Lenten Devotion – Day 22

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Today’ Scripture: Matthew 18:1-5

"’Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’” (Matt. 18:1-3)

Unless you become like a child, Jesus said, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven, and maybe part of what that means is that in the long run what is good about religion is playing the way a child plays at being grown up until he finds that being grown up is just another way of playing and thereby starts to grow up himself. Maybe what is good about religion is playing that the kingdom will come, until - in the joy of your playing, the hope and rhythm and comradeship and poignancy and mystery of it - you start to see that the playing is itself the first-fruits of the kingdom's coming and of God's presence within us and among us. — Frederick Buechner, Now and Then (HarperCollins, 2010), 73.

  The 2015 Templeton Prize was awarded this past week. The most prestigious award in the world of religion and spirituality, it is valued at about $1.7 million and honors those who have made “exceptional contributions” to affirming the spiritual dimension of life. The prize this year went to Jean Vanier, an advocate for people with developmental disabilities and the founder of L’Arche, (French for the Ark) a global network of communities where those with and without disabilities live side by side as equals. The following quote from Jean Vanier relates well to our scripture today:

  “They are essentially people of the heart. When they meet others they do not have a hidden agenda for power or for success. Their cry, their fundamental cry, is for a relationship, a meeting heart to heart. It is this meeting that awakens them, opens them up to life, and calls them forth to love in great simplicity, freedom and openness.

  When those ingrained in a culture of winning and of individual success really meet them, and enter into friendship with them, something amazing and wonderful happens. They too are opened up to love and even to God. They are changed at a very deep level. They are transformed and become more fundamentally human.”

  The disciples once again in our scripture today are showing their over eagerness to shine as Jesus’ best ever disciple, so they want to know, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom.” They want to make sure they are doing the right things to measure up, be the best, and become an overachieving disciple. We all want to do our best and shine at whatever we do, but accomplishments, awards, recognition don’t always get us to the desired destination. They may not allow us to enter the kingdom.

  As adults we have a tendency to over think things, we want to be the best of the best, and tend to complicate the simple. In Alcoholics Anonymous they have a saying, “this is a simple program for complicated people.” Jesus by using a child as an example is trying to get the disciples to understand the simplicity of entering the kingdom.

Lenten Devotion – Day 11

Monday, March 2, 2015

Today’ Scripture: Mark 10:13-16 and Mark 9:33-37

"Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." (Mark 10:14-15)

“Real success in the kingdom of God is not about being strong and looking good and knowing all the right answers. It's about continually yielding oneself to Jesus and determining to take purposeful little steps of obedience, and the ragged reality that it's all about God and His grace at work in us.” ― Mary Beth Chapman, Choosing to SEE

  When we read scripture passages about the Kingdom of God, we often see the words, “belong,” “receive,” and “enter.” In the scripture reading for today, we see the use of all three of these words as Jesus compares, belong, receive and enter the kingdom with the attributes of a child, least in the society, obedient, playfulness, and trusting behavior.

  Rabbis of Jesus time used the expression, “to take upon oneself the Kingdom of God” which they meant the scrupulous observance of the Torah. Jesus was comparing this expression, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it," (10:15) that to enter the kingdom of God is something other than scrupulous observance of the Torah.

  Jesus announced God’s kingdom coming as a gift and as an experience into which, if they have the receptiveness of a child, individuals may enter here and now. The comparison is not so much the innocence, humility or obedience of children; it is rather the fact that children are at ease, receptive, and content to be dependent upon others’ care and bounty. Though this is not the only comparison which can be understood in this passage about children and the kingdom. In Mark, this is the first time Jesus directly associates the kingdom of God with little children.

  Mark 10:13-16 must be seen in light of Mark 9:33-37 and that both of these references to a child build not primarily on assumed characteristics of children but rather on their social status in the first-century world. Using children as a comparison to the kingdom because the disciples attempt to chase the children away, Jesus is speaking of those marginalized and dominated in society, like women, the poor, the unclean and children. The child was the “least” in familial and societal structures. Jesus was inviting his disciples into a new reality of community and family, where the “least” becomes the model for discipleship where the disciple takes up the powerlessness and vulnerability of the child.

  The kingdom of God is something that has been given. While God’s kingdom can “belong” to the children as something already possessed, it is also described as a gift that awaits our possessing. It will be inherited. The meek, Jesus said, “will inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5). Paul in turn speaks of those who “will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:50; Gal. 5:20; Eph. 5:5)

  In addition to being a gift, the kingdom of God is equally a realm one enters. Here the imagery is quite different, for the kingdom of God is cast as a domain into which one moves. It meets everyone with God’s welcome in Jesus’ invitation.