On this Catechetical Sunday,
when we are also celebrating a baptism,
it is probably good to ask,
what point Jesus is making in today’s Gospel
when he places a child in the midst of his disciples.
Is he simply using the child as an example
of someone without power or status,
in order to shame his disciples,
whom he has caught red-handed
discussing who is greatest?
Mark’s Gospel is well known
for portraying the disciples of Jesus
as stunningly dense,
and this seems no exception:
their conversation is somewhat ridiculous.
It is not like they are jockeying for position
within the Roman colonial government
or within the religious establishment
that ruled the city of Jerusalem.
Did anyone really care about who was number one
in the scruffy dozen who followed Jesus around Galilee?
Perhaps, having heard reports of Jesus’ transfiguration,
the disciples are hoping to get in
on the ground floor of the next big thing;
or maybe it is simply an example of how
it is in the smallest and most insignificant groups
that the power struggles are most vicious.
So is Jesus simply saying, “Woah!
Slow your roll there, fellas.
Don’t get ahead of yourselves,
thinking you are more important than this child.”
He does, after all, say,
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
And this certainly resonates with the view
expressed in the letter of James:
“Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice.”
when we are also celebrating a baptism,
it is probably good to ask,
what point Jesus is making in today’s Gospel
when he places a child in the midst of his disciples.
Is he simply using the child as an example
of someone without power or status,
in order to shame his disciples,
whom he has caught red-handed
discussing who is greatest?
Mark’s Gospel is well known
for portraying the disciples of Jesus
as stunningly dense,
and this seems no exception:
their conversation is somewhat ridiculous.
It is not like they are jockeying for position
within the Roman colonial government
or within the religious establishment
that ruled the city of Jerusalem.
Did anyone really care about who was number one
in the scruffy dozen who followed Jesus around Galilee?
Perhaps, having heard reports of Jesus’ transfiguration,
the disciples are hoping to get in
on the ground floor of the next big thing;
or maybe it is simply an example of how
it is in the smallest and most insignificant groups
that the power struggles are most vicious.
So is Jesus simply saying, “Woah!
Slow your roll there, fellas.
Don’t get ahead of yourselves,
thinking you are more important than this child.”
He does, after all, say,
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
And this certainly resonates with the view
expressed in the letter of James:
“Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice.”
But I think there is something more going on
than Jesus simply using a child to point out
the selfish ambitions of his disciples.
As he is always doing,
Jesus is pointing us to the kingdom of God
that his words and deeds make powerfully present.
He is, as always, trying to show us
that the reign of God arrives in a way
that turns the ordinary course of events upside down,
and turns our lives upside down along with them.
If you want to know what it is like to welcome God’s reign
think about what it means to welcome a child.
than Jesus simply using a child to point out
the selfish ambitions of his disciples.
As he is always doing,
Jesus is pointing us to the kingdom of God
that his words and deeds make powerfully present.
He is, as always, trying to show us
that the reign of God arrives in a way
that turns the ordinary course of events upside down,
and turns our lives upside down along with them.
If you want to know what it is like to welcome God’s reign
think about what it means to welcome a child.
Think of what welcoming a child means for parents.
It is giddy excitement at each new milestone
combined with bone-crushing weariness at each new demand;
it is the joy of a love deeper than any you ever thought possible
combined with a new-found fragility
in a heart always on the verge of breaking;
it is a constant stream of insight gained by seeing the world
through the eyes of someone for whom everything is new
combined with an exhausting stream of questions
that you are expected to answer.
It is giddy excitement at each new milestone
combined with bone-crushing weariness at each new demand;
it is the joy of a love deeper than any you ever thought possible
combined with a new-found fragility
in a heart always on the verge of breaking;
it is a constant stream of insight gained by seeing the world
through the eyes of someone for whom everything is new
combined with an exhausting stream of questions
that you are expected to answer.
We might also think of what it means
to welcome a child into a community, like a parish.
It means having your most solemn moments
punctuated by noisy, rambunctious behavior
that deflates all pomposity;
it means having to revise your agenda
to accommodate those with a different agenda;
it means having to reflect on and grasp anew
your beliefs and traditions
in order to satisfy the questions of those
who won’t accept “just because” for an answer.
to welcome a child into a community, like a parish.
It means having your most solemn moments
punctuated by noisy, rambunctious behavior
that deflates all pomposity;
it means having to revise your agenda
to accommodate those with a different agenda;
it means having to reflect on and grasp anew
your beliefs and traditions
in order to satisfy the questions of those
who won’t accept “just because” for an answer.
In welcoming a child,
we are welcoming a disruptive presence
that makes us realize how little we actually know
and how much we have yet to learn.
We are welcoming someone who might make us
change the way we have always done things.
We are welcoming a future
that we cannot anticipate or control.
Welcoming a child is a lot like welcoming Jesus,
who comes to disrupt and change our lives
and point us to a future beyond our imagining.
we are welcoming a disruptive presence
that makes us realize how little we actually know
and how much we have yet to learn.
We are welcoming someone who might make us
change the way we have always done things.
We are welcoming a future
that we cannot anticipate or control.
Welcoming a child is a lot like welcoming Jesus,
who comes to disrupt and change our lives
and point us to a future beyond our imagining.
But Jesus is not simply saying that welcoming a child
is like welcoming him,
is like welcoming the one who sent him;
he say that to welcome a child is to welcome him,
it is to welcome the one who sent him.
And here we enter into something deeply mysterious:
Jesus tells us that he has joined himself to the human race
in such a way that whatever we do for the least
we do for him.
Jesus lodges himself in places most unlikely
for one who is the king of kings.
He joins himself to the weak and defenseless
so that he can receive our love and compassion.
And who is weaker and more defenseless than a child?
is like welcoming him,
is like welcoming the one who sent him;
he say that to welcome a child is to welcome him,
it is to welcome the one who sent him.
And here we enter into something deeply mysterious:
Jesus tells us that he has joined himself to the human race
in such a way that whatever we do for the least
we do for him.
Jesus lodges himself in places most unlikely
for one who is the king of kings.
He joins himself to the weak and defenseless
so that he can receive our love and compassion.
And who is weaker and more defenseless than a child?
This is one reason why we baptize children.
This is why we are baptizing Felix this morning.
Sacraments are signs that bring about what they signify,
and in the baptism of a child we see enacted
the desire of the eternal God who creates the universe
to lodge within the most unlikely of places.
We believe that in baptism the God who took flesh in Jesus
will, through the grace of this sacrament, dwell in Felix,
not because he has earned it
by attaining some standard of human greatness,
but because that’s just who God is
and that is how God wants to be present among us.
And this should give each of us hope
that God can also dwell in us.
This is why we are baptizing Felix this morning.
Sacraments are signs that bring about what they signify,
and in the baptism of a child we see enacted
the desire of the eternal God who creates the universe
to lodge within the most unlikely of places.
We believe that in baptism the God who took flesh in Jesus
will, through the grace of this sacrament, dwell in Felix,
not because he has earned it
by attaining some standard of human greatness,
but because that’s just who God is
and that is how God wants to be present among us.
And this should give each of us hope
that God can also dwell in us.
So let us pray that we as a Church
will always welcome and honor and protect
those children entrusted to us,
because in receiving them
we receive the real presence of Christ in our midst.
And let us pray that God who is merciful
would have mercy on us all.
will always welcome and honor and protect
those children entrusted to us,
because in receiving them
we receive the real presence of Christ in our midst.
And let us pray that God who is merciful
would have mercy on us all.
