shadow of righteousness. He stands with them in His perfect righteousness and says when you invite them in I’m with them. Then to heighten it, He says that Jesus’ Father is also standing with the children. I suppose that you could say what Jesus is getting at is that there are things we can learn from children that no adult could ever teach because they are closer to innocence, closer to the beginning than to the end, closer to the Father’s heart. So to receive a child in the name of Jesus is to receive those who the Father deeply loves. So let’s look at one more passage in this same theme in the next chapter, Mark 10:13-16.
II. To Love the Least Means to Make a Way For Them to Get to Jesus.
It’s at the end of the day and Jesus followed by an eager crowd takes rest in someone’s house. The people press in and the disciples do crowd control. That’s when something peculiar happens. Parents, who likely have been standing nearby for hours, now see an opportunity to bring their children near to Jesus so that He might bless them. It’s as they begin to push through the crowd children holding their hand, some with infants in their arms, that the disciples seeking to do the right thing, rebuke the parents, sending them away. Look at verse 14, “But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.” A couple of questions come to mind. Why is it that in a house absolutely packed with people that Jesus sees the door area, sees the disciples turning away parents with children? The obvious answer is because He had an eye to see the least, to see those who had others in their arms, to see those who were being carried in. In other words, He saw them because He was looking for them. The ‘them’ that the disciples rebuked are the ‘them’ that Jesus said do not forbid , He wanted ‘them’ near Him. The ‘them’ are the parents that carried the young children. You could just see Peter jumping to it saying ‘Make a path, make a path, clear the way, let these ones through!’ It’s a frightening thing to recognize that Jesus is angry with you because you didn’t see what He saw. Not only didn’t you see it but you blocked the way. Then Jesus adds a rather amazing statement that has caused many to peer into it. He says, “…for of such is the kingdom of God.” I think the ‘of such’ refers to the infants in the parents arms and others like them. Infants are under the care of the Father in a unique way. Should they die as infants though they have sin I believe they are saved for eternity by the blood of Christ. That applies to infants who die from SID’s, from abortion, from infanticide, from illness, from the trauma of birth. ‘Of such is the kingdom of God’, there is a great comfort in this to anyone who has sons and daughters in the kingdom right this minute that they have never met.
But what is Jesus point in saying this to all in the room including the disciples? I think the answer is in Mark 10:15, “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” What Jesus is emphasizing is that a child enters into an eternal relationship with God the Father by having their sins forgiven and receiving the righteousness of Christ by one significant act… faith. How does a little child receive the kingdom of heaven? When they come of age they believe what the Word of God declares about God, about forgiveness, about love, about them. They absolutely believe it, the extent of their faith is without many details and has a lot of theology yet to unpack, but they absolutely believe Jesus is the only One Who can save them. They have a residing trust, they have an accurate humility, they love unreservedly, they have a joy that is contagious, they risk in breath taking ways, they have an empathy that sees through people like an x-ray and they have this amazing quality of wiping the slate clean at the end of the day not letting the sun go down on their anger. So Jesus takes them into His arms and He blesses them. He celebrates them with praises to God, He seeks God’s direction for them, His protection over them, His provision for the years to come. It all happened because Jesus made a way for them to come close, recognizing their soul and its thirst for the God. Jesus revealed the qualities we have misplaced and invited us into their blessing.
So what might we take away from this?
1. If you want to draw closer to Christ then receive the Least. He’s with them. To receive a child is to so desire their friendship that they’ll come close to you.
2. To receive a child will displace your pride with the blinding glory of the cross.
3. To love the least means I first have to be looking for them in the crowd.
4. To love children means making a way for them to get to Jesus, see what He sees.
5. To love children is to recognize they are God’s way of teaching us things that we can’t learn and even repent from in any other way.
6. To love children love their parents first, recognize the longing they have for their children and help bring the blessing of Christ to them.