“Doing It to Jesus”
Mark 9:33-37
Like a good carpenter Jesus never missed an opportunity to drive the nail home. He capitalized on making teachable moments out of the ordinary scenes of life. He majored in turning the values of society upside down. Can you picture the scene here in Mark 9?
Jesus and his disciples were walking to Capernaum. On the way the disciples, thinking they were out of earshot of Jesus, were arguing among themselves who was the greatest. Discussions of rank and status were important in Jewish society, but apparently they were sure Jesus would not approve so they argued quietly. They did not yet understand that Jesus hears and knows everything. So when they arrived in Capernaum and went inside the house – probably Peter and Andrew’s house – Jesus asked them “What were you arguing about?” Caught red-handed they were silent and unresponsive. And that gave Jesus his teachable moment. So Jesus sat down, something rabbis and teachers did when they were ready to teach. “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all,” He said. And then He drove the nail home. He took a little child and had him stand in front of them. After a moment of silence for them to focus on the little child, Jesus took the child in his arms and then said “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me (alone) but (also) the one who sent me.”
In one magnificent moment Jesus painted a lasting portrait, a masterpiece, of greatness. And it turned the disciples’ world upside down. And more than that, it put our world on notice about greatness. And more than that it demonstrated and mandated our attitude towards children.
Let’s think about JESUS’ HEART FOR AND MINISTRY TO CHILDREN. We need to keep in mind that expressing concern and love for children in Jesus’ day was the exception, not the rule. CHILDREN WERE VALUELESS IN JESUS’ DAY. Children were at the bottom rung of the social ladder, with only slaves beneath them. In fact Mark uses a Greek word which is neutral; he is literally saying that Jesus took a little child and placed it among them. Research has shown that “Childhood in antiquity was a time of terror. Infant mortality rates sometimes reached 30 percent. Another 30 percent of live births were dead by age six, and 60 percent were gone by age sixteen…Children had little status within the community or family. …The term children could be used as a serious insult.” A child could not advance anyone’s career, or prestige. So Jesus’ actions and words were shocking.
But they shouldn’t have been. JESUS CONSTANTLY GAVE CHILDREN VALUE. Jesus kept putting flesh on the prophet Isaiah’s words (1:17) “Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the Fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” In their Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke all make frequent mention of children around Jesus and being ministered to by Jesus. All three, in fact, mention the scene many of us were introduced to in our early youth – “Then the little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’ When He had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.” (Mt. 19:13-15/Mk.10:13-16/Lk.18:15-17) Let’s never forget that concern for children was not invented by the government – it goes back to Jesus.
I mentioned a moment ago that Jesus’ actions in our passage this morning demonstrated and mandated our attitude towards children. So just what does it say about OUR HEART FOR AND MINISTRY TO CHILDREN? On the one hand, most everyone here has a heart for children. On the other hand, THERE IS A GREAT CHALLENGE TODAY in our society and our world. Currently if ALL THE ORPHANS in the world formed a country, it would be the 8th largest country in the world. SOMEWHERE in the world a child dies every 5.2 seconds. 20 since I started these statistics. On 9/11 2,972 people died in the New York City and Washington DC attacks; today over 16,600 children will die. In 2004, 298,000 people died in the Asian Tsunami; over 300,000 children will die …in the next 21 days. From 1939-1945 Hitler executed 6 Million Jews; over 6 Million children will die …this year alone. Every 2.2 seconds an orphan ages out of the system worldwide. Each day 38,493 age out and are sent away, over 14 million this year. In Russia, of those who age out 10-15% commit suicide by age 18, 60% of girls become prostitutes, 70% of boys become hardened criminals. In the US, 520,000+ kids are in foster care, 120,000 are immediately adoptable; in the NY Foster System 60% of kids who age out end up homeless; in some of the Wealthier Counties in America 65% of children in foster care must be housed outside of the county due to a lack of willing foster homes. There are over 27 Million victims of human trafficking worldwide - 13 million are children and over 1 million children are added to this number each year. We, the church, have a monumental task before us if we are to heed the words of Jesus. Clearly, we have our work cut out for us.
So what should be OUR RESPONSE TO THE CHALLENGE? Helen Keller said “Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all…the apathy of human beings.” What about the Church? Does the Church have an answer? What will the church of Jesus Christ do about 145 Million Orphans? How about you? Will you get involved?
James wrote “Religion that God the Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
(James 1:27) How do we look after them? At the back of the sanctuary today is a list of 10 ways to be involved – two in particular will be presented in a challenge in a few moments. But there’s something on this list for everyone – no one can claim a total exemption from doing something. Everyone can pray, or speak up, or provide goods and supplies, or support those who are actively involved, or protect children from harm, or visit them where they are, or give sacrificially, or encourage them, or adopt or sponsor them, or help mobilize our church for them.
