Little children live in a world of wide-eyed wonder, filled with the discovery of colors and textures and sounds and tastes. They are carefree, with just two momentary troubles: their tummies and their diapers, the first, when it’s empty and the second when it’s full. Their limitless imaginations are expanding every waking moment, unhindered by alarm clocks, schedules, and deadlines. They have not a care in the world for chores and homework. New experiences are thrilling. The first taste of lemon is shocking, the first taste of puréed peas repugnant, the first taste of ice cream addicting. And best of all, their world is all about them! They are omnipotent.
Of course, this idyllic existence is temporary. Over time, more and more restrictions get added, curtailing some of their flights of fancy, with voices demanding new levels of responsibility. Disapproving looks replace permanent smiles. ‘No’ enters their world to chilling effect and with it, protest is born (here, as well, kids have a great variety of effective means at their disposal). Power contests become the order of the day (and children can fight fiercely for their imperiled freedoms).
I wonder if Jesus was thinking of this when he said the requirement for Kingdom entrance was being like little children. I wonder if there was a level of sadness in him to see how easily his friends relinquished their childlike ways, allowing a victim mentality to settle in. I wonder, too, if his displays of power were viewed as being ‘beyond their pay grade’ and therefore something to which they could not dare to hope.
Jesus, during his sweet gift of forty bonus days, must have been intensely focused on helping his disciples to come to believe all he had told them. His authority they had witnessed and continued to witness must have had an increasing impact. Coming to grips with their standing in the Kingdom must have been growing (however, not like that which James and John had jockeyed for, at the bidding of their mom).
We are those who benefit from Jesus’ gift and so much more. We are just a few weeks away from celebrating another gift – Pentecost! We have multiple translations of the Word at our disposal. We have Christian literature in quantity to rival John’s comment about ‘all the books in the world wouldn’t be enough to contain them.’ We have two millennia of Church history to learn from and to be cautioned by. We have a church family to help us, in the day-to-day, to stay in the game, to stay in our lane, to provide the iron that sharpens iron. With all this, do we dare to believe Jesus when he says, ‘If you are able to believe, all things are possible to the believer’? Mark 9:23, TPT (emphasis added). What world-changing, Gospel adventures would we say ‘Yes!’ to if we did? Hmm. PD
