...and he took the children in his arms…

Series: …and… | The Movement of God and his people through Mark
Title: Week 29 : “...and he took the children in his arms…”
Text: Mark 10:13-16 (NIV)

Transcript

Hansard’s Legacy And The Shock Of Grief

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The other week, on July 29th, Irish musician Glenn Hansard passed away at the age of 56 due to a motorcycle accident on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland. He was a prolific writer. He was a busker, meaning he played on the street for music. Or he played on the street for funds with music. From the tender age of 13, 13, he just started playing on the streets. He continued to play and grow in fame and hit international fame as he star wrote for, wrote the music for and starred in the movie by the title of Once in 2007. That movie then got made into a musical, and you can see it on Broadway still. The music was made with a gal named Marketta Urglova. The two of them were called The Swell Season. They went on tour. Megan and I got to see them in concert in about I think it was 08 that we watched them perform. And since then, Hansard has put out multiple solo albums. Two more Swell Season albums had songs and TV shows and movies like The Hunger Games. This was a face that for most of the room you were unfamiliar with. And what I have just told you is an inconsequential obit. That was not true for me. Since seeing him and listening to him in the movie once, and going back to the back catalog, I realized he meant a lot to me. And when he passed, I could not believe how much his death affected me. I was shocked, actually, how much it affected me and how sad I was for somebody I've never actually met, just saw from a distance at a concert. But it turns out I was not alone by being affected by his death. Social media became flooded with people writing tributes to him. Lots of my friends told their stories on how his music impacted them. Dublin, the Dublin streets were overrun with people showing up to busk together in his memory. Here is a photo of just this was a small gathering shortly after his death. For his wake and for his funeral, 11,000 people showed up. 11,000 people showed up. U2's Bono spoke. Eddie Vetter of Pearl Jam, he spoke. I mean, the the reach and the impact of Glenn Hansard was truly far and wide. It didn't matter if somebody was a writer, a theologian, an artist, a comedian, a musician, everybody somehow had been moved by Glenn Hansard. But what poured out in the tributes were not like he really wrote this song, like called this gift, um, that really impacted my heart. No, no, no. Stories of how Glenn had showed up in people's lives. Uh, there was a busker who was at that large busking uh of mourners who said, Yeah, I'm playing the guitar that git Glenn gave me because he heard that I didn't have one because it broke, and he just gave me a brand new guitar. Other people were responding saying, like, I sent him a random email, and he responded to me with love and grace like we were old friends, giving encouragement, giving hope. There was even one story of a guy who had gone to see Hansard a couple times in concert, talked to him after the show, and after talking to him after the show, Hansard said, Hey, do you want to come have drinks with me and the band? And the guy's floored, right? Is it like, this is my idol of all things music, and he's asking me to go hang with the band. This is incredible. And the guy goes to the pub to find out it was just Glenn. And he sat there for over two hours talking with him. Just to get to know him, just to be present. Glenn gave his presence and his self fully to a stranger. Over and over there were accounts of how Glenn Hansard blessed

Why Undeserved Kindness Moves Us

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people who hadn't merited his attention or earned his time? What is it? What is it about undeserved kindness that affects us so? Why does grace like this make us excited to hear about it and then long for more of it? And then kind of looking at our passage, what does the movement of God have to do with blessing? How do these go together? Okay, Jesus has a lot to show us. It's four short verses. This is exciting. This is exciting. So will you bow your heads and pray with me, Lord? This passage, obviously it's in your word. It is from you, but I think the timing is today. We need you. So please open our hearts for what you have for us in these verses. In your name we pray. Amen. Okay. So last week, Andrew Hawes, before he left for sabbatical, he had the joy of preaching on the topic of divorce and Jesus' use of it to point out our own hard-heartedness and our resistance to Jesus' full call of repentance in him. And so coming out of the teaching on divorce, Mark transitions to our topic today with a simple and, right? In the Greek, this sentence starts with and, and then it just launches into it. So uh are we at the same scene? Uh is this in the same town? Is this at the same time? Is this the same crowd? Who knows? And and then we're just launched right in, okay? So Mark launches us in. Let's jump in as well, verse 13.

