This is the Pastor’s Blog for the Service on Sunday June 21st. This week the message is titled “The Least and then Littlest”. Included here is the primary Scripture of this message and the Pastor’s notes.
Scripture: Matthew 18:1-5
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
Pastor’s Message;
When my daughter, Eva, was little there were just a few shows on television we would allow her to watch: “Barney,” Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” and maybe one or two others. They were all on PBS. When a commercial network aired “The Sound of Music,” Rick and I recorded it on a VHS tape (way before the days of streaming!) so that we could watch it together as a family in segments.
One day, I kept Eva home from kindergarten because she was sick, and I thought letting her watch some of “The Sound of Music” would be a special treat. I cued up the movie and she snuggled on the couch with her blanket. I stepped into another part of the house to take care of something, and after about 25 minutes I heard Eva gasp and call for me. “Mommie! The movie went off!” I looked at the screen and saw that a commercial was on, so I fast-forwarded through the commercials to the next segment. About 25 minutes later, the same thing happened. “Mommie! The movie went off!”
What Eva wasn’t used to were the commercials! She was used to watching an entire 25 minute show on PBS without interruption.
Children are of great potential value to advertisers – there are real dollar signs attached to not only the products being advertised, but the amount of money a child’s people will spend on those products. Advertisers frequently estimate the monetary value and market significance of children as a demographic segment. While we love and value our children for their humanity as a society – at least I hope we do – there is a financial and economic factor assigned to children, too.
During Jesus’ time, children were also assigned value. In the Roman Empire, the person who assigned value to newborns was the paterfamilias – which literally means “the father of the family.” Ancient Mediterranean households often contained more members than the father, mother, and their children. The ancient household was often multi-generational and included servants and slaves. Whomever lived in that household was under the purview of the paterfamilias.
When a child was born – whether that child was the baby of the wife, a sister, a servant or a slave – that baby would be presented to the paterfamilias who would determine if the child was accepted into the household or put out in the streets or abandoned in the countryside and left to the elements.
One example I ran across this week come from an ancient letter written on papyrus around the year 1 BC – when Jesus likely would have been a very young child. It was written by a man named Hilarion, who was married to a woman named Alis. Alis was late in her pregnancy when Hilarion had to leave home for work or business. Because he would likely still be away when the baby was born, he sent a letter to his wife with instructions.
This is a quote from the letter:
“If you are delivered of a child before I come home, if it is a boy, keep it; if it is a girl, expose it.”
Expose it. In other words, leave that baby out in the elements to die or be picked up by another person who might raise the child. Maybe the child would be well-cared for, maybe not.
What brings me up short here is not just that a girl baby isn’t wanted, but the power Hilarion has to determine whether a child lives or dies.
In the ancient Mediterranean world children occupied one of the lowest social positions and had little status or power. To quote one New Testament scholar, “[Hilarion’s letter to his wife] shows us with stark clarity what an infant meant in the Mediterranean. It was quite literally a nobody unless its father accepted it as a member of the family rather than exposing it in the gutter or rubbish dump.”
Which puts Jesus’ teachings and actions toward children in the gospels in stark contrast to how many ancient households were structured.
The scripture we just heard comes at the beginning of a section of Jesus’ teachings. The eighteenth chapter starts off with some of the disciples wondering who will be the greatest in heaven. Being the greatest is a common human concern, isn’t it?
Jesus’ answer back to them is a surprise: change from being concerned about who’s the greatest and become like a child. And then Jesus adds another layer: you will never enter the kingdom of God unless you become like a child. And yet another layer: when you welcome a child, you welcome me.
Humility is the quality and value that Jesus emphasizes. Children may not have status, Jesus says. But children are accepted and loved by God. Be like a child, Jesus says. Turn from worrying about status and hierarchy, and become like a child, trusting in the care and love of the Holy One at the center of the kingdom. The divine paterfamilias doesn’t cast little ones out. They are what God’s kingdom is built on, loved for who they are, not what they may someday produce as adults.
Later in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus will finish this round of teachings and begin to heal those in the crowd around him in need of healing. He gets into a discussion with some religious authorities about divorce. In the midst of all of this, something happens:
“Little children were being brought to Jesus in order that he might lay hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.”
Jesus models for his disciples – and us – what it looks like to put his teaching into practice. In the midst of our pursuits, our planning, our adult concerns, stop and bless the child who appears. Be like that child, who has value precisely because that child is created by God, loved by God, blessed by God for who they are in all of their trusting dependence.
Last week, I quoted Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, who is a writer and physician whose practice is built around serving other physicians with terminal illness. She wrote a book called “My Grandfather’s Blessings” that is full of stories of blessing. Dr. Remen’s parents were both scientists, very educated, and the life of faith wasn’t anything they thought much about. Her grandfather, however, was a rabbi. Every Friday after school, she would walk to her grandfather’s apartment. He would have tea ready for them. After they enjoyed their tea, he would place two candles on the table and light them. She says that after her gransdfather lit the candles that the very part of her week was coming.
She says: “When Grandpa finished talking to God, he would turn to me and say “Come, Neshume-le” [his nickname in Yiddish for her which means “beloved little soul”]. Then I would stand in front of him and he would rest his hands lightly on the top of my head. He would begin by thanking God for me and for making him my grandpa. He would specifically mention my struggles during the week and tell something about me that was true. Each week I would wait to find out what that was. If I had made mistakes during the week, he would mention my honesty in telling the truth. If I had failed, he would appreciate how hard I had tried. If I had taken even a short nap without my nightlight, he would celebrate my bravery in sleeping in the dark. Then he would give me his blessing and ask the long-ago women I knew from his many stories – Sarah, Rachel, Rebekah, and Leah – to watch over me.
“For my grandfather…I was already enough. And somehow when I was with him, I knew with absolute certainty that this was so.”
Children reflect back to us what it means to trust our loving God, what it means to be dependent on the compassion and mercy of others, of what it means to be blessed and to bless others. This tells us what God is like, and how God is with us. This is who Jesus calls us to be, like a child receiving the blessing of the One who created us and loves us.
Closing prayer
