“Receive the kingdom of God as a little child.”
The North-West Cluster, the portion of the New Jersey Synod that we are part of, recently began a zoom bible study series—Study Skills for Scripture
—and those of you who gathered at it last Thursday were given a treat,
Rev. Dr. Timothy Wengert,
(co-translator of the official translation of Lutheran confessional documents of both the ELCA and the LC-MS)
lecturing on how Luther read scripture
—and it boils down to Law and Gospel
—that we experience scripture as telling the truth about the human condition,
and telling the truth about God.
And that is certainly true today:
The truth about humans is that, whether we wish to admit it or not,
we are surely little children
—vulnerable, needful, restless, lonely, empty, contingent…
we are little ones…
The truth however, about God is that we little children have a holy parent who wishes that we receive all good things from His generous hands.
“Receive the kingdom of God as a little child.”
Prayer
“Receive the kingdom of God as a little child.”
Have you ever thought about what got Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, locked up, and then killed?
He questioned Herod’s divorce.
So, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” was no innocent question…
it was timely,
terrifying,
a question with the potential to punish or worse.
It was also a question directed one way
—how does one get rid of a wife?
How do you throw someone away?
One of the answers of the time was: “A man can put away his woman for any reason… yes… even for a burnt breakfast.”
Yes, this test by the religious authorities, is dangerous to answer and devastating to any woman caught down wind of it…
And, Jesus points out, it is hypothetical…
“What did Moses command you?” he asks them.
Not some question de jour, but what does this mean for you?
What does this question mean for you in your flesh and blood experience?
Why are we talking about some hypothetical,
some theoretical…
woman?
Why aren’t we concerned about how it lands in reality…
Just as Jesus earlier interprets the Sabbath to be for humanity,
not humanity for the Sabbath
—Jesus insists that rulings on Divorce, how Marriages are lived
—is about how us lonely, needful, humans
become hewn apart or hold together…
They wanted a test,
a way to throw someone away,
a way to make someone into an idea,
a hypothetical instead of a human…
And that fits with what we humans do, right?
I remember talking to a homeless man once, who said that the worst part about being homeless
wasn’t the hunger or the cold,
but that people stopped acknowledging him as a human being,
they wouldn’t look him in the eyes.
He’d become a thing,
a hypothetical,
a problem.
And in many different ways, we’ve all been there…
You’ve experienced it before, haven’t you?
-Treated as less than,
-casually dismissed or wrongly blamed,
-barriers erected against you for no good reason…
But Jesus won’t allow it! Look how he talks about us humans,
“You’re God made!”
Where the “even a burnt breakfast” crowd turns to Leviticus,
Jesus goes all the way back
—to Genesis.
You’re not trash to be thrown away,
but a relational creature to be cherished,
a human with a restless heart!
One of the fun things to do when translating Genesis is to choose English words that retain the Hebrew puns
—the jokes and word play…
and one such instance is the nature of humanity,
the way in which we are truly part of the soil…
In the Hebrew—We are the Adam from the Adamah
“It is not good for man to be alone” doesn’t quite get there…
“It ain’t good for the dust critter to be lonely”
“The earthing”
“The Groundling”
“The Human from the Humus.”
You in your messiness, your groundedness
—not some hypothetical someone
—but you in the world as you find it…
grit under your nails
and footprints where you once stood…
You have a particularity to you!
A unique and good center
—the image of God
—a soul even…
Even in your vulnerability and tentativeness
—ashes to ashes and dust to dust
—Ground person,
from the ground,
going back to the ground
Even then…
especially then
—you matter!
You are not to be thrown away,
nor are you to be barred from blessing!
Let the little ones come.
Let them be blessed by the Holy One of God.
Just as Jesus blessed the meek and poor in spirit,
the hungry and those who are mourning…
just so, the women who have become a theoretical person
—a hypothetical and nothing more…
just so, these little ones…
All of us!
You especially
you are blessed.
“Receive the kingdom of God as a little child.”
The one whom Hebrews names as the “reflection of God’s glory” and “imprint of God’s being” receives us.
Let the little ones come.
Jesus is not a theoretical savior, but our savior.
Let the little ones come.
It is in Jesus that our restless hearts may find rest.
Let the little ones come.
Human of earth, met by the God who comes down for our sake.
Let the little ones come.
Lonely heart—now never alone,
for God is with you,
God with us—the name of our Lord!
Let the little ones come.
You who feel unseen, know that one of the first names of God in Genesis is “The God who sees!”
Let the little ones come.
You who are dismissed, know that God invites you, the banquet of the bridegroom is made ready for you! For you!
Let the little ones come.
“Receive the kingdom of God as a little child.”
Amen.
