Addition to Monday Morning

As I was going over some books i have read in the past i came upon this from a book called Resident Alien.  It fits real well into what i was talking about in my post on Monday.

 

• In response, Jesus called himself a child—the essence of one who is powerless, dependent, needy, little, and poor. He placed the child “in the midst of them,” as a concrete, visible sacrament of how the Kingdom looks. Jesus' act with the child is interesting. In may of our modern, sophisticated congregations, children are often viewed as distractions. We tolerate children only to the extent they promise to become “adults” like us. Adult members sometimes complain that they cannot pay attention to the sermon, they cannot listen to the beautiful music, when fidgety children are beside them in the pews. “Send them away,” many adults say. Create “Children's Church” so these distracting children can be removed in order that we adults can pay attention. Interestingly, Jesus put a child in the center of his disciples, “in the midst of them,” in order to help them pay attention. The child, in Jesus' mind, was not an annoying distraction. The child was a last-ditch effort by God to help the disciples pay attention to the odd nature of God's kingdom. Few acts of Jesus are more radical, countercultural, than his blessing of children.

Matthew 18:2-5 (New International Version)

 ² He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

The passage above is Jesus' answer to the question of "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."  When I read the question in Matthew 18:1 my mind quickly jumped to another question - Why didn't Jesus just say that he was the greatest.  Makes sense.

Jesus puts an emphasis on having the faith of a child.  I want to point out something about the forgetfulness of the disciples.  Verse 5 says that whoever welcomes a child in Jesus' name also welcomes him.  You would think that after hearing this that they would be looking for opportunities to do this, especially in front of Jesus.  But move a chapter forward...

Matthew 19:13-15 (New International Version)

 ¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.  ¹⁴ Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵ When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

I wonder how the conversation went later that night among the disciples.  I wonder what went through their minds at that time.  Did they think back to what had happened only a short time ago?  How could they be so quick to forget?

Serious-Stupid Question

I have a hard time with serious-stupid questions.  These are the type of questions that are asked when the answer to it is either basic common sense or something that has already been answered to the person asking.  My daughter is 4 years old and she asks a lot of basic common sense questions, but to her, they are all new.  I'm ok answering these questions to her because I know that she is not old enough to have the mental capacity to figure it out or just flat out doesn't understand.  Yesterday while playing in the dirt/rock bed next to our apartment complex she found a broken piece of glass.  She brought the piece of glass to me and asks me, "Daddy can i pick this up."  Well the answer is simple - you have it in your hand so you have already picked it up.  My answer for her was "No we don't want to pick it up" and then i went on to explain how that could hurt her.  Her response was to go digging for more and then calling me over whenever she found one for me to get.

One question my daughter asks me most days is, "Daddy can you stay home today."  My answer is usually "no, i have to go to work."  I like this question because i know my daughter loves me and wants to spend time with me, but on the other hand it gets kind repetitive.  I say that because when i answer her, she starts to cry, whine, and asks over and over the dreaded "WHY?"  Over and over i have to answer and explain because daddy has to work so we can live here and buy food... sometime i add so i can buy you something beautiful.

In my recent bible studies I have come across 2 times that Jesus was asked one of these questions.  The first was actually asked by John the Baptist (through 2 of John's disciples).  In Luke 7:18-23, John the Baptist has his disciples ask Jesus "are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"  Remember that in the beginning of few chapters of each of the Gospel's we find John declaring Jesus as the messiah to come, the one to take our sins away.  He even gives a testimony in John 1:32-34 about seeing the Spirit come upon Jesus.  Yet the same John has his students go ask Jesus a question he already knew the answer too.

The second question, that when asked to Jesus must have made him put his hands on his face in frustration can be found in Matthew 15:33 - "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"  Now, you have to have read Matthew 14 to understand his frustration.  Jesus has already fed thousands of people on only a couple of loaves and fish.  One chapter later, Jesus wants to feed a few more thousand and his disciples ask that question.  How can they not know the answer to that question?  The scriptures don't tell us why they asked or if they were assuming something.  Maybe the presumed that Jesus didn't want to do a miracle at that time.  We cannot know, but I think this fits the qualifications of a Serious-Stupid Question