Mark 9:30-37
Elaine was a church goer; her husband wasn’t. She had two active boys under the age of three, and she wanted them raised in the church. But Elaine was worried about their behavior—they were a handful. How would people accept them?
Elaine finally took the plunge and visited a church nearby. Her boys were predictably squirrelly—the sticker book she had brought didn’t hold their attention beyond the 1st lesson and the cheerios spilled on the floor. They were especially noisy during the sermon, and Elaine got a few “looks”—they had disturbed others around her.
Red-faced, Elaine tried to hurry out the door after worship when an older woman stopped her. Oh, no, here it comes, thought Elaine. “My name is Esther,” the older woman said with a smile. “I am so glad you are here! You know, I raised boys myself…” And that did it. Elaine, who had been ready to bolt and never come back, made Esther’s church her church home.
Elaine’s story is just one of many that illustrate how important it is to welcome children. It turns out that Jesus felt that welcoming children was important, too. It happened like this:
On their way to Capernaum, the disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest among them. I can imagine the exchange:
Andrew: “Jesus called me first…”
Peter: “He said I was the rock on which he’d build his church…”
And another: “Hey, I brought him the loaves for the feeding of the five thousand…”
Jesus, sensing their competing egos, turned their expectations upside down. He said, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” In other words, the measure of greatness isn’t being at the top of the pecking order. It’s putting others at the top and serving their needs. To illustrate his point, Jesus gave them an object lesson. He put a child onto his lap and said: “Whoever welcomes one such a child in my name welcomes me.”
It seems like such a warm and fuzzy thing to say, almost 2000 years later. We have in our heads a gentle Jesus, surrounded by clean and well-behaved children. But it was actually a shocking thing to say in that day and age.
Children were viewed as a sign of God’s blessing; from a practical point of view, they were a source of labor and your caregivers in your old age. But children were also extra mouths to feed. Children had no legal rights and were considered property. So when Jesus equated welcoming a child to welcoming him, he was stating a very different view of children. In saying, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me,” Jesus identified with the powerless child. The result was to force people to consider children as having the same worth and dignity as Jesus. He was calling upon his disciples to treat children as people, not property.
But that wasn’t all. Jesus took it a step further: he said, “whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” This was the clincher. Because according to Jesus, welcoming a child wasn’t just about welcoming a person—it was the measure of one’s welcome to God.
Jesus’ words make me take stock in how well we welcome children in this day and age. We view children as precious, often going to great lengths to advance their lives and make them happy. Yet at the same time it can be easy to overlook how a child experiences the world and our welcome.
I remember when I started my kids in preschool, we adults were taught how to set up our homes to foster our child’s independence. We put hooks down low in the mudroom and closets so that the kids could hang up their backpacks and clothes. We gave them a special dustpan and a little broom for them to use. We stocked the lower cupboard with plastic cups and dishes. I was surprised that if I thought of myself as kid sized, I could teach my children self-help skills that would set them up for success in life and help me manage the home. Just as importantly, by putting myself in their shoes, I created a more welcoming environment for them.
I think this is a good exercise for our congregation. Have we looked at our church through children’s eyes? They are full members of the Body of Christ as a result of their baptism. What do they need to experience that they are fully included here? Already we welcome children to serve in worship as ushers, acolytes, and communion assistants. Teens run slides and sing with the band. Having children and youth visibly serving communicates to kids: You are welcome here! But what other gifts do our children and youth possess? How else can we invite them to join in ministry alongside us?
We have a great facility for kids here at our Austin Campus. The worship space is flexible, and kids are encouraged to move and dance! The nursery is close so kids can take a break with their caregivers when they need it. The playground is right outside the door, so kids can play and make new friends while caregivers have a chance to chat with other adults. Our facility says, children are welcome here! How can we further leverage these gifts of our space at the Austin campus? Perhaps we could support a playgroup after worship, so that we can reliably invite visitors with kids to it. How about volunteering to do childcare for the new small group that is meeting once a month here this fall? Could you bring a meal to unhoused families during our Family Promise week in October, or volunteer in our Family Sunday school? Maybe it’s making a commitment with your own family to attend one of these ministries. After all, you need people to show up regularly as participants just as much as you need people to run the ministries. The truth is, this is an all-church enterprise; you don’t need to have reached a certain age or to have kids at home to get inside a child’s shoes and to think through how you can help welcome them.
Putting ourselves in children’s shoes is such a good exercise. It helps us think about what it means to be an outsider in the adult world. But what about other people who might be marginalized in our community? Sometimes it is actually an adult without children. Our church communities can be so family-oriented that single people or folks who never had kids feel left out. What about our elderly or people with accessibility concerns? What about someone who has never been in a church before? What would we change about the way we do things if we looked at our life together through their eyes?
Jesus’ welcome of the children was challenging to his disciples because it forced them to consider those they thought of as insignificant or less of a person. It is actually a challenge for us, too. Our welcome isn’t just something we practice on Sunday morning. Welcome in Jesus’ eyes means treating everyone with dignity. And that seems in short supply in our culture right now. I have been pained along with many of you at the characterization of Haitian immigrants in Springfield in the past two weeks and the hateful threats that have followed. We need honest debate about immigration policy in our country, and as Christians, we hold many different viewpoints on political issues. But one thing we all share is Jesus’ teaching about the value of each person. If Jesus identified with the least in his society and treated them with respect, ought we not also do the same? Speech that dehumanizes other people is not of God.
When Jesus says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me,” he could be speaking about any child, any person who is seen as insignificant or less valuable today: in our churches, in our neighborhoods, in the world around us. Taking Jesus’ words to heart means practicing seeing the world through the eyes of the people lowest in the pecking order. It means joining them, learning about them and from them, and making a place for them. It is welcoming Jesus in our midst. Amen.