Fall Sermon Series

Where Children are Blessed

Jesus Blesses Little Children

¹³ People were bringing children to him in order that he might touch them, and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

(Mark 1-:13-16)

We often associate this passage with placid scenes of Jesus surrounded by children at his feet, lovingly caring for them. One such depiction can be found in the sanctuary of a church I formerly served. During one of my confirmation classes, I led the students around the sanctuary to ask them if they recognized the stories represented by the stained glass. When they got to this scene, one student said, "Oh, I  know what this story is, It's Jesus running a preschool.”

As popular as this interpretation of this story might be, it misses the deeper point. This is not only about the love Jesus had for little children but also about communicating a critical countercultural truth about the kingdom of God.

 In the ancient Roman world, there was an understood hierarchy of power and authority. At the very top, of course, was Caesar, followed by members of the upper class, including senators. Below was the lower class, made up of commoners and most families. Families were led by the father, with women and slaves below them. The children had no rights in society and were often treated as commodities or worse. When a child was born out of wedlock or with a physical or mental handicap, the father had the right to give the child away or even have the child killed, Children's value was primarily economic, as workers and heirs, not sentimental. 

So here was Jesus, telling his listeners to let the children come to him, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Jesus took the entire Roman establishment in one bold stroke and flipped it upside down. Those at the bottom are at the top; those who are disregarded by society are favored by God. Those who are on the outside are welcomed into the kingdom.

This interpretation broadens the text to include anyone who has been shunned by society due to economic injustice and discrimination. It is also appropriate to still make connections to the rights of children today, especially given the dire conditions in which many children in the world live.

According to the Children's Defense Fund's State of America's Children 2023 Report: 

•          One in six children under the age of five (3 million children) are poor. The pandemic forced children already in poverty even deeper into poverty. Almost half (47%) of all children living in poverty live in severe or extreme poverty, a number which rose from 4.5 million before the pandemic to 5.5 million in 2021.
•        The South, home to 47% of children in our country who live in poverty, experiences the highest child poverty rates with 1 in 5 children living in poverty.
•         The U.S. spends 2.7 times as much (per person) on incarceration as it does on education.
•       During the 2020-21 school year, 1 in every 45 children enrolled in public schools was unhoused. A disproportionate number of unhoused students are English learners and children with disabilities.
•            On average, a child is abused or neglected every 54 seconds in America, or 1,599 each day. In 2021, 583,476 children (roughly equivalent to the population of Wyoming) were victims of abuse or neglect.
•           In 2021, there were 388,963 children in foster care, the lowest number in at least a decade. While this calls for a moment of celebration, it is important to note that this decrease in foster care entries and corresponding decrease in reports of child mistreatment is at least partially attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, children had far less interaction with mandated reporters due to school closures and medicine moving toward telehealth, which anecdotal evidence suggests contributed to the decline in reports. While numbers have steadily declined since 2017 this nuance is a reminder that our work is still far from over.
•          Approximately 292 children were held in adult prisons in 2021, an 85% decline over 10 years.
•      Babies born the year of the watershed Columbine massacre are now 24 years old. No youth today knows a world without the threat of sudden deadly gun violence. As our nation slowly regains a sense of normalcy on the other side of the pandemic, another epidemic remains prevalent and continues to decimate communities, especially communities of color. Gun violence remains the number one cause of death for children ages 1-19, with the gun death rate for children at almost 5 in every 100,000 in 2020.

 This Scripture passage compels us to look for ways for the church to be a prophetic agent for change and to address these serious concerns. To pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done," is to work actively to invert the power structures of our country today and ensure the life, health, and vitality of the least among us, especially our children.  

Join us for worship this Sunday at Pilmoor Memorial UMC, in Currituck, NC, or City Road UMC in Elizabeth City, NC as we begin this sermon series and reflect on the ways God calls us to live our lives "upside down."