Children Brought To Jesus For Blessing

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People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. All right, so people, right, these are likely parents, uh, they desired Jesus to place his hands on them, which is the physical act connected to passing a blessing onto their children, right? They're not bringing their kids to Jesus to kind of lay the smack down, put his hands on them. No. This is a good thing. This is a blessing. In ancient cultures, blessings were bestowed on others through the laying on of hands by their parents, by their grandparents, by significant others, um, by significant figures, rather. We see it in Genesis 27, where Jacob and Esau show up for Isaac's blessing. Uh, they're seeking that he puts his hands on them and passes that blessing on. It's seen again when Jacob blesses his grandchildren, placing his hands on their heads, actually, to bestow that blessing. This continues on in Israelite culture again and again, all the way to Jesus' time. This act of blessing from Jesus. We just said if there was a significant figure and he is passing on a blessing by laying on of hands, this is an inarguable good. Right? Right? We hope so. So why do our disciples are fair disciples? Why did they stand in the way and rebuke these families? Well, in that day and age, kids did not hold a culture-wide place of importance. In fact, they were viewed as drains, drains on the family, drains on society. Uh, they were only seen as valuable for what they could potentially contribute to society. So males were valuable for continuing the family name and carrying on the family business. Women were only valued because they could have children to continue to do more of that. And until they could actually get to the earning their keep stage, they were treated as second, if not third classes of citizens at best. Our disciples viewed the kids through this very normal societal lens. They looked down on them. They did not value them. In fact, they were distractions from the mission. They were distractions from what Jesus said. This is what matters. This is where we're going. And they chose to be gatekeepers for the kingdom of God and said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus has got kingdom stuff to do. You are distractions. You are not worth his time. So stay back. What was Jesus' response to their actions? Verse 14, when Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such

Jesus Rebukes The Gatekeepers

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as these. I cannot relate to you all how strong, how forceful the words are in this single verse. All right. So when we read Jesus was indignant, across different versions, uh, it's translated differently. Jesus was indignant, he was greatly displeased, he was upset, one of my personal favorite, he was irate. Jesus did not share the disciples' feelings towards children. He was angry that they would presume to speak of him and for him in such a wretched way. This isn't not who Jesus was. This is not what he was about. He was irate. Okay, and then secondly, right after it, Jesus pairs two phrases together. It's like a one-two punch, right? Do this thing. Do not do the opposite thing. Okay, uh grammatically, this is like yelling without raising your voice. Right. The first phrase, let the little children come to me, carries a tone that must be followed. Disciples, little children are welcome here. They are welcome. I love them, allow them to pass. And then the second phrase comes kind of like a hammer. In fact, he uses the exact same phrase we saw all the way back in Mark chapter 9, verse 38, verse 39. And he tells the disciples, same thing back then as he says now, do not stop them. It is the exact same phrase, it is the exact same words in Greek. Do not stop them. Don't you dare hold them back. Don't you dare hold these children back. He rebukes the rebukers. They've stepped in to assess the worth of the children with a measuring stick that the kingdom of God doesn't have. Their actions, the disciples' actions, the people who have been close to Jesus and should know how he thinks about others. It looks nothing like Jesus. It looks nothing like the kingdom. And this is where Jesus roots his command. So at the end of verse 14, 14, he says, Do these things, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. All right, so what is the kingdom and who are the these? Right? Well, the kingdom of God is where the well, that's where God reigns. That's where the king reigns. That's the kingdom of God. And what's the kingdom like?

