10/15/67

"Age of Innocence"

Scripture: Read Mark 10: 13-27.

The British artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds, once painted a picture of a child -- a little girl. She was seated, perhaps on the ground. (This was a pose characteristic of other subjects of Reynolds’s painting.) The picture of the child, with her pensive look; her clear, un-lined, youthful face and hands; her unspoiled air; appeals strongly to one who views the canvass as an illustration of human innocence. The face is immature, of course. And it is idealized (the artist was himself a bachelor). But the picture suggests what many people see, or desire to see, in young children of their acquaintance. Perhaps this is the condition which many of us have in mind when we read Jesus’ saying, as recorded in Mark’s gospel: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” See the wonder, the abandon, the eager fascination, the genuineness on the face of the little boy pictured on the cover of today’s church bulletin. There may be innocence there; but much more as well.

The account of Jesus’ blessing of little children is one of the best attested of the incidents in his ministry. Some events are remembered by only one or two of the gospel writers. Or perhaps, Matthew or Luke might have considered some circumstance especially important to remember while Mark thought of something else. But this story of Jesus and the little children is faithfully recorded in all three of the synoptic gospels (that is, Matthew, Mark and Luke). All three of them relate that children and babes were being brought to Jesus for a blessing (an act of baptism). Some of Jesus’ disciples thought that there was too much of this and that it ought to be discouraged so that Jesus would be left with more time for preaching, teaching, healing, arguing and praying. The disciples were even indignant that there should be that kind of demand on Jesus’ valuable time. So they “rebuked” the mothers and others who kept crowding in with their children. Then, it was Jesus who was indignant! For he said to his own friends: “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.”

This is worthy of a bit of thought and study, isn’t it? It seems obvious that the comment “to such belongs the kingdom of God” does not mean that childishness and immaturity have any merit. The whole concern of parents is, rightly, that their children shall mature, shall grow in wisdom and discernment and in balanced judgment. It is tragedy if it be otherwise.

Jesus found, in childhood, the perfect analogy for what he wanted to draw out in the adults whom he taught and counseled. He was probably taking each child into his own arms to be blessed. “Look at this child in my arms,” he points out; “to such belongs the kingdom.” They already have the spirit of the kingdom’s citizens. The context of what he was saying makes some of his meaning clear. The marks of a child which are stressed are dependence and receptivity. Without these, no one can enter into that spirit. With them, they are already members.

The innocence and humility that are often cited in discussion of this passage are not indicated here. Innocence does appear in children; and so does humility. But they are not an unfailing mark. Every parent has experiences which convince him that the “innocence of childhood” is often a myth. Parents can, at times, understand the baffled mood of a father who said, playfully, “Since having two children, I can understand better how the idea of total depravity arose.” Nor is the child always humble, in the full sense of that word.

But the child is dependent. He looks to the parent for what he receives. What he has, and much of what he achieves, is a gift. So, Jesus seems to be saying, is the mind and spirit of one who receives the kingdom of God. This looks quite simple, but it goes deep, and is far-reaching. One cannot receive the kingdom if there is self-righteous pride in mind and heart. Those Pharisees, with whom Jesus so often clashed, with their self-conscious goodness, and their spiritual arrogance, could not receive it. One can hardly be ready to receive it with wide open arms if his religion has any trace of the “look at me, I did it” spirit. The sense of inherent superiority, of hardness, lack of sympathy -- all qualities that have too often marked us religious people, keeps from receiving the spirit at all. That is why this narrative, so beautiful and touching, universally acclaimed as one of the loveliest stories of the New Testament, is also, in its implications, one of the most challenging and disturbing.

It was an invitation to children. It was also a rebuke to the pride and self-righteousness of adults as an obstacle. The acquiring of the child’s spirit may be a very difficult thing for adults. For it may involve changing habits of thought and action that have become fixed. It may involve re-forming some preconceived standards of judgment and modes of action. Note, in addition to this attitude of dependence on the goodness of the Father God, another mark of the kingdom. It is receptivity -- often of the impulsive, spontaneous kind. Someone has called it the “impulse to act at once” on what one has come to understand. Calculations and cautious skepticism are not allowed to strangle the impulse.

