There was quite the hierarchy in Jesus’ day, there were dogs, then children, no wait, there were women, then dogs, then children, then poor, then rich, then emperors, you know how it goes. Way down on the list were children.

Jesus turned it around. He said you want to be great, serve. Greatest of all is the servant of all. Come as a child. Whoever welcomes a child, welcomes me.

There is much to teach us here. We aren’t too different with our conversations of who is in and who is out; of who is deserving and who is not. This is more than a few men sitting around one upping each other with their braggadotious (if there was such a word) comments. This is about Christians and the church excluding those they see as less than.

Children were certainly not seen as the cute little cherubs we may think of today. They were considered second class. They were perhaps even ignored or neglected. There was no child protective services. I remember talking to a woman once who was perhaps on the spectrum when it came to social interactions. She didn’t talk to children or hug children. She ignored them. She was once with a group of us who took a CPR course and the last part of the class was to save a child (well a doll) from chocking. We had to take the doll and turn it over and pop the back between the shoulder blades to release the object stuck in the throat. She refused to touch even the doll. The instructor said, “I cannot give you credit for the course if you refuse.” She said, “That is fine. I don’t need credit. Just taking the course to learn.” Later she told us, “When I was a child, I always felt I was in the way. Not until I became an adult did I feel I deserved to be there.” That is the how children were treated back in the first century.

To claim to welcome them is to welcome Jesus is quite radical.

Jesus uses children here as an object lesson. Takes a child from the crowd and sets the child that perhaps they had not even noticed, and says to welcome this child is to welcome Jesus.

Jesus says so many shocking things about children. He said, “If you want to enter the kingdom of heaven you must come as a child.”

What do children have on us? They are curious. One of the saddest things in this gospel text is verse 32. “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask.” You may have even thought, pastor you read about Jesus going to suffer and die and be rejected and rise the third day, last week. We know the story. Why are we hearing it again? We already sang a song about out the cross. Are we singing it again? Maybe we too, stop pondering what we do not understand and revert to competing who is the best and who is not as good as me. Or at least those we think of in terms of “I am not that bad!” We have our own hierarchical system. What would we do? From bottom to top: Immigrants, the poor, Women, then children, then white men, then the wealthy at the top. What comes to your mind as who is greatest and who is least?

The disciples were wanting credit for their goodness. Someone said:
“If they had to choose—justice and anonymity, or injustice and fame—which would they choose?”

In New Mexico, as a pastor, I noticed the clergy really got along well. I asked someone about it and he said there are two reasons. Because of the vastness of the geography, they only saw each other once a year and second, no one had an appointment anyone else wanted. When I first started the ministry years ago, I was seeing pastors move on up the latter, heading for first church Jerusalem. (that was the word we used for the best). I complained to a friend of mine who was a pastor and had been many years. He said, “A 16 year old in my congregation once said to me, ‘don’t compare yourself to others or you will become vain and bitter.” I just hate it when your words come back to haunt you. I was that 16-year-old. I got that from a black light poster my sister had. I thought the poem was written by a monk in the 17th century because it was published once on a church’s stationary and when it got distributed the date the church was founded was at the bottom of the page and it did not have the author’s name. It was anonymous but said to be from monks of the the 1600’s. Turns out it was written by an attorney of all people in the 1920’s by the name of Max Ehrmann called: “Desiderata”. It so spoke to me as a teen and still does today. I will give copies of it in the narthex if you want a refresher on this very moving and powerful poem. The line that I digested and still turn to often is, “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”

I see it in sports. When someone’s record is broken, instead of cheering for them sometimes jealousy slips. Envy is one of the top 10. It is not accident that “thou shall not covet” is listed in our ten commandments.

So, the sad part that led to this conversation the disciples were having, is they lost their sense of curiosity. So instead of trying to understand suffering and dying and resurrecting, they went to their “go to” of comparing, competing and vying for the attention of the one they admire, namely Jesus. They didn’t even want to tell Jesus what they were talking about, but he guessed. Or should I say he just knew. They were comparing to see who was the greatest among them.

Jesus brought a child and said, this the greatest. You want to be great, welcome a child. Then you welcome me. You want to be great, then serve. That is the highest calling.

Sometimes if we enter into the disciples’ point of view, then it becomes another to-do-list. I want us to enter into the story as the character of the child.

What if Jesus is remind weary and discouraged disciples, that he welcomes them. He loves them, he cares for them. You are the child. Oh, how I long to lift up those discouraged and hold the hurt away and embrace them and say you, you my child are precious and loved.

The apostle Paul said when were a child we talked like a child, we thought like a child. When we became an adult, we put away childish things. So, which is it? We put away childish or we come as a child?

Maybe the answer is there is a huge difference between childish and childlike. Childish tells lies to get attention or to get someone on our side even if it harms whole communities of innocent people. Childish demands one’s way, even if it harms others. Childish is worried about the crowds in our circle. Childish uses name calling.

Childlike remains curious and admits when there is something they do not understand. Childlike knows we are dependent on others and on God.
Childlike is open to the kindness of others.

You are a child of God. I am a child of God.

Welcome, welcome to this church. Welcome into the presence of God. Amen.

Desiderata (the thing that is needed or wanted)

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

— Max Ehrmann, 1927