Receiving The Kingdom Like A Child

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The kingdom is like the king. Jesus the King has shown time and again through Mark that he invites people into the kingdom who haven't earned their way in. Side note, no one can earn their way in. We are all in common ground. We are all on common ground, unable to earn our way into the kingdom. And yet he continues to invite people in. So his point of comparison that Jesus uses, he says, the kingdom is fit for these. These in this immediate context are children. All right. So if Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God belongs to a specific group of people, I don't know about you, I'm at least a little bit interested to see who they are and how I'm like them. All right, I'm just going to be honest. Little selfish reading. Am I making the cut? All right. Well, um, if it is the simple definition of kids, are we talking like roller coaster entry? Must be this tall to ride, must be this tall to enter the kingdom of heaven? I don't think that's there. Okay, well, then is it about is it an age thing? Because if you're under 18, congratulations, you made the cut. And everybody over 18, we have aged out of the kingdom. I don't, there's little chuckles here and there. That's not true. It also doesn't seem fair. Okay, so if that's not true, then what is it? Thankfully, Jesus elaborates verse 15. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. He uncovers the mystery a little bit. He's removing the cover. For starters, the kingdom of God is a thing to receive. The kingdom of God is a thing to receive. It is a gift, right? It's not just a place to enter behind the gates, hidden, right? It's something to receive. There's something important in how one approaches the kingdom of God because if I take Jesus' words to be true, and I think we should, he throws in a truly, right? He means it. We can't earn the kingdom like at all. The kingdom of God is a thing to receive. All right. I want us to tease out this idea a little bit. Think, think we're going to go on two different paths. Okay. Think back to a time that you were just given the absolute best gift. Think back to that time. Was it a parent? Was it a friend? Okay. I had an example, but God gave me a new example today. Because Chris Turnbull showed up and gave me tabletop can jam today. He knows my love of frisbees and all things flying discs. And he got me a tabletop version. Um staff, we will be playing this this week. This is showing up to staff meeting Tuesday. Um what is it about your gift that made it significant? Why was the thing that you got significant? What was it was it the value? Was it the dollar amount? Was it the size? Sometimes just those really, really big things are just amazing. And then we all know to be true, the smaller it gets. Was it the weight? Was it the sentiment? Was it actually somebody just thinking about you and getting you something that fit? Thank you, Chris. I feel seen and I feel loved. Okay.

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Do you have that moment, that gift in mind? Do you have that in your mind? Okay. Now what did you do to earn that gift? If you were a kid, was it presented to you as an option once you did enough chores?

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Uh, did the giver come to you and say this is like a laeaway plan? And that you could earn it through multiple installments of actions, and then you would get it. And then, like me, how about if you got this favorite gift as an adult? Did you see it as a payment for something that you did? It was a result of your own hustle. I hope the more I continue to ask you about this, the more icky you feel thinking about the best gift you ever got as a result of you earning. Because it feels wrong. Because we receive these gifts and it has nothing to do with earning. Now, flip this because we've also been on the other side. Think of the vantage point of the gift giver. When you wanted your gift to be opened or seen by your child, your grandkid, your friend, your significant other, your spouse, family member, whoever it was, did you actually pause in the giving of the gift and say, actually, do they are they worth it? Did they actually do enough for me to give it? Why am I giving it to them?

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No.

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You didn't have that thought. Out of love and care, you would do all you could to see the face of the person that you loved opening or seeing that gift, and their eyes big and the smile come across because you gave it because you loved them. You you wanted

Jesus’ Blessing Through Presence

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to bless them. Jesus, the possessor of the kingdom of God, he brings the kingdom like a gift to all who would take it. To receive the kingdom of God like a child means that it is in no way connected to status, to earning, or societal worth. To receive this gift of the kingdom from the king is to take it with joy, knowing that the giver of the kingdom of God wanted to bless you with it, because it is an extension of himself because he loves you so.

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Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you.

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There is nothing you can do to make him love you more. There is nothing you can do to make him love you less. Jesus loves you. This fact bubbles under the surface of this whole story because God is love. The parents wanted Jesus to bless their children because Jesus exuded this gracious, loving welcome. His words were kind, his presence was joyous. The love of Jesus is freely given and never earned. Jesus loves you. I hope that if I say it enough times, that it's like a knife cutting down the calluses around our hearts. Because I want every single one of us to hear this. As I arrive today, God put this near exact same message on Michelle Sparrow's mind as she led our little 9-10 prayer time for the people who are serving today. God's put it on Troy's mind as he's leading our prayer time, as he's guiding us through songs.

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I love you. You are loved.

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You are lovely because he calls us lovely. You are loved. Now hold on to that very important thought. We're going to verse 16. And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them, and he blessed them. Jesus' love and desire to bless. This was not just a thought exercise, right? So it wasn't like Jesus saw the disciples doing it, waited till another time, and then said, Hey guys, this isn't what I do. Next time this happens, can you make sure to remember to not hold them back? And everybody looks at each other and goes, Yeah, okay, Jesus, next time. No, Jesus verbally, if not physically, shoved them out of the way. He moves the people who are standing in the way of he and these children, and he says, Bring them on. I want them to come to me. So how do you see this play out? This is how it rolls in my mind. Jesus sees the kids right here, the disciples standing, you know, like holding them back. Jesus says, get out of the way. And he scoops one kid up in one arm, in another, and he holds them tight. And then he sits down, and two moms rush, and they give their kids to Jesus. And now Jesus is lap full and kids in arms. And he holds them close.

