A Place for Everyone
I have a couple of things before I launch into Monday Morning with Jesus (on Tuesday again. EDIT: I started this on Tuesday but finished it up on Wednesday because I’m out at my folks again.)
First, I greatly appreciate your grace, patience, and understanding as I work through the stuff going on in my life. It requires my time and that I be away from the keyboard. I find great solace in writing, so I am absent from this, not by choice. However, what I’m doing is also very much necessary and God-oriented. It is one of the first commandments to honor thy father and thy mother. So, thank you for allowing me to be obedient to that commandment.
Second, Monday Morning with Jesus is not intended as a laity rebuttal of clergy statements made from the pulpit. Yes, my response in these lines is directly caused by what Pastor Kristen Lee says in my church on Sunday morning from the pulpit (or whoever delivers the message.) However, these responses are NOT intended to be taken as counterpoint, argumentative, or oppositionally oriented.
Yes, from time to time, I disagree with something that is preached. That is not because I’m arguing with the validity of the point or decrying it as invaluable. When I state my position in opposition to something preached, I am stating my personal opinion. I do try to have scripture behind my opinion because I believe you cannot and should not argue with someone called to preach unless you can point to God’s Word. If you cannot base your opposition on scripture, the other side has no obligation to consider your position. However, just because you do base it on scripture in no way means they are obligated to answer you. It means you have a valid reason for your belief, which is good. If they do choose to respond, it should also be with scripture. In this way, learning, education, and understanding can happen. If a change occurs by one side or the other, all the better, but it is not required.
With those two things out of the way, let’s get to what happened on Sunday, January 22, 2023.
"Sinite parvulos venire ad me =, PK-P-126.518" by Hess, Carl Ernst Christoph (1755-1828) is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
The title for the day was A Place for Everyone. The youth and children put on the service. When I say children, I mean kids. We had a six and seven-year-old welcoming people and several youth speaking from the pulpit. Pastor Kristen Lee delivered the sermon, but the service had the kids involved. That was the heart of the message for the day, too; let the children come unto me (Jesus.)
We are in the third week of a four-week sermon series, Embodied Hope. Our church sent a survey calling on the congregation to respond with what they hoped the church would be or have greater involvement for the coming year, 2023. This week’s top response was “children and youth.”
Pastor Lee said this series is “Not about ‘shaking the Bible’ at people but sharing our stories.” I took that “shaking the Bible” statement a little personally. I think everything needs to be anchored with and in scripture. If you can’t point to the Bible and say, “this is why I am doing this thing,” then maybe you or I shouldn’t be doing that thing, whatever THAT is. I think we walk dangerous ground when we suggest or hint at the idea that we should order or direct church activities outside scripture. I’m not sure that’s what was being suggested by that statement, but that was my reaction.
The scripture for Sunday’s sermon comes from Mark 10:13-16.
13And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.
14But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
15“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
16And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.
Mark 10:13–16 (NASB95)
This passage also appears in Matthew and Luke.
13Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them.
14But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
15After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.
Matthew 19:13–15 (NASB95)
15And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them.
16But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
Luke 18:15–17 (NASB95)
Haley’s Bible Handbook has an entry on Luke 18:15-17 that is very enlightening.
(Told also in Matthew 19:13 and Mark 10:13–16.) Jesus had just spoken of the tax collector being on his way to salvation because he was deeply perturbed by his sinfulness. Here Jesus indicates that heaven will be exclusively occupied by child-like people. No pompous fellows in heaven strutting around as if they owned the universe. There are plenty in the church here—but not so up there. Jesus said flatly that unless we become like little children, we shall never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). A little child is teachable, trustful, free from mental pride, unsophisticated, and loving. The disciples did not think children were important enough to bother with. That made Jesus indignant—He loved children (Mark 10:13–14).
Henry Hampton Halley, Halley’s Bible Handbook with the New International Version., Completely rev. and expanded. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 677.
Specifically, what a child is intrigues me. Teachable, trustful (I need to work on that), free from mental pride (that too), unsophisticated, and loving. Of the things on that list, I think the teachable part is the hardest for most people, especially where the subject of their beliefs is concerned. This definition is at the core of the message that we need to be as children when we receive God’s Word and trust when we don’t understand something God does. It is a combination of that acceptance and obedience to His Word and His Ways that lets us be considered “as children” in this respect. When we divorce our reactions from His Word, we no longer accept things “as children.” We begin to operate on our own understanding. It is obedience to His direction, even when not understood, that needs to be coupled with our actions, especially when we do not understand why scripture tells us to do things a certain way or not do them at all. Our obedience in the face of our failure to understand demonstrates our trust and faith in God that He knows what He is doing.
Pastor Lee focused on verse fourteen for a bit; specifically the word “displeased.” She said she especially liked the NIV and NRSV words used here. Here is verse 14 in the New Revised Standard Version.
14But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
Mark 10:14 (NRSV)
I do not currently have the NIV in my Logos software, but here is the verse from Biblehub.com, which uses the same word, indignant.
14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Mark 10:14 (NIV) from biblehub.com
The definition of the word displeased can be found HERE. The definition of the word indignant can be found HERE. Both definitions use words like dissatisfaction, displeasure, dislike, unjust, offend, annoy, offensive, insulting, or base. The Greek word behind displeased is Achthos, but it is coupled with the word much. That word carries the idea of grief. I equate the word grief more with loss than anything else, but it is an interesting etymology to consider.
The sermon moved into the idea that children are encouraged to run to Jesus, and we, if we accept Him as our Savior, should also run to Him. Her message coupled this with the idea that the father of a house controlled whether or not the child was accepted and welcomed. Jesus is both the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit, given the nature of the Trinity. The Son is the Son, but He also represents the Father, which means if we go along with the idea that fathers validate the children, Jesus is thus validating all those who come to Him as children.
9Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
John 14:9–10 (NASB95)
Parents learn fairly quickly their children are always watching them once those children begin to talk. You catch them parroting your behaviors, mannerisms, phrases, and bad habits. It is very clear even when the adults think the kids aren’t watching or learning, they are. I wish people could do the same with our Heavenly Father’s mannerisms, behaviors, and phrases. What kind of world would we live in if we, as His children, emulated what He did as Jesus Christ, like our children emulate some of the things we’ve seen them do? I’ll wager it would be a better world. I wonder if we could do this intentionally. Go, be the hands and feet of Jesus to someone after reading this. Honor the image of their Creator by helping the created. In that way, I think maybe we can learn to better come unto Him in a fashion that is not displeasing.
I appreciated Pastor Kristen’s message on Sunday and I appreciate your reflection on her words, here today.  We would certainly live in a much better world if we all, as you say, “emulated what He did as Jesus Christ.” Thank you for the reminder to go and be the hands and feet of Jesus. That’s a reminder we need each and every day.