Receive the Kingdom Like a Child

Mark 10:13-16

Rev. Billy Kristanto

If you still remember the previous story, this story is like a ridiculous repetition of the disciples’ exclusivism or perhaps even elitism toward the exorcist that did not belong to their group. They were so narrow-hearted. When they saw a certain person was used by God but did not belong to their group, then they became somehow disturbed with this fact. I think the problem of being narrow-hearted is not only for adults, but for the children as well. Sometimes we can be very narrow in our hearts. We choose our own friends. We are not comfortable if someone new enters this exclusive group somehow. I think the beauty of Christianity is that it is an inclusive community. By inclusive community, I mean an inclusive community that is certainly not without the category of truth. But the perfect example that we can learn from is the life of Jesus Himself, who received not only adult males, but also women, children, even Gentiles. I think we frequently mention or discuss this problem of exclusivism. It is usually highly related to self-righteousness, and it is built or developed in a certain transactional society. So basically, you have to perform something first. You have to have something first, something attractive that you can offer, and then you can be accepted. But if you are just a no one, a nobody, nothing, then basically you are not really attractive.

This is the problem with bringing the children to Jesus. Who are these children? What is their performance? What is their achievement so that Jesus might touch them? They were bringing these children so that Jesus could touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. “Rebuked” is a very strong word. Referring to the word in the original language, it is usually used for exorcism. When they rebuked the children, they considered the children somehow like demons or devils who needed to be rebuked, as opponents of the will of God and the Word of God. I know it’s very easy to rebuke others who disturb us, and then sometimes we try to demonize the difficulty that happens to us. But probably the fact is that we are not broad-hearted enough to receive or welcome them, and because we are disturbed, we do this demonizing towards other people.

But then Jesus, when He saw it, He was indignant. This is a seldom-used word, especially in the Gospel of Mark. This is actually the only passage in the Gospels where Jesus is said to use this word, “indignant.”. We know that Jesus is very patient. He is the epitome of patience; He is patience itself in person, in human form. But then here we read that He was indignant, so this was already beyond Jesus’ patience. Demonizing a certain person, or demonizing a group of persons, in this case, children, from whom we actually can learn, but we do not want to receive them and instead rebuke them. This is too much.

What can we learn from Jesus being indignant? Sometimes when we see a certain person being angry, we can be shocked, and then we are disturbed with the anger itself instead of contemplating why he or she is being angry. There are certain children who cannot take anger at all. Whenever they encounter angry parents, they are so shocked. And there are certain parents who are never angry with their children as well because they think it is not necessary, and through that kind of education, they are spoiling their children. I do not want to encourage you to be angry all the time. That is not the message. Even Jesus, who is the most patient, could be indignant. Now again, the question is why? Why was Jesus indignant? I think He was indignant because of His great compassion and His defense of these little, vulnerable children. And that makes him angry. Even here we can actually reflect today. We do not follow the church calendar in our morning service but our church calendar today is actually about the Good Samaritan. It is about how to be a compassionate or merciful Christian: that is the topic of this Sunday.

So about mercy and compassion, I think we may reflect here: when you and I are angry, are we indignant because we are driven by compassion towards the helpless? We want to protect the vulnerable. Is that the reason for us being angry? Or is it because our ego is scratched, we are indignant and not happy with this? That is the difference between being mature and being childish. Jesus was not angry when He was hurt, even when He was murdered on the cross. But He was so indignant when He saw that these little, powerless children were treated harshly by the disciples. Not only was Jesus compassionate to them, but He also said that these children were actually the true heirs of the kingdom of God, “To such belongs the kingdom of God.”.

As I mentioned before last Sunday, we are tempted to think about a certain quality that makes these children worthy to enter into the kingdom of God. There is a certain danger here because this is precisely not the message. This danger also applies to children who might feel better than adults. We may talk about the innocence of the children, for instance their humility, their dependence, their spontaneity, to a certain extent their broad-heartedness, many qualities. This is not the teaching of Jesus. The children are not attractive because they possess these special qualities when compared to adults. Quoting from a commentary, “The emphasis in this brief story falls on the children themselves rather than on their virtues, real or imagined.”. So it is not about their virtue. It is not about their righteousness. It is not about their moral achievement. We know that “children” here in the original language can also mean infants. It is not like teens; it is infants. It is basically very little children. What could they bring when they came to Jesus? When they were brought to Jesus, what could they offer? Nothing. So they did not come with all their virtue and achievement, but with their helplessness, their vulnerability, their powerlessness. So it is not about their virtues, but as I may quote again from a commentary, this is about what they lacked instead of what they had. It is about what they lacked, not what they had or possessed. They came as they were: small, little, powerless, no sophistication, no sophistry, no education that can be boasted. It is basically nothing, nothing at all. They could not even boast, “I am the infant of this great general.” They could not talk. They came with nothing. They came as the overlooked, marginalized in society. They came with no credit, with no claim, basically nothing that means they deserved to come to Jesus. When Jesus blessed them, Jesus blessed them on the basis of their mere neediness, not because of who they were with all their achievements, but because of their neediness. This is Christianity. They came with empty hands, expecting nothing, but they could only receive the blessing from God. There is no merit that they could boast of.

I believe that in our situation, many of us start our Christian journey with this kind of sense of unworthiness. But when we continue our journey, sometimes we are not aware of this unworthiness anymore. Then we enter into a kind of transactional relationship. You think you deserve to be treated a certain way because you already have performance, achievement, something that you can boast, something that you can offer. This is what Paul basically said and warned about to the congregation in Galatians: they started with this unworthiness, but then built with unworthy materials. Coming empty-handed to God is not only for the beginning of our encounter with Jesus, but our lifelong reality: always empty-handed. Why empty-handed? The answer is pretty simple: because everything that we do, everything that we are able to do, belongs to God. That is why it is not our possession. It belongs to God. That is why Jesus then said: “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”. It reflects very much the beginning of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt. This is what Jesus meant with “the poor in spirit,” namely receiving the kingdom of God like a child who has nothing to boast, no merit, no achievement, no performance, nothing.

Lastly, in verse 16, we read that Jesus then took them in his arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them. If you compare with verse 13, actually their expectation was that they were bringing their children so that Jesus might touch them. Merely touching them was what was expected. This is also the beauty of Christianity. The more we expect many things i.e. “God should do this in my life because I somehow deserve this”, the more we do not receive. But the more our expectation is very simple i.e. expecting Jesus to touch my infants, my children, then Jesus does more. This is a paradox in Christianity. If I may relate it to the story of the prodigal son, especially the younger son who wanted to have his inheritance and said, “Give me my inheritance right now.”. Long story short, he lost everything. When you think “I deserve this, so give me, this is mine, you should give me this because I deserve this,” then you lose everything. But then, when he came to himself, he realized his sinfulness, and he said to the father, “I am no longer worthy to be considered your child, your son. So hire me as your servant.” And then he received everything from the father. This is a paradox. When you think you deserve to be blessed by God, then you receive nothing. And when you think you deserve to be treated in a nice way, in a high manner, justly, righteously, or respectfully, then you will lose this respect. When we know our unworthiness, then God will bless us like these little children. Let us celebrate this biblical christianity, not only for the beginning of our lives, but also during our whole lives.