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He hugs them. And he talks to them. He speaks words of kindness and blessing over them. He loves them.

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And the moms take the kids off the lap, and Jesus releases these two. And then another one comes. And another one. And another one. And another one. Jesus' time is spent showing his love for the outcast, for the pushed aside, for the wait until we call you worth our times.

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Jesus envelops them. And to every single child, I love you. I love you. I love you.

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This image is so moving, it has impacted generation after generation. Rembrandt painted a scene. It was hidden for many years. It was discovered in 2014. This image actually, a Dutch painter found it and then covered the bare bum and changed some faces of people in it, but they knew it was a Rembrandt because Rembrandt painted his own face in this scene, coming to receive Jesus love. And then they found out the painting that was beneath. That's King James Version version for those listening. Suffer little children to come unto me. The artist Fritz von Ude painted this, let the little children come to me. Line out the door.

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Parents coming. Jesus' hand on the little girl's hand. I love you. I love you.

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Doctors John Trent and Gary Smalley wrote this book called The Blessing. The whole book is about parents calling parents to pass a blessing onto their children, calling people not just to help the children, right? But as they say, doing something great to one child within your reach. It is a great book, a great resource. I commend it to you.

The Gospel As God’s Embrace

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This story is so incredible, not just because, oh wow, Jesus is a rabbi and he's actually like honoring the little kids. That really should be known. It should be cited, but it's so much more than that because what we see in this story is all that we long for in our lives. We want a Glenn Hansard type to come to us, to give us his time, and to actually say, you are worth my time. We want this. We want this grace. We want this presence with others. We want this goodness for our friends. We want it for our families. We want it for our neighbors. We want this for all of Victoria, for all of the island, for Canada, for the world. We want to see God's kingdom of love and grace continue to push out. This happens to be a gathering of the Big Sea Church. We are a part of God's blessing effort the world over. But before we get there, frankly, we desperately want the God of all creation to reach down and wrap us up in a bear hug.

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Or a gentle hug if you're worried about a godly bear hug.

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We want him to bless us. And we gather weekly to be reminded and to remind one another he has. He has. God sent Jesus, his son. God took on flesh to tell all of humanity that he loves us. He showed up with a miraculous birth. His movement continued to expand past the religious leaders, past the religious gatekeepers, to the outskirts of society, to those who were ignored, those who were uncouth, those who were not welcome. And Jesus says, I love you. The kingdom continued to expand and move outward. And then he died a sinner's death, took on our sin, rose to life three days later, and gave us the invitation to be made whole in him. Jesus came down not to just say, I love you, but to prove it through his life, death, and resurrection. He has freed us to have a life together forever in him. He has freed us to this everlasting hug to bring us near and tell you, I love you.

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I have come to make you whole.

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Believe in me. How? Like a child. Accept this gift of salvation and love freely. Not because we've earned it, because we never can. Jesus comes and says, I love you. I love you. I have come to make you whole. The basic facts of the gospel, that that is what I just went through, it pours out of this story. And he offers salvation and life in him freely. When we talk about Jesus' gift, we talk about that blessing. It is not a one-time receiving. If you have never received it, this is the best day. This is the invitation that I offer you, that the I extend Jesus' offer to you to be made whole in him. I extend that offer to take that step of faith and say, I need that love. I want to live in that love. I have never come to call Jesus Lord and be made whole. This is a great day. Today is always the best day. For some of you, I heard this this morning. For some of you, the love of Jesus has grown old and cold. I've been a Christian for a long time. Oh, this is all like old hat. Jesus loves me. I know the story. I know the song. I grew up singing it. Can we talk about like exciting stuff? The God of heaven came down to make you whole. What's more exciting than that? That should be the exciting thing that actually propels us forward in life and in love and every single day. This is a joyous reality. This is not a one-time thing. This is a continual thing. Jesus asks you to receive him daily like a child. Because every single day we are reminded we did nothing to earn this, and we have been given everything. So, brothers and sisters, if this is old and cold to you, can I remind you Jesus loves you? Receive it. Receive it. This is the blessing that he has given to you. And he asks you to behold his face. Behold his face. Draw near in prayer. Seek him out daily. Spend time in his presence. Time with Jesus is never wasted. Get to know him, get to love him through prayer, through his word. If this is like, yes, Andrew, I want to behold his face. I want to know him. How?

