Let the Children Come to Me

Good morning, Church.

Hear now the word of the true and living God, Mark ten, starting in verse thirteen.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.

But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me.

Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

Good morning.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

My name is James Rathman.

I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver.

Welcome.

We are continuing our series through Mark, and uh we've been talking a lot about kids lately, and that's kind of the section that we're in.

And today is maybe the climax of that topic, perhaps in scripture.

So uh this is a uh a really uh profound thing to look at, so I'm I'm excited to look at it with you all this morning.

So let's pray before we move into our text.

Holy Father, we thank you for your loving kindness extended towards us, that that we might address you as Father.

Lord, that you would uh come come down to the level of our our understanding, condescend to our earthly position, that we might know you and in truth say, You are our father, you are our caretaker, our protector.

Lord, as we read this morning, you uphold the universe by the word of your power, and yet you know and care for each of us in incredible love.

Lord, I pray that we would see this truth of your character and just the uh the be uh be amazed and stand in wonder at your willingness to go to the least of these, and Lord, that we might take comfort in seeing that.

Lord, we lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So this is the story where people are bringing Jesus their children that he might touch them and bless them, and the disciples rebuke the those people for you know interrupting Jesus' day, and then Jesus rebukes the disciples, and we get this this uh incredible phrase.

He says, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

And it's one of those sort of central ideas in in Christianity, and perhaps one of the most famous of Jesus' teachings, and this is one of the more famous of the stories that we'll look at.

We all have the image in our minds of the children coming to Jesus and Jesus saying, Do not hinder the children, let the children come to me, and him holding them in his arms.

And I think that the reason that this is this story is so sticky and this image of Christ is so moving is, well, it's just there's something just sort of sweet about it, isn't there?

I mean, seeing Jesus say, Let the children come to me, him holding the children in his arms, this is a beautiful and even sentimental image of Christ.

And it's really, you know, if you're gonna write a screenplay, then the way that you make your main character sympathetic is you have them be nice to a child.

I read um the, or like I'm like reading fairy tales to my children.

We read Aladdin, like the original Aladdin.

It's very different.

Um but uh then I was like, all right, let's watch the movie.

Uh and Disney, you know, the way that they introduce Aladdin, you may remember, is he goes and he steals an apple, him and um help Abu.

Uh steal and steal an apple.

I was thinking a Yago, but that's he's the other sidekick of the bad guy.

They're uh which and also not Zazu.

Uh but they were so Abu, uh, you know, in in Aladdin, they steal an apple, and you're watching it and you're thinking, who's this street rat?

And then they see a starving child uh and they give the apple, you know, Aladdin looks at it and he's like, oh man.

Then he gives it to the starving child, and you think to yourself, street rat, I don't.

That's right.

I don't buy that.

And all of a sudden our our once thieving character becomes sympathetic.

And and we know this, like receiving children, uh it sticks in your mind.

It's the way you establish someone as a as a sympathetic character, but what's happening there?

I think when many of us read a story like this, it sort of conjures that image of Jesus that um uh is is like the Jesus that your your weird aunt is always posting about on Facebook.

You know, he's beautiful and has you know lovely hair, and he's kind of floating around holding sheep and doing cute sentimental things, saying niceties.

And you know more theology than her.

And so that's why when this this sort of more sentimental Jesus shows himself, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but there's something behind this, you know, like this isn't the story, it is more than just it's cute and nice that Jesus receives these children.

But uh, if you look at the story and you aren't initially moved by just the wonder that Jesus takes his limited time and he uses it to bless children, to welcome into his space.

Luke when he relays the story, he clarifies that these are infants.

You know, they aren't even speaking.

And Jesus takes his time and he welcomes them.

If if that doesn't move you in some way, if if that doesn't, you know, if you if that part of if that part of you that is uh uh sort of repulsed by the sentimentality, if you if you think cynically towards that sort of thing, like this is just some sort of emotional manipulation that's taking place here, introducing a character that they're that uh you know, we're trying to be won over to.

Um if you're thinking in those terms, you're you're going to miss so much of the greatness and wonder of this story.

Sentiment sentimentality, it used to mean, now it just means like hallmark, but it used to mean uh uh using your emotions to discover the truth rather than your reason to discover the truth.

And under that definition of sentimentality, then uh there's a there is certainly a time in my life where I would have said, yes, that is the number one problem.

We use our emotions to discover truth, and we ought to just use our reason to discover truth.

Um unfortunately, I don't think that's the way humans work.