Jesus frequently welcomed the spontaneous impulse. He welcomed Peter’s confession, even though he knew that the big fisherman would not always stay consistent. He welcomed the momentary extravagance of the woman who broke an alabaster box of precious ointment upon him. [Matthew 26: 7; Mark 14: 3; Luke 7: 37]. It was an act characteristic of the kingdom.

It was Tallyrand who once said, cynically and profoundly, “Distrust first impulses. They are nearly always right.” The checking of childlike spontaneity often frustrated much of Christian achievement. There is a kind of wisdom in the remark: “Don’t look before you leap; for if you do, you’ll decide to sit down.” There is probably far too little leaping in Christian history. Then let this mind be in all of us, which is in the child. For the child is receptive. He may look on the world with wondering and expectant eyes, and in glad trust. So ought Christ’s followers to be --- not in childishness, but in child-like faith.

In a sense, these verses are the charter of religious education. It is a mark of shallow thinking to leave a child without guidance in his development. Sometimes one hears the assertion that “one must not force a child into a mold.” The phrase is only partially true; much of its implication is false. A wise parent does not allow his child to choose all his own food, his own books, his own television programs, his own hours for rest, his own ideas of when to go to school, his own preference as to whether he feels like going to church. In these matters, the wisdom of a competent parent is required, if truth and compassion are to be honored.

It is a strange conclusion at which too many parents have arrived, that they will do nothing to influence a child’s faith. Rather they will let the boy and the girl choose their own faith when they come of age. It seems to me that this is not responsible thinking but rather, unthinking irresponsibility. If parents fail to influence their children’s thinking and attitudes, as skillfully as possible, and with real concern, then the child will be shaped by any passer-by, by the street corner gang, by the magazine racks; by immature and often erroneous friends; by TV and radio impressions.

These verses underscore the need for religious education by parents who conscientiously undertake the responsibility and who enter into cooperative effort with their church and its classes for children. Being older is an obligation. One of the best tests of adult worth is not one’s superior knowledge of physical power, but one’s attitude toward children. Can a man or woman talk with children, and play with them not ostentatiously and condescendingly but by glad instinct? Jesus set a child at the center of attention. A good home should be a pattern for statecraft and industry and business. Do statesmen remember that they legislate for the next generation? Do advertisers think of the eyes of children and the significant shaping of lives?

There may be other traits of childhood which Jesus had in mind when he said “to such belongs the kingdom of God.” One is their frank candor. When a child is asked “how old are you” he will usually give an instant answer. And he just may add, “how old are you?” At this point the adult may not match his candor and openness. For the adult has become defensive in his sophistication and pride.

Another trait of children is their seeking. A child asks questions, for he has many questions. When he is taught that God made all things, he may well ask, “Who made God?” ----- which is a theological question asked by many a not-so-young inquirer. A child often recognizes real issues by instinct, whereas an adult may get side-tracked by side issues. The child’s sense of trustful dependence when crisis comes may well be a Christian characteristic of the more mature person who wants to be a part of the kingdom of God. How easy it is for we adults to assume that, by our science and skill and swiftly expanding knowledge, we can bring about heaven on earth; and how disastrously we fail. We still do not lift the sun into its place, nor do we, unaided, overcome our own darkness of mind or soul.

Jesus seems to tell us that here we need a kind of second childhood. Obviously, we can not return to our earliest years, nor can we remain in them. To be an infant permanently would be tragedy. Nor is there any grace in what is often called second childhood, which often means a kind of weakening of the mind. But it is possible for one to pass through his own self-sufficiency to a new trust of God’s mercy, and a new acceptance of His life-giving power. There is a God-given innocence beyond man’s incomplete wisdom and guilty blundering. Confession, dependence, trust in God’s goodness -- these are a kind of second birth and entrance into the kingdom.

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The love of children did not first appear with the coming of Jesus. It was common among ancient people and is found today among “primitive” people as well as those of advanced culture. It is normal to human beings. But Jesus’ attitude toward children, “Let them come to me” was expressed at a time when children had few, if any, rights. They were pretty much the possessions of their elders. They had no claim, as persons, on anyone.

