**not a word for word transcript, but a manuscript**

LIKE CHILDREN

For those who may not know, most of my ministry has been spent with working with teenagers. One of the most important things in working with teens is getting the students to trust you. My method for achieving this was by becoming the big brother they never wanted. From pestering the shy kids with lame pirate jokes or scratching a plate with a fork behind them in line to offering a free t-shirt for finding a hidden flashlight that was not even in the building, this method seemed to work most of the time.

One such student, who we will call Rachel, became my best friend. By best friends I mean, she and Nicole would plot my demise. During teen camp, walking through the tabernacle at the Pittsburgh District Camp, Rachel came up to me. With no warning she yelled, “Trust fall!” For those who do not know this game, a person turns around and falls in your direction expecting you to catch them. My first instinct was to let her hit the floor, but my brain said, “the floor is concrete.” Rachel placed all her trust, complete dependence, on my ability to catch her. Which I did.

Kids live in this blind, loyal, and loving trust. As adults life has taught us to not give away our trust so easily. But in our passage today, Jesus tells us that “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” What does it mean to become like a little child?

Mark 10:13-16

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 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 as these. 15 For I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. (NIV)

This is the Word of God, for the people of God, thanks be to God.

The disciples had given up their lives to follow Jesus, leaving jobs and stability to journey alongside Him. They trusted Jesus, believed He was who He said He was. But despite their trust, faith, and living their old life behind their flesh formed in the patterns of this world still ruled them. Our answer to the question “what does it mean to become like a little child” comes because of their failure to separate from the normal accepted practice and attitude of their world. One that continually tripped them up, as it does us.

VERSE 13 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. Not sure the age of these children, but the parents were drawn to Jesus and believed His blessing would be beneficial to their children. “To have Jesus touch them” meant they were bringing them to Jesus so He could lay hands on them to pray and bless them. It was a common Jewish practice for parents to have their kids blessed by high profile rabbis.

Keep in mind, large crowds would gather around Jesus. Large crowds are difficult to contain and would be pressing in to try to get to Jesus. In a sense, the disciples may have been acting in a way to protect Jesus from such a crowd and trying to steward His time wisely. But in doing so, the disciples scolded these parents from trying to waste the attention of the great and busy Messiah with their children, non-persons.

VERSES 14-15 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” The NIV saying Jesus became “indignant” is a dignified way to say that He came unglued. This reaction in the original Greek means “a violent irritation.” Think how a student would respond if you stood behind them in line scratching a plate with a fork. 

Jesus rebukes the disciples because they had an “access granted” attitude. The disciples believed they knew the mind of Jesus, God, and had the right to designate who was worthy to have access to Him. They took it upon themselves to keep those they deemed non-persons from Him.

After violently reacting, demanding the disciples not hinder the children, Jesus then tells them they should become like them. Children in the ancient world were not viewed the same as here in modern America. A child in this period were entirely dependent upon their father. Their father decided if they would be accepted into the family, and even into adulthood they remained under the father’s authority. Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs to people who become like these little children, non-persons completely under the rule of their father.

VERSE 16 And Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Illustrating his point, Jesus takes the children into his arms and blesses them. Despite being scolded by the disciples for not being worthy of our Lord’s time, Jesus blesses them. With Jesus, in the kingdom of God, there are never non-persons. This means as a follower of Jesus, a Christian, you and I will never meet anyone who is not important.

What does it mean to be like little children? Jesus says to enter His kingdom you and I must receive it like little children. It does not matter who you are, what you have done, or how you even view yourself, to enter the kingdom of God you must receive it like a little child.

To be like a little child is to substitute your will for the will of God. A child in the ancient world was completely at the mercy of the will of their father. Any decision they made or action they wanted to take needed to be in accordance with his will. For you and I to be apart of God’s kingdom, we must stop pursuing our own happiness and demanding our own to chase after the will of our Heavenly Father.

To be like a little a child who chases the will of the Father requires us to trust and obey. Like Rachel the student trusted in me to catch her, we must trust God. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Rachel trusted in the goodness of my character. When we trust God that is believing that He is good, His plan is good, His ways are good. Because of that trust in Him we choose to be obedient knowing there is no reason to doubt or fear.

To be like a child who faithfully (trust and obey) chases the will of the Father means you and I cast aside any quest to be self-sufficient. Any demands for power are laid down. Our desire for high status in this life are abandoned because we know God, Jesus, loves us and has a plan that is for our good. And we would rather have Jesus than anything this broken world has to offer us.

If Jesus were here teaching this to us today, He would not use children to illustrate His point. In our modern context, children are no longer non-persons to us. A non-person to our society is a drug addict who has hit rock bottom, and despite no one believing in them checks into rehab (again) thinking this time will be different. This is what it means to become like a little child. A non-person to our society is an illegal immigrant who journeys hundreds of miles, lugging their family, and believes if they can just reach that land of opportunity things would be better. This is what it means to become like a little child. To become like a little child is to have faith that believes and trusts in the goodness beyond the brokenness.

Theologian William L. Lane said, “The Kingdom may be entered only by one who knows [they] are helpless and small, and without claim or merit.” Simply put, to enter God’s kingdom is to believe He is good, and His grace is available for you.