Job 1.1;2.1-10, Hebrews 1.1-4,2.5-12, Mark 10.2-16
Bratton Clovelly, Trinity 18 (Proper 22) 7/10/2012
Jesus caused a scandal wherever he went. And if the events described by Mark happened today, he'd be causing a scandal again. Mark tells us that "He put his arms around the children, laid his hands upon them..."
But he hadn't been CRB checked. He was breaking all the Child Protection taboos. In our society, adults are actively discouraged from touching children. We are told that we can't be trusted to be caring, to be intimate, with children; we are scared off showing our care for lost or distressed youngsters for fear that our holding their hand or our kindly hugs might be misunderstood: and so our young ones grow up untouched by us, distanced from us physically and emotionally.
"He put his arms around the children, laid his hands upon them, and blessed them." What right does he have to impose his religious beliefs on these innocents? That would be the cry today. How dare he presume to bless them: they should be left alone to find their own blessing in their own way and their own time.
So Jesus' behaviour is scandalous behaviour, now, just as it was at the time it actually happened. Though the cause of the scandal was different then. As Mark describes it, people were bringing their children to Jesus to be blessed by him - and what sort of people would bring their children to Jesus for a blessing? It’s likely that they were society’s vulnerable ones, society’s struggling ones, society’s suffering ones. The sort of people who may have given up hope of a good life for themselves but who would do all they could to try to provide a better life for their children.
These suffering ones had seen in Jesus something special, something wholesome, something holy, something which they wanted their children to have a share of. Just a simple blessing - it could make all the difference to their vulnerable youngsters’ lives.
It was the disciples who were scandalised by this: they regarded this as a distraction from Jesus's main purpose, which was to engage the concerns of the adults around, the law-makers and law-keepers who were, on this occasion, intellectualising around the thorny matter of divorce, and, as so often, trying to trip Jesus up over his stance on the subject.
The disciples were comfortable with this sort of exchange, for to their ears the good news of the Kingdom of God was a grown-up message; the gospel was a serious business to be mulled over by thoughtful people in reasoned debate, not something to be interrupted by the messy, troubled poor and their screaming, wriggling kids.
But Jesus saw things very differently. The disciples’ attitude towards the suffering ones made him angry. Jesus wanted his scandalised disciples to understand that the grown-up gospel was something which could be understood by the children of the poor; could be embraced by families who were suffering, and more than that, he said, "the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
This is what Jesus wanted his disciples to hear on that day in Judea; and this is what Jesus wants us to hear today:
That the Kingdom of God belongs to the little ones, the suffering ones, those outside of polite conversation, who we tend to neglect, sideline, demonise, the ones we'd rather ignore.
That the Kingdom of God belongs to the ones our society decides we shouldn't touch; the ones we are frightened to engage with, the ones whose suffering makes us feel uncomfortable, the ones who disturb our self-indulgent adult ways.
This is what Jesus wants us to hear today: That the Kingdom of God belongs to those who want to be blessed by him, those who aren't afraid to be touched by him, those who want to be embraced by him.
We tend to avoid the thorny questions which surface when we encounter people are suffering. Perhaps because on an intellectual level we really can’t find the answers. And on an emotional level the questions that surface disturb us.
In our hearts, when we encounter suffering, we find ourselves questioning God - feeling the weight of the sort of questions which the story of Job raises. Why should a good man suffer? Where is God when it hurts? Would God let a person struggle just to test them? Has God really got any power to heal or to save? How can he let Satan manipulate him? Why does he seem to hide?
We’re uncomfortable with these sort of questions because they shake our faith to the core. We struggle to find answers to them. But be encouraged by the way that Jesus turned his back on the intellectual, theological debate of the moment to embrace those who brought their children to him - the struggling ones, the suffering ones. Jesus was touched by these people, and he touched them. Not with answers to satisfy the troubled mind, but with an embrace and a blessing to soothe the troubled heart.
And that is what society’s suffering ones most want - someone to embrace them, to take them in their arms, to offer them a blessing. When we make ourselves available to someone who is suffering we realise that their terrifying questions remain - and so they should - but we also find that they find blessing through our acceptance of them and though our listening to the cries of their hearts.
So please be encouraged in your care for those who are suffering - don’t fear their questions, don’t worry about finding the right answers to satisfy them. Just embrace them, knowing that Jesus will always be with you in that moment of embrace, saying, "the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
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