Voting to Welcome Children like Jesus

Once again and still, the disciples do not understand what being a disciple of Jesus entails. Mark 9:30-32 is the second of three times that Jesus tells the disciples about his death and resurrection. In between the first time (Mark 8:31-33) and this time, Mark describes Jesus’ transfiguration and another healing of a child from demon possession¹.

“They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He [Jesus] did not want anyone to know it, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” (Mark 9:30-32 NRSV)

Why do you think the disciples were afraid? Were they worried that if they said anything, as Peter had², that Jesus would yell at them too? Is it because they did not understand what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah? Is what Jesus was saying still too difficult to comprehend? Or were they beginning to understand and the implications were too frightening to speak out loud?

“Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way.”” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and the servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9:32-37 NRSV)

It appears that on the way to Capernaum the disciples moved on to another topic of discussion. Who was the greatest? Was this a discussion about who Jesus successor would be? Who would be the greatest after Jesus? Or because they lived in a hierarchical society, this is simply how they thought. They felt the need to know how each of them stood in relation to the others. Did their anxiety about Jesus’ passion cause them to seek the security of familiar social structures? We don’t know, the text doesn’t tell us. What we do know is that variations on the statement that the “first must be last of all and servant of all” shows up twice in Mark, twice in Matthew, and twice in Luke.³ To repeat what my seminary professor taught us- if it’s repeated it must be important. If it’s repeated, it must be important.

The poor disciples. Not only do they not understand the purpose and task of the Messiah, they also don’t understand what being Jesus’ disciples entails. They are still struggling to disentangle themselves from the hierarchical society they live in. Which is the only world they know. And, honestly, it’s the only world we know as well. Imagining a different way of living, let alone actually living it, is difficult.

Christians love to talk about “servant leadership” but that doesn’t necessarily mean non hierarchical leadership. I think Jesus is talking about non hierarchical leadership. Or maybe he’s not talking about leadership at all, but a different way of relationship and community. Something that is shared, consensus based, and that recognizes and values the variety of skills and talents people have. This is difficult to imagine and more difficult to create and sustain.

After Jesus says, Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and the servant of all.” he gives an example. he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

One thing (among many) that has changed between the first century and now, is how we think and talk about children. To be clear, people in all times and places love their own children. But first century CE Roman society placed a particular value on children. All societies place a certain value on children. But what the value is and how it is expressed isn’t necessarily the same between societies. There are socially acceptable ways that children fit into a larger society, then and now. Understanding this difference is important. Society in Jesus’ time and place was hierarchical. Men, not all men, but certain men were at the top. Other men were further down the ranks, as were women ( some women were higher status than others). Slaves had their place as did children. Society was male centered. Children were “excluded from the adult male center, as insignificant, as vulnerable, as dangerous and unpredictable⁴” Children were powerless.

Jesus command to welcome children is not unlike the Matthew 25 parable of the sheep and the goats, where taking care of the hungry and poor is taking care of Jesus. The discipleship Jesus is teaching means a hospitality that creates space for children and other vulnerable, marginal people to be safe and accepted as they are. Notice that Jesus says “one such child”. Jesus is always concerned about the individual. There is a practical aspect to this. We can talk about family values all we want but if it doesn’t help “one such child”, we haven’t done a thing.

What might this mean today? Welcoming Children is more than a children’s sermon and coloring pages for worship. Welcoming children is more than a statement of policy or of theology. Think about what Jesus did. He healed people, he fed people, he created or restored fellowship and community.

What does that look like for us? It means feeding hungry children ( and adults). Making sure children are fed and have access to meals at school and over the summer. It means access to health care. It means a safe and healthy environment. Water that is safe to drink and air that is healthy to breath. It means that children can go places and not worry about being shot. We know what this means. The question is do we have the will to act?

How we vote is how we decide what sort of communities and states and nation we want to live in. Do we actually want to welcome children? Do we want to take apart the structures that give power and privilege to some while denying it to others? In Jesus’ time, people didn’t have the ability to vote. They didn’t have any way to significantly change how society was other than what they personally could do. We have more power. And Jesus’ question to us is how will we use it? Are we willing to be “the servant of all”? Are we willing to put the needs of others ahead of our own?

1. This exorcism (Mark 9:14-29) focuses, in part, on the disciples inability to remove the demon. ↩︎
2. See Mark 8:31-33 ↩︎
3. Mark 9:35, 10:43-44; Matt 20:26-27, 23:11; Luke 9:48, 22:26. ↩︎
4. Matthew and the Margins: A Sociopolitical and Religious Reading Warren Carter, Orbis Books:2001 page 362-363 ↩︎