Consider John Pounds, a tall, muscular teen laborer at the docks of Portsmouth, England. He slipped and plunged from the top of a ship’s mast, pitching headfirst into the bowels of the vessel. When fellow workers reached him, he was nothing but a mass of broken bones. For two years he lay in bed as his bones healed crookedly. His pain never ceased. Out of boredom, he began to read the Bible. At length, John crawled from bed hoping to find something he could do with his life. A shoemaker hired him, and day after day, John sat at his cobbler’s bench, a Bible open on his lap. Soon he was born again. John ultimately gathered enough money to purchase his own little shoe shop, and one day he developed a pair of surgical boots for his crippled nephew Johnny, whom he had taken in. Soon John was making corrective shoes for other children, and his little cobbler’s shop became a miniature children’s hospital.
As John’s burden for children grew, he began receiving homeless ones, feeding them, teaching them to read, and telling them about the Lord. His shop became known as “The Ragged School,” and John would limp around the waterfront, food in his pockets, looking for more children to tend. During his lifetime, John Pounds rescued five hundred children from despair and led every one of them to Christ. Moreover, his work became so famous that a “Ragged School Movement” swept England, and a series of laws were passed to establish schools for poor children in John’s honor. Boy’s homes, girl’s homes, day schools, and evening schools were started, along with Bible classes in which thousands heard the Gospel.
When John collapsed and died on New Year’s Day, 1839, while tending to a boy’s ulcerated foot, he was buried in a churchyard on High Street. All England mourned, and a monument was erected over his grave. What can – what will – you do? What can – what will – Hope church do?
As usual, Jesus makes a promise to those who obey his teachings. THERE ARE BLESSINGS FOR MINISTERING TO CHILDREN. Jesus, as we read, said, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me…” Jesus would later say something similar: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40) When we do it to children WE DO IT TO JESUS. Jesus identifies Himself with the little children. They are an extension of Him. What we do to them we do to Him. We love and care for Jesus as we love and care for children.
And when we do it to Jesus, WE OPEN THE DOOR TO THE PRESENCE OF GOD. “…and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me (alone) but (also) the one who sent me.” In our encounters with children, through our experiences of ministering to them, we learn and experience more of the heart of God.
And when we experience more of the heart of God, WE OPEN OUR HEART TO MINISTRY TO THE LEAST OF ALL. While Jesus’ primary message in this scene in Mark is about the care for children, by extension it came to stand for others as well. Throughout the Gospels the words ‘little children’ came to stand for anyone who resembles a child in social standing, weakness, need, and dependence. Greatness in Jesus’ kingdom is to give attention to and care for people who are not deemed great, who have no fame, who cannot help themselves. To be great is to spend life caring for children, orphans, prisoners, the hungry, the poor, and the homeless. And it is the way into the heart of God.
Perhaps that’s why William Booth had such firm resolve. He said, “While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while children go hungry as they do now, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there’s a poor girl lost upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul in the light of God, I’ll fight – I’ll fight to the very end.”
Another such fighter is Albert Lexie. He isn’t a doctor or nurse or specialist. But yet he gets on the bus very early three days a week, every week, all year round, and rides for almost two hours to get to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. In his own way he does a ton of healing while he’s there. It all started one night more than two decades ago when Albert was watching television. The hospital was conducting its annual telethon. His heart was touched. The next day he took the bus to the hospital for the first time. He handed a surprised receptionist an envelope containing his entire life’s savings: almost $750.00. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more he could do for these kids. So another day he went back to the hospital and convinced the administrators to let him help by doing what he knew and did well – set up a shoe shine stand and shine shoes. Only it would benefit Albert’s kids.
Each day Albert is at the hospital, not only polishing shoes, but walking down the halls talking with or singing to sick kids to make them feel better and to brighten their lives. And most of the time he visits the sickest of the sick, those with very little hope of going home. He uses songs, words, and prayers to help the best he can. By shining one shoe at a time, Albert has donated more than $110,000 to the hospital. Eventually Albert won the 1997 Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Citizens and in 2006 won the National Caring Award. He was interviewed by U. S. Congressman John Kasich, who asked Albert what it was that motivated him. Albert replied that he could sing the reason better than he could explain it. So right there, surrounded by television cameras, doctors, administrators, sick kids, assorted government officials, and city leaders Albert sang…”On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suffering and shame…” (From Chasing Skinny Rabbits, Dr. John Trent, Thomas Nelson, 2007, pg. 128-130)
He sang it, He did it, to Jesus. May God give us the courage to go and do likewise. Let us pray.
