Mark 10:13-16
Today is Rally Day! It’s the day we kickoff the program year at St. Matthew. After a time of summer sabbath, kids are back in school and churches around the country are gearing up for Sunday School, Confirmation, youth group, and adult education programs. We’re blessed to have vibrant Christian Education ministry here at St. Matthew, and we’re blessed to have two pastors, and we’re blessed to have a congregation so dedicated to being together and serving God and our neighbors. We are blessed to be in church together. And as part of the next two months we’ll be highlighting the various ministries of St. Matthew with Temple Talks and Adult Forums. Today we heard Rev Ryan share a bit about Christian Education, which of course makes sense because it’s Rally Day! And the Gospel reading we heard this morning also reflects Jesus’ commitment to children and our calling to follow him in being committed to the youngest among us.
In this passage, Jesus is apparently interrupted from teaching when people start bringing their children up to him for a blessing. The disciples think Jesus has more important things to do than bother with children, so they start sending them away. When Jesus sees this, Mark says “he was indignant”! There are not too many times the Bible says Jesus was indignant—but one of them is when children are pushed away in his name. He corrects his disciples and invites the children forward and blesses them.
Now this is more than just a nice story about how Jesus loves children. You see, in Jesus’ time children weren’t thought of as the adorable little humans so full of promise and potential that we think of today. In Jesus’ time children were often viewed as a burden or nuisance, to be seen and not heard. They were often neglected or abused, and were viewed as unwelcome and unwanted by most adults who weren’t related to them. In a word, they were outsiders. But Jesus had a thing for welcoming outsiders. Like tax collectors and sinners, lepers and prostitutes, foreigners and children. He loved the unimportant, the forgotten, the excluded.
So what Jesus does here is even more impressive than telling some mean disciples to let the children through. What Jesus does here is accept the unaccepted. Welcome the unwelcomed. Show respect to those considered less worthy of it.
It sounds weird to modern ears to hear children described that way- as unaccepted, unwelcome, unwanted, unworthy. But in premodern times, due to widespread child mortality, historians tell us that parents would sometimes resist the urge to love and admire in the way we do today. This went against their natural inclinations for sure, but it was a defense mechanism because so many children were lost before adolescence.
Additionally, child abuse was so common in the premodern world that it simply was the norm. Most people had traumatic childhoods, a factor which certainly contributed to the ongoing cruelty and violence of the ancient world they inhabited as adults. The fact that the primary aspect of the parent-child relationship is love wasn’t always the case. And those who study long-term history have suggested that perhaps the greatest catalyst of change for creating a more loving, peaceful world lies in the changes humanity has made in the way we raise children. Less traumatized, violent childhoods will likely lead to a less violent, traumatic world in the long run. It may take many generations but it’s an optimistic assessment that does inspire hope for the future of the world.
Now it was in that world where children were treated so poorly that Jesus welcomed and accepted them. Jesus understood that the more we share God’s love with all people, including and especially children, has a huge impact on their lives and the world as a whole. And as followers of Jesus Christ, we understand that our calling is also to share God’s love with all people, especially those who are most vulnerable: today’s criminals and sinners, today’s lepers and diseased, today’s outcasts and foreigners, today’s abused and traumatized people, and certainly today’s children.
Christian adults are called to make known the love and presence of God to the children in our world. Starting with those right here at St. Matthew. At every child’s baptism, we the congregation promise to help that newly baptized child of God grow in the Christian life. Not just Sunday School teachers are called to teach children. We are all called to honor and know and model the Christian life to the children God has blessed this congregation with. I think we do a good job of that. We do wonderful things like Rally Day celebrations and Trunk or Treat on Halloween. We invested in an awesome playground for our kids and sponsored five teenagers to attend the ELCA National Youth Gathering this summer. And we do special intergenerational events when Sunday School and Adult Forum combine. And I also think we can do more. Adults are needed to help as teacher’s assistants in Sunday School to help lighten the load we place on our Sunday School teachers. Adults are needed to serve as Confirmation assistants and mentors. And how cool would it be if every adult learned the name of every Sunday School student.
And in addition to the children who are part of this community of faith, we are also called to love and serve the children throughout the world whom we may never meet. To make sure every child has a loving home, a good education, enough food to eat, and proper medical care to ensure they grow up healthy. This congregation has been generous to ministries that support the feeding, health, and wellness of children throughout the world. We support ministries like Operation Christmas Child. We collect food and clothing for children in need. We use our Endowment to support international children’s ministries. And also I think we can consider how we might do more. Perhaps Christ is calling you to become a sponsor of a child through Child Fund or World Vision or similar organization. Perhaps Christ is calling you to start tutoring or mentoring or take part in a Big Brother/Big Sister program. Perhaps Christ is calling you to publicly advocate for the safety of children in schools, so that what happened in Georgia this past week never happens again.
Christ is calling us all to share the love of God with all people, and particularly with children. Children throughout the world and the children God has blessed this congregation with. We understand that we do this not out of a sense of obligation or needing to earn God’s reward or favor—but out of a genuine love for them and in response to God’s love and grace for us. And so this school year, let us make it a priority to offer welcome and acceptance, kindness and love to all of God’s children. Let us seek to welcome the children like Jesus did, and help them grow in their relationship with God. Let us pray for God to guide each of us and equip us to fulfill our calling to care for the children God so loves.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Brian | Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost & Rally Day | September 8, 2024
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