Jesu Juva

“Thinking Like Children of God”

Text: Mark 10:2-16; Genesis 2:18-25; Hebrews 2:1-18

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

I’m going to start at the end. With the children in the Holy Gospel we heard today. The children who were being brought to Jesus. Whose parents the disciples were rebuking, to chase the children away.

Why would they do that?

Well, children sometimes cry and fuss. Children get grumpy when they’re tired and hungry. Children get fidgety and curious and do things adults wouldn’t do. They crawl between people’s legs, they awkwardly point things out, they want to be lifted up so they can see, they ask lots of questions. Things aren’t nice and neat and tidy when children are around. So maybe the disciples didn’t want anything distracting from Jesus’ teaching. Maybe they thought Jesus too important for children. Maybe the disciples were tired and hungry and grumpy themselves!

But Jesus wouldn’t have it. He was indignant, we heard. Which might be too soft a word for it. He was angry. Angry at His disciples. He loved the children! As loud or disruptive as they might have been. The children are exactly who He wanted there! Children who make husbands and wives into fathers and mothers. For to such belongs the kingdom of God. And the King has a special place in His heart for children.

For like Jesus, children see things differently. They have a different perspective on the world than adults. They’re closer to the ground; to creation. They see things we adults miss. To a child, so much is new. New sights, new smells, new sounds. To a child, there is so much to discover. What does a worm taste like? Mud puddles are made for stomping through. There’s what is, and there’s what could be. Hopes and dreams are alive and well.

For adults, though, it’s a little different, I think. There’s reality. There’s what is, and often, not what could be, like for a child . . . but what was; the good ol’ days. There are regrets, dreams not followed, hopes unfulfilled. Or to use the words of the Holy Gospel we heard today, there is the time when the marriage was fresh and new, and now, when it is a bit more mundane, if not challenging. When the love doesn’t quite burn so hot. And maybe even to the point of wondering and asking the question: Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?

I could answer that question directly, but I think better would be to follow the path Jesus took, and instead to ask: How did we get to this point? In how we think? In how we see things? When did we stop being children, and thinking and seeing like children, and become adults? Which seems good . . . but is it? Is it, if (as Jesus said): whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

Now I said just a bit ago, that Jesus sees things differently, just as children see things differently. So when asked this question about divorce, Jesus doesn’t point to Moses and stop there, He goes back farther than that. All the way back to the beginning of creation. Which is not just looking back to what once was, to the good ol’ days. It is looking back in order to look forward. It is looking at what once was to see what will be again.

For that’s what Jesus came to do. Jesus looks at our world - at His creation - and sees not what could be, but what will be again. Jesus has come to make all things new. New husbands and wives. New families. New children. A new creation. To take us who maybe have grown up and away from our heavenly Father a bit and asserted our independence and tried to do things ourselves, and make us children again. Children of God. Children who look to our Father for every good. Children filled with wonder, who see what is, and what will be again. Children who are not wishfully optimistic, but firmly believing. That is, children of faith. Faith in the words and promises of God.

And those are words and promises that will not let you down. All other words and promises in our world seem 50-50 at best. Maybe even less than that these days. Promises are made to be broken, after all, and no where is that perhaps more evident than with marriage vows. Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? People don’t even ask that question anymore. They just assume it. And lawful? Maybe. Moses allowed it. But that doesn’t make it good.

Good is what Jesus sees. So good is what Jesus does. For good is what Jesus is. And therefore good is what creation will be again, when Jesus is done with it. Adam did not divorce Eve when she listened to satan, but sin did divide what God had joined together. And had God not stepped in, who knows where that marriage would have ended up? But God did step in. A good God could do no less. And the devastation caused in that first marriage by sin was healed by the words and promises of God.

And that is our hope today as well. Not just for marriage, but for all the other brokenness in our world today as well. For ultimately, where God stepped in to help was not at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where sin broke apart the first husband and wife, but at the tree of the cross, where that sin - and all others! - were borne by Jesus and overcome with His death and resurrection. For the cross is where Jesus is faithful to His marriage vow, laying down His life for His Bride, the Church. We may be unfaithful to Him, but He remains ever faithful to us. That what sin separates, Jesus brings back together with His forgiveness. Not looking back to what once was, but looking forward to what will be again.

And to what now is. For already the forgiveness that makes us whole is here. The food we need - not to grow up and away from God, but to grow into Jesus - is here. And with all our sins and all our failures and all our regrets and all our unfaithfulness we come here, after another devastating week, month, or years, with our eyes focused on what was - and Jesus focuses us on what now is, and what will be. To see as He sees and to know as He knows. That no matter what we have done, there is hope. For by faith we are children of God, and the brokenness we now inflict on others and endure from others is swallowed up by the cross.

That is what we heard in the reading from Hebrews today. That Jesus has come to destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the power of division, dividing us from each other and dividing us from the source of our life. Jesus has come to destroy the destroyer. For Jesus didn’t become an angel to save angels, but a man to save men, that we might be sons of God in Him. And because He did and because He was tempted, He is able to help us as we are being tempted. Tempted to see and think and dwell on what was instead of what can be or will be again. Tempted to be hopeless instead of hopeful. Tempted to rely on the Law instead of the Gospel. Jesus withstood the assaults and temptations of the evil one by clinging to the words and promises of God alone, and so now helps us the same.

And children are again, I think, a good example of that. When Mom or Dad makes a promise, children remember that and call them on it! A day or two, or weeks or months, or even years later, but you promised! is repeated, and what was promised, is expected. We adults can learn a thing or two from that, and to even more call on our heavenly Father like that! For unlike our promises, His promises never fail.

And with our eyes focused again not on what was but what can be and will be, forgiveness will be the means to that future. Forgiveness for hurting and broken marriages and families. Forgiveness for hurting and broken friendships. Forgiveness for hurting and broken churches. Not that forgiveness is a magic wand that suddenly makes everything better. It may not. Forgiveness can be rejected, and the assaults of sin rage on - in us, to us, and in our world.

But when we don’t forgive, we are being like the disciples, chasing away the children. We don’t want that person here with us. But to forgive them is to welcome them. And yes, the people we forgive might be acting like children! They might be grumpy and angry, interrupting and disrupting what we want, with lives that aren’t nice and neat and tidy. But isn’t that why they need forgiveness! It’s why we need forgiveness! And it’s why Jesus came. For us. For His children. For what we can and will be again, with His love and forgiveness. And thus welcomed by Jesus, we can welcome others the same. And as He forgave, so can we. Not looking back at what was, but forward, in hope, to what will be. Holding fast to our Bridegroom, who is holding fast to us. And yes, His word and promises are that powerful!

A couple of years ago I pointed this out, but I think it’s worth mentioning again today. Notice how what we do here in church is exactly what we do for our children. Children get dirty and need washing, so we bathe them. And we who are filthy with sin are bathed by Jesus in the water of Baptism and washed again and again with His Absolution. We teach our children by reading to them. And we are taught here by being read to, and not just any words, but the truth above all truth, the very Word of God. And when our children get hungry we feed them - and not just any food, but good food, nutritious food, healthy food. And here we, too, are fed with the good food of our Saviour’s Body and Blood. And all these things we never outgrow, for gathered here we are - and always will be - children of God.

And as we heard today, Jesus loves children! And He wants you here! Crying, hurt, grumpy, angry, bitter, confused, unsure, afraid, disappointed, frustrated . . . however you are! For the King and His kingdom are here for you. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.