The coming of Jesus, and his teaching and attitude, has raised the level of concern for children as persons. The infanticide that marked some nations’ effort at population control, was abolished. The cruelty of child labor has been abated. In communities influenced by Christian principles, sickly children are given the best of medical care; sometimes at private expense, sometimes at public expense. Children who are not wanted or provided for are in many cases adopted by childless couples or into homes where more children are wanted and where they are brought up as loved and respected members of the community. Backward or retarded children are given special attention with a view to developing their resources. Disadvantaged children are helped in head-start programs. So do children depend upon and trust those adults who have matured. So must adults deserve their trust. So must all of us “grown children” look to God in trust. For so does God completely merit our dependent trust. A real faith, and confidence, in God is the only final hope for the world’s widespread hunger and misery, its hot anger, its cynicism and suspicion and mounting bitterness, and its threat of all-engulfing destruction.

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We have been considering this morning some of the facets of truth that open to us with this story of Jesus and the children. No less significant is the next incident to be related in all three of the synoptic gospels. It is the account of one who is often referred to as the rich young ruler. The story is that of a young man of influence and means, personable in appearance and character, who was so greatly impressed by, and attracted to, Jesus that he practically ran to him with the question that burned in him for an answer, “Good teacher, what shall I do to have eternal life?” You see this young adult was interested in the kingdom of God.

Jesus disclaimed the inference that he, or anyone else, was or is altogether good. There is only one complete goodness --- that is God. Then he reminded the young man of the commandments which are not just the whim of a dictatorial deity, but are the distilled and refined experience of generations of perceptive mankind. The young fellow professed his moral adherence to all of them --- and was still not satisfied. Jesus’ attitude toward him was like his reaction to children. For Mark tells us that Jesus, looking on him, loved him. And, loving him, he offered him a guiding direction toward fuller living. Eternal life is not merely life, or existence, endlessly prolonged; but it is life so rich and full, so altogether good and satisfying, that one could wish to live it forever. Jesus told the young man: If you really want to find rich and full living, go and sell what you have (give to the poor) and come and follow me.

This young fellow stood at a turning point in history. New forces were being released among people; new faith and aspirations, and regenerative power whereby millions of lives would be redeemed from sin and despair and new glory placed upon the face of mankind. Jesus was destined for a showdown in Jerusalem. He and his disciples were staking their whole lives on a change in the spiritual climate. The master called for that kind of commitment. The young ruler was not able to meet that kind of challenge. He went away sorrowfully --- into oblivion. It is hard for us to get into the spirit of the kingdom and to take all our possessions, too. We need not conclude that we must all take a vow of poverty. But we must recognize the dangers of our possessions. Money is a dangerous thing to have. The danger lies in acquiring it without injury or injustice to others, in administering it without blind self-satisfying, in directing it to the good ends waiting for fulfillment.

It may be easier for a camel to get through a tiny space like the needle’s eye than for us to find the kingdom of God by trying to carry our possessions into it. Possessions are power. Much property represents much power. And that stands in constant need of moral examination. We probably stand a bit nearer the kingdom of God if we regard our possessions not as absolute rights so much as a God-given gift to be administered as a trust.

When Jesus saw the rich young ruler, he was not impressed with his riches nor his power. But he loved him as a person. What he seems to want for all mankind, children and adults alike, is the realm of God in all human lives ---- the experience of goodness that is not dependent upon much, or little possessions, upon youth or age, upon status or mortal accomplishment, upon rules or laws, significant and important as all of these are; but upon the grace of God freely available to all persons as persons, when innocence and sophistication are subordinated to trust in God, faith in His goodness, and dedication to His will.

[Prayer. Lord, open our understanding to the revelations of Christ; open our hearts to his leading; and bring our will into conformity with Thy purpose for each of us and for all mankind. Amen.]

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, October 15, 1967.

Also at Wood County Infirmary, January 17, 1968.

Also at Waioli Hui’ia Church, April 6, 1975.