Uh, and I don't think that that is a uh helpful way of breaking down human psychology to describe how it is that anyone arrives at truth.

Truth is often married with this thing, uh beauty.

And it often reveals itself initially through these uh emotionally compelling things like wonder.

And when you see the God of the universe taking his limited time in the incarnation to hold and bless infants, the thing that you are seeing there is this initial draw of wonder and beauty.

And in order to see that, you have to do the very thing that this Lord calls you to do, which is to be like a child.

Because a child is able to see that, and they are not fearful that they're being manipulated.

They say, Look, this man receives ones such as us.

I bet he's good, and he would receive me.

In order to see this story, you have to see it like a child.

That's my that's what I'm going to try and prove to you today.

And then hopefully our hearts are changed such that we can see it more completely.

So let's go ahead and look at this story, and we'll we'll gaze for a long time at what are the dynamics that are happening here?

What is it that initially draws us to this wonder of Christ who is holding the children?

What is it that works in our own souls so we sense, are we just being manipulated?

And do we need to approach this more cynically?

And how is it that becoming childlike actually allows us to see Christ as he is?

Mark 10, 13.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.

So we'll just take it as continuing in the flow of the stories that we've seen most recently.

And so, why is it that all of these children are suddenly being brought to Jesus?

Well, the last time we had a time or location marker, Jesus was in a house with his disciples, and the disciples were arguing about who was greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And Jesus, in order to address that controversy, he uh takes a child in his lap, and it says that uh whoever receives a child such as this, he is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Uh for in order to be greatest, you must be last of all and servant of all.

And so the last time we saw this, it it perhaps, you know, there's no line, uh there's no stage direction that says, and then Jesus removed the child from his lap.

He could have said this whole, all this whole all the teachings that we've seen could have been with this child on his lap for the next part.

And so uh perhaps the other parents around saw, like, hey, look at the way Christ is with this child.

I want to bring my child to him that he might have the blessing of being with uh who whoever this is, this great prophet, this wonderful teacher, this man who seems to walk and move with who's able to convey the very blessing of God.

I want my child to have that.

Seems like Jesus might have invited that very thing.

This is just conjecture, but I think it makes sense.

But it kind of raises two questions, this initial uh verse, which are why were the children bringing, excuse me, why were the parents bringing their children to Jesus?

And the second question is why were the disciples rebuking the parents for bringing the children to Jesus?

And I think uh we can probably say the most about the second one first, which is why were the disciples rebuking the parents for bringing their children to Jesus?

The text doesn't say precisely, but we've been given enough characterization about the disciples to be able to speak about this with I think some some pretty safe assumptions.

The first reason is the disciples don't want to be bothered.

And they don't want Jesus to be bothered either.

And we see this throughout the disciples' experience, especially of the inconveniences and problems of the people around them.

Remember in chapter six, Jesus is teaching and he teaches late into the evening, and the disciples see the crowd, starts to get restless and hungry, and the disciples' idea is to send them away, that they might go and buy food for themselves.

And Jesus says, you feed them.

And this is the difference between the way that Jesus experiences the problems and inconveniences of his people and the way that the disciples experience the problems and inconveniences of his people.

The disciples uh say we need to get those away from us.

These are uh annoying and they're in the way.

And by the way, that trip was supposed to be a restful trip anyway, and Jesus, you saw this crowd, and because of your compassion, you had to start teaching them.

And now here we are.

You've gotten us in this um uh bind again, and we've got nothing to we've got nothing to give them.

Look at all these problems here.

But Jesus is so different than that.

He seems irresistibly drawn to the problems of his people.

When he sees the hunger of the crowd, he he can't resist stepping into it.

It is it is it's as though it's his very hunger that he's witnessing.

And so the disciples don't want to be bothered.

And children are often inconvenient.

But Jesus is uh just immediately willing to step into that and even receive it, even when it's unplanned.

It just shows itself to him.

And secondly, we can see that the disciples had a different view of the kingdom than Jesus had.

And this has been laid out in the verses uh in the in the stories just before this, as we we have seen that the disciples uh well I'm I'm actually getting ahead of myself as I look at my notes for the first time this morning.

Um The disciples, just prior to this, the story that they uh that we saw in chapter 9, they are arguing about who is greatest in the kingdom of God.

And what Jesus does is he takes a child and he sets them, he sets the child on his lap.

And what he's explaining is that the greatest in the kingdom, greatness in the kingdom does not mean what the disciples think it means.

They think it is the ordinary pattern of greatness in the world.

And children are particularly inconvenient for that pursuit.

