Welcome the Children

A sermon based upon Mark 9:30-37

Pentecost 16 Year B September 27, 2006

In the name of Jesus; amen.

Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

I want to explain myself and something that I have been doing ever since I came to this church; actually, it is something that I have been doing ever since I became a pastor. I want to explain why I offer communion to small children who haven’t gone through First Communion Classes.

I want to do this because I know that some people have been wondering about it and it seems to me that today’s gospel provides as good a reason as any to talk about it as any other time.

Jesus was again traveling with his disciples and teaching them about his suffering and death in Jerusalem. On the way they were having an argument; the argument is about which one of them is considered the most important disciple. When they arrive at their destination that Jesus asks what it was they were talking about and none of them will say.

It sounds as if the disciples just didn’t get it, but I think they were beginning to. If Jesus was going to suffer and die then the disciples wanted to know who his number two guy was. Who was going to take over after he was gone?
What happens next may not seem like a big thing; in fact, it might seem rather sweet… the kind of thing one would paint in a picture.

Jesus says "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

Jesus takes a little child and puts in the middle of them, then takes it into his arms.

Of course we have all seen pictures of Jesus doing exactly that sort of thing, but what you might not know is that things like that never happened in the first century world. According to the New Interpreters Bible…

... the child in antiquity was a non-person (cf. Gal 4:1-2 My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father). Children should have been with the women, not hanging around the teacher and his students. And in another commentary about Mark it says, “In ancient culture, children had no status. They were subject to the authority of their fathers, viewed as little more than property.”

What Jesus did in these simple actions was acknowledge that children had value far beyond what society believed. He did the same with women. Boundaries changed with Jesus, the value of each person changed each time he touched them, or healed them, or spoke to them. It turned the world around.

I want to read you another quote from John and Sylvia Ronsvalle's book, Behind the Stained Glass Windows: Money Dynamics in the Church:
“We live in a world where it is estimated that thirty-five thousand children under the age of five die daily around the globe, most from preventable poverty conditions and many in areas where no church has been planted to tell them of Jesus' love. We can be confident that such conditions are not God's will: Perhaps one idea that would not be debatable in any part of the church is that Jesus loves the little children of the world. The financial cost to end most of these child deaths, it has been proposed, is about $2.5 billion a year, which is the amount Americans spend on chewing gum.”

So why do I give communion to small children? I remember going through First Communion Instruction, I remember having to wait until I was all done learning everything my 4th grade mind could retain, I remember wearing a special dress and I remember feeling as though I had accomplished something that made me special enough to eat the Lord’s body and drink his blood.

In seminary I remember questioning congregations who had first communion instruction in 2nd grade; how on earth could a second grader understand Holy Communion enough to be able to take it?

And then I had my daughter, who last night informed me that the theme for today should be “Plans for Our Church.” I don’t know if she was even two years old when she went up for a blessing one Sunday and put her hand out for the bread. Suddenly I realized that there is nothing one can do to earn the right to take communion and the only special knowledge on has to have is this: “I want some too.”

It’s the thing about children, they often ask for things we adults don’t think they are ready for. And yet, in church, in God’s house everything is grace and we aren’t meant to be stingy about it, or choosy about who does and doesn’t get it.

Children are worth more than chewing gum and to Jesus they were of such great value that he would use one child to explain the point of greatness to his disciples.

And of all the things we do on a regular basis on Sunday morning, taking communion is jam packed with God’s grace. God’s table is the one place we go where we know, unequivocally, that we are all of us, of great value. It is meant to be that way. It is meant to be a place where we do not doubt God’s love for us or his immense and wonderful grace. And when we commune children, even the littlest of children, we say something about that love and about that grace: we say that it really is meant for everyone because everyone is of value to God.

Jesus took a little child into his arms to make a point about greatness and the value of his love; that it is meant for each of us. We are so loved, each one of us, young and old, that Jesus feeds us with his very own body and blood.

It is a thing to celebrate and be joyous about. And perhaps because children are so good at celebrating they will lead us in an even greater understanding of just what we do in this place.

And that’s a good plan…

Amen.