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I cannot wait to talk to you after the gathering. Praying, going before him, listening to his voice, these are the best things.

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There's another

Discipleship That Looks Like Blessing

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aspect of this passage, though. And the aspect is Jesus called out the disciples for not acting like him. So what's the converse? Followers, children of Jesus, should act like him. We should love like him. We should bless like him. Jesus has called us to more. We must bless. God's movement into the world is actually going to happen through us. He calls us to be like Jesus, and as we become like him, we go out like him. This is the best invitation. All right. So what does that look like? Well, we want to actually be disciples in Jesus. By the way, if you thought this was a passage about Jesus loving people, it is. It's also a like, it's a real hidden passage, really, about the basics of discipleship. This is about coming to Jesus, being reminded of his love, being made whole in him, becoming like him. We behold his face, we become like him, and then we grow in blessing others.

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We're called to bless.

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So, in terms of the passage, who did Jesus bless and say, Don't hold them back from me, go and bless kids. Children. Week after week, we have invited everybody, and we say little villagers is in need of some people to care. And lots of people have told me, you haven't given me a vision for why. Jesus loves children a lot and tells us that we need to actually approach his kingdom like kids. Jesus overwhelmingly loves children, and he has called us to reflect that. So please let us reflect that. I hope that Michelle has to push people away. No, no, no, we have too many people helping out in kids. No, I'm desperate to help out.

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No, no, no, no. We're full this week. Go talk to Michelle.

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Say, you know what? I've never done this before, but I do want to serve. Can you help train me? Guess what? The answer is yes. We would love to help you grow in helping those who are smaller than us grow up into Christ's likeness. And if you said, that's great, I've done this for years, I'm wanting more. West Village Youth is in desperate need of some really awesome people to dedicate this year to those who are in grades six to grade 12. I cannot tell you the impact that these wonderful students have had on me personally this year. I want to invite you to take part in it as well. Express the love of Jesus to others. Step into West Village Youth. You'll know Jesus better. And you'll help them raise up into becoming disciples and followers of Jesus. But this passage isn't just about doing these sort of things for kids. It is about living every single day with the mindset of how do I love and bless like Jesus? How do I respond to my neighbor with blessing like Jesus? How do I show up in my workplace to bless like Jesus? Jesus has called us all to show up like him, to love and to bless. So here is my question for you. Who in your life has God brought you to to bless? And step aside, we talk about God reaching out and making his name known across all of Victoria. You know how he's going to do it? By you showing up in your life with the people that God has given you by loving them and blessing them and telling them of Jesus. We cannot talk about the big grand thing that is the mission of Victoria if we are not going to step in in a big way, individually and as communities, to express the love of Jesus. Hospitality is mission. Loving kids is engaging on mission. These are not distractions, this is the thing. So who has God given you to bless? Who is God calling you to to bless? I'm going to invite the band to come up.

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But our prayer time is going to be focused on this idea of blessing.

Prayer To Receive Love And Give It

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At the first part, we'll have two things that you can pray through.

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One, what or where do you still need to receive the love and blessing of Jesus? Pray this to God. God, where do I still need to receive your love and your blessing? His arms are open wide, y'all. He's ready for you. Run to him to receive his love. And the second thing is this: who can I bless like Jesus? Pray that God shows you a face. Pray that God shows you a name. And then spend this time praying for the opportunity to bless them. What is that gonna look like? Is it a coffee? Is it a lunch? Is it a tabletop can jam? Is it something specific to this person? Pray that God reveals to you how you can do this. So we're going to go to God in prayer to listen to what He has for us. And then I'll transition us to our next response. Let's take this quiet moment and go to God in prayer.

Closing Prayer And Response

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This is a blip of a blip. Coming out of a sermon to a response time, it's never enough. Lord, you are worth everything we have. Thank you so much for your love, your blessing, your sacrifice. I ask that you move in the hearts of my brothers and sisters here. For those who are not yet my brothers and sisters, I ask for your movement. Lord, as we finish our time by singing praises to your name, taking communion, responding in prayer, giving. Lord, whatever it is, please do not stop speaking and keep our hearts open to hear from you. In your name we pray.

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Amen.