Because children are not the type of thing that you can serve in hopes that you will then get something in return.

Children are not served as though they are a means to an end.

You can't, you don't serve children as a means of climbing the social ladder, as a way of demonstrating your greatness.

That is not uh if you if try it.

You won't get anything from it.

And you know that.

You likely won't even come away from time serving your children having anything to really talk about or say.

Like with, remember before podcasts?

Me neither.

But there were probably, we probably each had ideas that that maybe we came up with or we would tell stories about each other's lives.

Now we say, I was listening to this thing that this these other people talked about lately, and then we talk about, and then we talk about those things.

Uh and it feels like you gain some knowledge or information, there's some productivity of the time spent.

Um we were trying to play a card game yesterday with my son and and daughter.

Uh, my son's six, and he played the card game.

My daughter is three, and she just tried to destroy us.

Um, and it and the they both required this attention.

Now there's nothing to be there there's no means to an end there.

You know, there's no climbing of a social ladder there.

There's no advancement.

So, what is the reason for giving this?

So we see the disciples, they're thinking of the kingdom in terms of their own social advancement, that it advances in the way that ordinary kingdoms advance.

Therefore, we need to get rid of these kids because Jesus has a kingdom to build.

We're a part of that story, we've got limited time, and now we're spending all this whole afternoon with just like these these kids coming in and Jesus blessing them.

They can't even, they don't even know what Jesus is teaching.

What are they, why are we spending this time doing this?

Well, why do you spend time with these inconvenient children?

Don't you see the only explanation, the only thing that could that could cause you to give your attention to these children from whom you can gain nothing is love.

Love is the reason that Christ would spend his time with these children.

Love is the reason that Christ looks out on the crowd and he sees that they're he sees their hunger and he steps into it.

It is not just an inconvenience for him.

Our culture talks of and thinks of the least of these, the children, just in terms of inconvenience.

Of course, maximal levels of inconvenience.

The the uh you know what what is the the the uh look children disrupt your your life can considerably.

I have a uh to standing here before you today, I have pea on my genes.

That is not mine.

It happened only like, I don't know, a half hour ago.

A little more than a half hour ago.

Um that was from children, by the way, to close the loop.

That's why it's relevant to what I'm saying here.

I'm not just saying that.

But we we center in our culture like the maximal inconvenience that children are, the abortion conversation in our culture, we center the how how detrimental, how inconvenient, how in the way of the life that you could otherwise have had children are.

So what I'm saying is we center the inconvenience, I wish there were a heavier word probably, but maybe there isn't.

The inconvenience of children to the point of death.

That's how maximally we consider this.

Look at what we're look at what we say.

If there is something in my life which I would be required to serve, by which I could gain no personal social advancement, death would be better.

Death would be better.

The counter to that is of course love.

So why do the parents bring the children?

Why do the parents bring the children to the to Jesus?

It just says so that he might bless them.

Excuse me, it just says that that he might touch them.

But touching them is not uh oh it it's not just it's not it's not don't think of like the woman uh uh who reached up and grabs Jesus' cloak that she might be healed.

That's not what's happening here.

These children aren't sick.

These are just healthy kids.

You know, maybe some of them were sick.

It was a group of kids, some of them were sick, but there's but you know, no ailments in the particular way that we've seen in Jesus' healings, but there's a uh they just want their kids to receive the blessing of Christ.

They see that this man is participating in some clear way in the love of God.

And what do we want?

But our children to receive this love.

And by his touch, the proximity to him, that he might bless them.

You know, it's Jacob who blesses his sons by by laying his hands on them.

Abraham offers his blessing, he says, Come put your hand on my thigh.

There's there's this touch and conferral of blessing that we see throughout all of Scripture.

So when he when they say they were bringing their children to Jesus to touch that they might touch them, that's it's it's the touch and the blessing of Jesus.

And to us, I think in our culture, we think, well, that's weird.

You know, like like we don't bring people to be blessed, but I think if you consider it's the most natural thing in the world.

What do you want?

You want your children to be in the environments where they will be most cared for.

You want to bring your children into proximity where they'll experience love and that where they'll experience the compassion and care.

And those if you see Christ when One who manifests this more completely, how intuitive as a parent of your love that you want your child to participate in that love.

I think it seems strange to us because we don't have a culture of blessing, but I think it's the most natural thing in the world that these parents would bring their children to Christ.

So the parents are bringing the children, the disciples are rebuking the parents, and Jesus is not happy with that.

In Mark 10, 14, it says 14 through 15.

