Children Are Not An Interruption
What can Jesus’ response to children teach us about how we should view interruptions? What is a biblical view on children?
Jesus Interrupted
My wife and I have three young children. We also moved into a new home this week and discovered plumbing issues. So chaos is something that we've come to know very well recently. Chaos defies efficiency and interrupts personal agendas. But when we have the presence of mind to step back, inefficiency and interruptions are consistently and historically how God reveals Himself, His beauty, and His will to humanity.
Our text begins with "people," presumably moms and dads, interrupting Jesus by bringing their children to be blessed. This was a common practice for Rabbis to speak blessings over children.
What is surprising is that the disciples rebuked the parents and children. Not very long ago, these same disciples watched Jesus take a young child into His arms and said: "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me."
So, what are these disciples doing? They felt these children were unimportant. Traditionally, the Jewish people understood that children were a blessing from God and something to be celebrated. However, the Jewish people of Jesus' day no longer lived within an uncorrupted Jewish bubble.
For several generations, the Jewish people had been incorporated into the Roman Empire, and it seeped into many aspects of Jewish life. Within Roman society, children bowed to the strict authority of their fathers. Unwanted babies were consigned to the town dump or abandoned to be raised as slaves or prostitutes. It was not uncommon for fathers to punish their children violently, sell them as slaves to pay off debts, or even kill them out of anger.
Children in Jesus' time were a vulnerable population. The three children that have encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of Mark are all victims:
Jairus' daughter is near death and later dies.
The Syrophoenician Woman's daughter is sick and needs healing.
The demon-possessed boy in Mark 9.
Even though the disciples have watched Jesus willingly spend His time with these three kids, they still haven't caught on to Jesus' ministry. Jesus not only sees the needs of these children but allows himself to be interrupted by their needs to restore and redeem each one.
A Life Welcoming Interruptions
I'm a task-oriented person, so I love a to-do list. I wake up and plan my list based on the most pressing and timely items. Inevitably, unplanned occurrences overtake my list. Then, I get frustrated when things I didn't plan get in the way of my agenda. It's easy to view these interruptions with rebuke and anger, much like the disciples.
Instead of resisting interruptions out of frustration, what if we saw them as an opportunity to be open to God? Perhaps our agendas are simply that: OUR agendas. What if those things that bubble up and interrupt us, the inefficient things of life, are not obstacles to overcome but God's voice to us?
Fortunately, the story of Jesus and the children doesn't end with only angry disciples because Jesus is upset, too! His disciples don't seem to understand. Jesus then calls the children to come to Him. This isn't a cute photo op, nor is it a time when He calls the kids forward for a children's message.
Jesus' words and actions assign value to children. In calling kids to His side, He declares that children are important and worthy of His time and acknowledgment. Scripture clarifies that it is God alone who has the authority to assign value to things. We see it in the Creation story, where God declares that each aspect of creation is good, so it becomes good. It is not because each element of creation is beautiful, intelligent, or notable, but because God says "it is good."
When Jesus calls the children to Him, He calls them important and worthy, so they are. He continues to flip culture upside down by saying that His long-awaited Kingdom "belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."
Jesus sets children in places of honor right alongside adults. Jesus elevates children to role models for adults on receiving the Kingdom.
A Childlike Reception
Mark makes it clear that Jesus is the embodiment of the Kingdom of God. He offers each one of us the gift of forgiveness, a generous gift that we don't deserve and that seems too good to be true.
Now consider how children receive a big, undeserved gift versus how adults do the same. It is difficult for me to receive a generous gift from someone. Adults struggle through a battle of pride, a fear of burdening someone, a desire to be self-sufficient, and confusion regarding how to accept a generous gift politely.
But when my children receive something that seems too good to be true, they do so with great freedom and even greater joy. They understand that they are not self-sufficient, so they receive gifts with humility.
God does not desire us to receive His gift of the Kingdom of God, tainted with personal pride, guilt, and shame. Instead, God desires His people to obtain His Kingdom with the freedom and joy children model perfectly for us adults.
Returning to our passage, despite parents bringing their children to Jesus for His blessing, He offered them more. Jesus brought them in His arms and embraced them.
It is clear that Jesus values children and that they hold an important place in His Kingdom. Therefore, our instructions are clear that children need to be given a place of respect and honor in our church. This starts with having a Biblical theology of children.
Three Basic Biblical Truths About Children:
1) Children are a blessing from God.
Each child is formed by God in their mother's womb and born in His image. Therefore, the presence of children within the church is a sign that the church is healthy and growing. Hence, their presence and any interruptions they may cause should be welcomed, celebrated, and enjoyed at any service.
2) God wants to have a genuine relationship with His children.
We all, including children, need Jesus' redemption. This does not come from our church attendance, family history, or baptism. Instead, a genuine relationship with God comes from our deliberate decision to follow Jesus.
In 2010, George Barna conducted a study on children and the church. He found that children between the ages of five and 12 (the elementary school crowd) are six times more likely to make a personal decision to follow Jesus than at any other point.
Considering that statistic, we must recognize that our children are any church's biggest and most effective mission field. Therefore, everything we do for children should be done with great intentionality as it has eternal ramifications.
3) Children must be taught how to think and act about God and obey His ways.
Barna also researched children's construction of their worldviews. A worldview is how children understand who God is, their identity, and the world around them. As a church, we are all called to help children understand these things through the lens of Scripture. However, we must acknowledge that there are many competing worldviews.
It was discovered that reshaping a child's worldview becomes exponentially more challenging around age nine. However, his research also proved that a child's theological beliefs about the world are almost identical to those of adults at nine. Therefore, if we want to see people transformed, we have to disciple them when they are young.
[READ MORE: The Submissive Family]
How Can The Church Support Children?
God has given us a ripe-for-harvest mission field within the walls of our churches. While Deuteronomy places the responsibility for the discipleship of children primarily in their parents' hands, the wider church is to supplement, teach, resource, encourage, and pray for children and families.
1) Children Need Consistent & Supporting Adults
Each child needs a small group of consistent adults, beyond their parents, with whom they are in a relationship. Every year, the children in our nursery, preschool, and elementary are short of people willing to serve them. I feel assured that this is God's call for many of you.
Let me offer some encouragement: For those who feel they are not gifted or equipped to serve in such a way, let me remind you that there is not a Bible hero who, when called by God, felt equipped to do God's will with their strength. What makes them the heroes of the Bible is that they trusted God to equip them and give them the wisdom to follow Him faithfully.
2) Children of the Church Are Your Children
If we are a church family, you are called into the work of disciple-making. Whether you have young kids, old kids, grown kids, or no kids, we invite you to explore how God can use you to disciple the younger generations.
TL;DR
Inefficiency and interruptions are consistently and historically how God reveals Himself, His beauty, and His will to humanity.
What if those things that bubble up and interrupt us, the inefficient things of life, are not obstacles to overcome but God's voice to us?
Jesus elevates children to the status of role models for adults on how to receive the Kingdom.
Three Basic Biblical Truths About Children:
Children are a blessing from God.
God wants to have a genuine relationship with His children.
Children need to be taught how to think and act about God and obey His ways.
How the Church Can Support Children
Children Need Consistent & Supporting Adults
Children of the Church Are Your Children
Related Reading
The Submissive Family by Brad Bogue
How To Help Your Child Read the Bible by Brad Bogue
Instructions for a Christian Household by Bro. Chris Carter
About Christ Church Memphis
Christ Church Memphis is church in East Memphis, Tennessee. For more than 65 years, Christ Church has served the Memphis community. Every weekend, there are multiple worship opportunities including traditional, contemporary and blended services