Becoming a Child

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

BECOMING A CHILD

Mark 9:36-37

36 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." 

NIV

We cannot be certain why Mark does not record this incident as Matthew does and in some sense in order to gather the truth we have to bring Matthews account into consideration. According to Mathew Jesus also said that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven they had to come like one of these children. We have to change from being an adult and become like a child. Adults think way too much about accepting the truth, but a child simply accepts it in all innocence. A child believes because he is told so, an adult questions what he is told, because he thinks he knows better. Matthews account is all about conversation; about becoming something we are not in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yet even though Mark leaves that out, there is still a truth here for us to encounter. In a cultural where woman and children are certainly not the important people, except of course the first born son, who inherits all the father has, Jesus tells his disciples they if they accept these children, they see them as Jesus does, precious in his sight, then they are truly accepting him. Of course in our culture we cherish little children and certainly accept them as a gift from God. We have more programs at church for the children then we do for adults. We have many outreach programs to bring in the little children so we can teach them about Jesus. Certainly today we are welcoming these little children, so what else could we glean from this for our lives? It would seem obvious that if we accept Jesus we accept the Father, although it is true some people, who we would have to categorize as non-believers, accept some of the teaching of Jesus, seeing him as a great man with wisdom, just as they do with Gandhi, Muhammad, Confucius or some other seemingly spiritual person of the past. Yet the fact remains, Jesus is the Son of God and he did come to save us, to die for our sins, and we must overthink that, but simple accept it as a little child accepts what his father tells him. If we want to see the kingdom of heaven we must become a child of God. We must become a child. Must of our childhood we spent wanting to be an adult, but now as adults we need to become a child.