We'll get to 15, but it just says 14 there.

It's because Zach uploaded my slides and he fixes my mistakes.

But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me.

Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

When Jesus sees it, he's indignant.

Mark is the only one that talks about the emotional state of Jesus when he sees the disciples rebuking the parents.

And he says he's indignant.

And that's a word that means you are angered by the injustice that you are witnessing.

Jesus can't imagine that the disciples would be preventing these children from coming to him, preventing their parents from bringing their children to him so that he might bless them.

And it just goes to, and we can understand the disciples, you know, it's probably just a whiplash all the time for them because they're like, hey, let's give Jesus a break.

You know, he's been doing this stuff for a while.

We would kind of like to get back to having the house to ourselves.

And it's the he's it's not like he's doing a group blessing.

You know, this is one at a time.

He's taking the child, blessing them, spending some time.

And so they they probably think they're doing the right thing, but really they're just serving this oppositional kingdom.

If we put this in the narrative flow, we can understand why Jesus is indignant to what he's seeing.

Because what has he just taught the disciples?

In verse 9, in chapter 9, when he holds the child, he says, Whoever receives one such child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me.

He had just said, Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.

Here's a parade of children.

And they're saying, Jesus, don't receive them.

He's like, what?

This is what I just said this.

I just said that we we will receive the children.

And they were probably thinking, like, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean.

Like, generally, we have a heart that's like, yeah, we receive children.

But I I wasn't thinking about these ones that are here right now.

And that's the way we think of Jesus' teaching so often.

It's like, yeah, yeah, we need to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, not this one.

Because they're particularly unreasonable.

In fact, this one is toxic.

This is a toxic neighbor.

Toxic.

There are two levels of reality in which I I doubt that word, socially and in terms of health.

If someone tells me that this thing will remove toxins from me, then I think I'm looking at someone who is trying to remove money from me.

And if somebody is describing just uh the toxic, here's been the great revelation for me.

That toxic system that I was a victim of, I was a part of.

That's uh that's a frightening thing.

And yet Christ calls us to this to this love.

Not that one.

Well, Jesus also said, Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

Jesus had just described this incredible depth of care for children, for the least of these.

He had described to his disciples, if you want to be great in my kingdom, then you must be last of all and servant of all.

And yet, when the least of these are literally paraded in without asking, you know, they had to, there was no, they had to do no marketing.

Just the the kingdom of God is just being ushered in in front of them, and they have so not understood the way in which Christ operates that they're trying to prevent it.

How easily they could have anticipated that Christ desires to receive these children.

And look at look at what he says.

He says, Let the children come to me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

It is ones like this that the kingdom of God belongs to.

The disciples are saying, these children are in the way of the advancement of the kingdom, and we need to stop it.

And Jesus is saying, no, it the kingdom is for ones like this.

Which means that if you're standing opposed to them coming to me, you are standing opposed to the kingdom itself.

You are working for an oppositional kingdom.

And so the disciples, like I said, they must just be disoriented all the time.

Because here they think they're defending the kingdom, and what they discover is we may not even be in it, the way we're acting right now, and the people we're trying to keep out of it, seems like they're the only ones that Christ is sure about.

So their heads are spinning.

Children are inconvenient, they're in the way, but what does it mean that the Son of God, in his limited time, spends it with these children to bless them and to hold them?

What does it say about how we receive children who are a type of the least of these, the least of these.

You know, those who we are quickest to write off, those who seem the most to be just in the way, those for whom when we serve them we can gain nothing in return.

The least of these.

How out of step are we?

C.S.

Lewis found it hard for himself to enjoy children.

In The Abolition of Man, he writes this He says, I myself do not enjoy the Society of Small Children.

You can tell because he calls it the Society of Small Children.

I recognize this as a defect in myself, just as a man may recognize he is colorblind.

You know, this is not just some dispositional thing.

If we do not see the value of children and the value of the least of these, then we misunderstand the whole world.

It's as though we're colorblind and we can't tell what's really going on here, what the shape of things really is.

And Lewis is brave enough to recognize this in himself, to voice it out loud, and then to share it as a as something which he works to change.

And that's from the guy that wrote Narnia.

You know?

So I don't know how you're doing.

Jesus, on the other hand, says, Let the children come to me, do not hinder them.

That means that these children, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

How upside down is this kingdom?

We need to just, I know these things are so familiar, but you need to just have your imagination broken for the way that you think the world works, for what you think advancement is.

There will come a day when the reality of the way that God has set out the world will make itself plain, and you may find that those things which you rejected as most inconvenient were the most valuable things in the world.

