Pastor Tom Johnson, October 4, 2015
Jesus has difficult words for adults whose hearts become hardened and calloused toward one another even in the most intimate of relationships: marriage. In contrast, Jesus has surprising things to say about children—whose hearts are still tender and vulnerable. Jesus’ disciples assume Jesus is too busy for little children. They assume the children are not important enough to gain the attention of their Master. Was it that they are not big enough, not strong enough, not knowledgeable enough, or not productive enough? I have been trying to boil down the essence of what it means to be a little child. They are “little”—smaller. And being smaller, we assume the child younger. And if younger, not able to provide for themselves. They do not yet have the knowledge or mental capacity to figure things out. Little children—infants, babies, and toddlers are little people. They are small, weak, ignorant, and needy. They are small creatures—fearfully and wonderfully made—but not yet able—not yet competent—not yet capable—not yet...not yet…
Today, I must give a shout out for all the other creatures of our King who are fearfully and wonderfully made. It is St. Francis of Assisi Day—the pastor who said to preach the Gospel, and use words when necessary—the pastor who preached to the birds in the trees and the creatures crawling on the ground.
Did you hear about Zachary born on September 23rd at the Brookfield Zoo? He is part of an endangered branch of western lowland gorillas. It struck me at looking at his pictures how frail he is, dependent on his mother, not even the strength to crawl up his mother’s lap to nurse. He looks like a little old man with wrinkles all over his body with beautiful wide-nostrils and deep and dark eyes which mom proudly cleans with her tongue. The way she holds and grooms him says more than words. Mom is so proud. She loves her tiny, wobbly, sleepy, and fragile newborn. A word to the wise, humans: don’t mess with Zachary. You will see the—excuse the mix of metaphors—you will see tiger mom come out. And I understand that an angry gorilla is not easily negotiated with.That brings me back to Jesus. Don’t prevent his little children from coming to him. He becomes indignant—that means angry for the right reasons. Don’t mess them. “Get your gorilla paws off my babies,” Jesus says! “Let the little ones come to be! Do not prevent them! What on God’s green and blue earth are you thinking?! These tiny seeds of humanity epitomize the Kingdom.” In other words, do you want to know what a citizen of God’s invisible Kingdom really looks like—look at an infant being received into the hands of her Messiah to get blessed. Look at the baby at the baptismal font. Watch a helpless, tiny, oblivious, person adopted into God’s family only for the love of Christ! It is through these eyes and through this childlike lens that we see the fullness of God’s grace, mercy, and love he has for all creation. This is how we should think of our relationship with God—as children—as little Zachary brought up into the arms of his mother to feed and groomed out of sheer love—nothing else.
Last week I heard an interview with two Jesuit priests who work in the Vatican’s Observatory. One specializes in the death and birth of stars and the other in asteroids. They talked about the similarities and differences of science and the Christian faith. I have posted a link on Facebook this morning if you care to listen to it yourself. Or ask me, and I’ll send you a link. This is what I took away from what they said about science and faith in Jesus: we must celebrate and find joy in our ignorance. Let me say that again. We must celebrate and find joy in our ignorance. Childlike ignorance brings us into fullness. Science is not really knowledge as the word suggests but the discovery of more questions and things we don’t understand. In other words, being an adult is overrated. We should be more like children who ask, “Why?”
When a child asks “Why?” they are not looking for a final answer. They are saying, “Tell me more! This is fun stuff! Life is an interesting exciting journey. My ignorance tells me just how much fullness there is out there to discover!” Children are true philosophers—they embody the meaning of that word—lovers of knowledge. How boring studying the world would be if there were no surprises! How uninteresting the Scriptures would be if we reduced faith in God into a formula! Being like a child in our faith and trust in Jesus will remind us that we are not big enough, not strong enough, not knowledgeable enough, nor productive enough. But that is exactly where God wants us to be. To us children he says, “Come on! Join the family! Enjoy the fullness of the Kingdom! It is tailored made for children just like you!”
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