And those things that you pursued as the most valuable things will burn up and vanish forever.

Oh, that we would not be like the disciples in this moment, that we would be shown them, that we might learn from them, that our hearts might be opened up to the places in our lives where the kingdom of God is literally being ushered in before us, and we're doing great work and going through great pains to try and prevent it from coming into our lives.

And Jesus is saying, This is the very place.

This is where the glory is.

He says, Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

They're preventing the children from coming.

And then he says to the disciples, unless you're like them, you can't come.

You're the gatekeeper.

And look at this.

Unless you become like this child, you don't get the kingdom.

It is by becoming like them that the kingdom opens itself to you.

So what does that mean?

To become like a child.

I say, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.

Paul elsewhere, of course, of course, writes that we should no longer be like children.

The Bible is so often like this, where it says one thing and then it says the complete opposite.

And then in understanding those, you're you're becoming wise.

Don't be like a child.

So don't be foolish, don't be so self-centered, don't be uh uh immature.

And then there's this other side where Christ is saying, Um if you don't receive the kingdom of God like a child, then you won't enter the kingdom of God.

What does it mean to receive like a child?

Simple, humble, trusting.

How does a child receive Christ?

It is simple.

You know, the they're able to see the goodness in itself.

Oh, this is a risk that many of us adults would would just never be willing to take.

Look, he looks good.

Uh it's probably because he's good.

Now you learn not to take that risk.

You know, you you've you've learned, like, oh, if I just if this thing just seems if I just follow this thing like it seems, and I don't approach this with some element of suspicion, then my heart's going to be put out there and it and it will get destroyed.

And I'll look like a fool and I'll feel like a fool.

And that's happened to you, likely, or soon will.

It's only the morning.

And there's and when that happens, you'll make a commitment to yourself.

And you'll say something like, I'm not gonna put myself out there like that again.

But a child has made no such commitment.

They see the goodness of Christ and they just receive it as goodness.

He's the one for whom that is the right response.

It is humble.

What does the child know?

What does the child think they're bringing to the table in order to receive the goodness of Christ?

Nothing.

There's no dessert, like they no deservedness.

The child hopes there's dessert.

And a trust.

I read a great little story that a pastor wrote about this uh this principle.

And uh he says there is a a man who had gold, and on his windowsill he set the gold with a sign that said, free nuggets of gold.

Oh, like where you set warm pies to cool for passing vagabonds.

And the everybody walks by and they see, you're not gonna trick me.

And they pass by.

Look at what type of trap this is.

I'm not gonna reach my hand in there.

But a child walks up and he reads the sign and says, free gold.

It's mine.

I'll take it.

That is the way that we receive the kingdom of God.

How could it be so free to a child?

What isn't free?

Everybody's laughing so hard because of inflation.

I know why you're laughing.

You're like, it's not free to me.

To them it is, to them it's just free.

That's what the kingdom of God is like.

You receive it as just free.

How could his love be just set on me?

What have I done to deserve this love that Christ has set on me?

A child is not wondering, what have I done that my parents love me?

They just think, yeah, my parents love me.

That just seems to be what they're like.

Maybe lots of people are like that.

And then they'll get hurt and make commitments to themselves to harden their hearts.

But Jesus, why does he love you?

Why is it that Christ could love you so?

Well, because he loves you.

It's what he's like.

He sees your problems, he's drawn to them because of the depth of his love towards you.

And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

This is after rebuking the disciples, and he's like, Yeah, let's keep this thing going.

And he takes the children in his arms.

Mark is the only one that gives us this sentence with the detail because it shows us this is a one-at-a-time thing.

He took the child in his arms.

That must mean he laid his other hand upon him and blessed them.

A moment with the child.

This one.

This one child.

What was the blessing of Christ?

Well, it's it's been the blessing of God the whole time.

I'll be your God.

You'll be my people.

He came for ones like this.

I just want you to imagine for a moment, like a child might, that this is a true story.

That this really happened.

I want you to imagine for a moment that God, the creator of the world, the one who upholds the universe by the word of his power, became a man and took on flesh.

And he lived on the earth for a short time.

And that in part of this short time on the earth, he spent it holding children one by one, gazing upon their face and blessing them.

And he considered that not a waste, but the best thing that he could be doing.

If Jesus didn't come for the children, if Jesus didn't come for the ones who could do nothing for him in return, if Jesus didn't come for the least of these, if that is, if those were not the ones whom he set his love upon, then what hope do we have?

What hope do you have?

But if he did, if he came for the least of these, there's hope that he might have come for you.

Jesus blesses the children.

He says, These are mine, and I have laid my promise upon them.

This is, of course, in principle, why we as a church baptize infants.

Now, if you read, why is it that you baptize infants?

If you read any contemporary commentators, they'll do what I did, which is you tell a story of the covenant is given in Genesis 15, and then the sign of the covenant of circumcision is given in Genesis 17.

The sign goes to Abraham and his offspring.

There's this covenantal symmetry between the old covenant and the new covenant, and the promise has always the scope of the promise has always been to uh the those who believe, like Abraham did by faith and their offspring.

And therefore, since that is the scope of the covenantal pattern in the old covenant, then and it there's no way that should there's nowhere that shows that it changed, then we ought to recognize the same scope of the covenantal pattern in the new covenant for the sign of the new covenant, which is baptism.

And everybody goes, huh, yeah.

Not everybody, about a third of you.

About the other third, go, huh, no?

The other third seem fine with just about whatever uh in terms of your your sacramentology.

You're my favorite third.

The um, if you read the old commentators, Jesus holding the children and blessing them is just about all they talk about.

They just say, look, if Jesus blessed the children, which must mean Jesus put his blessing upon them, that he said, These are my people, then how could we not?

The sign that we are Christ's people is baptism.

How could we not put that sign on them?

John Calvin, who's one of those old people, he says, in short, by embracing them, he testified that they were reckoned by Christ among his flock.

And if they were partakers of the spiritual gifts, which are represented by baptism, it is unreasonable that they should be deprived of the outward sign.

Seeing Christ hold the child was sufficient.

In order, I want us to see this principle.

I was holding my my son this morning, Bodie.

Um he's like two months old.

And I was thinking, you know, the difference between me and him is is really big.

I can do all kinds of things that he can't.

Like sea more than three feet away.

But the difference between me and our Lord is is far greater than the difference between me and Bodhi.

And yet, our God became a man and held the children.

I want this to settle in your heart.

That is what our God is like.

Jesus came to be the highest revelation of the Father.

If you've seen him, you've seen the Father.

One at a time, He holds and blesses the least of these.

How might he treat you?

How might he come to you and how might he care for you?

What love might he have reserved for you?

You have to see that.

Look at Jesus with the children in his arms.

You realize that to look at him in a way that is not just being self-protective in some way, but allows you to actually receive the glory there, you have to become like a child yourself.

And say something like, maybe it's just as good as it looks.

Maybe his love is sufficient for someone like me.

Maybe his love is so great that he spends this time with these children.

Oh, but you see even more than that, of course.

His love is so great that he would even die for those children.

Children are inconvenient to the point of death.

And this our culture agrees.

Christ agrees as well.

The difference is the depth of his love is such that he would take that death upon himself, that they might be brought to him.

The same could be true for you.

Receive him like a child.

All right.

Are there any questions today, Eric?

Cool.

Then let's take communion and pray.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 23, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Every day, my children come to meals that were just made for them.

They were already laid out.

And my wife thought things like they liked this food last week, and will soon discover that has no correlation whatsoever between what they will like today.

And it will just be there for them freely, freely given, and they will freely receive it, sometimes with some coaxing and negotiating to get them to enjoy it.

Would we be like the children with this meal?

And think it is no naivety to walk up and take it so freely.

It is instead a real grasp of his love towards us as he's shown it to us.

In fact, to receive it with some trepidation, as though it is something we must have earned in some way, and to receive it in any other way other than the free gift that it is, is to deny who he's shown himself to be, and to instead make some Christ of your own imagination come to the table this morning like a child who comes and it is laid out for him.

And what is at this table?

The bread, which is his body, which was broken for you, the wine, which is his blood that was poured out for you.

And we remember that this is the God who became a man and held children on his way to the cross, that he might die on our behalf, so the punishment that we deserve would be taken by him, and the free gift of eternal life might be given to us, which we receive by faith.

Faith like a child.

Let's practice that this morning as we come to the table.

Holy Father, we thank you for the free gift.

We thank you for the love that you have shown us so clearly.

Lord, would you give us hearts like children to be able to receive it as completely as you have called us to, to trust with simplicity and humility the goodness of what you have given us.

You have given us your very self, Lord, and I pray that we would be made like children to receive it.

I pray that in doing so that we might share in the love that you have for us by loving and giving our loving attention to the least of these.

Lord, let us receive you as you have shown yourself to be.

We lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.