Oh, to be young again. It doesn’t really matter how old you are. If you are an adult living with adult responsibilities paying adult bills, and discovering more and more adult aches and pains than I am guessing that you have sighed… Oh, to be young again. To be taken back to a simpler time when you were free of responsibility and pressure, when the only thing on your schedule was eating a bowl of Captain Crunch while watching cartoons in your Underoos. I grew up in the swamps of Bancroft Michigan. My biggest worry was if I had enough camouflage paint to conceal myself from my arch nemesis (also known as my best friend, Chris) as I engaged in an all-out offensive on his tree fort. The only pressure I felt was from my imaginary troops that I led into battle. The only ache or pain that I felt was if he shot me with his Beebe gun before I had a chance to shoot him with mine. Oh, to be young again.
Oh, to be young again! When you were free to ride your bike miles from home, when having a Kool-Aid mustache was fashionable, when having a quarter meant that you were rich enough to buy a Baby Ruth. Oh, to be young again! When you could play hard all day and still complain that you weren’t tired when parents forced you to bed, when you could care less what French fries and chocolate did to your thighs, when all your worldly possession fit into one toy box, and you felt like you had everything. Oh, to be young again!
Today Jesus calls upon us to be young again, in saint Matthew’s account Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”[1] Today Jesus calls upon us to be like little children. But if we are going to understand what Jesus means we need to recognize there is a big difference between being childlike and childish. Our gospel lesson from Mark 9:30-37 will help us understand the difference.
Over the last few years Jesus and his disciples have been driving out demons, healing the sick, preaching and teaching. We see now that Jesus’ ministry is taking a different focus. Mark tells us, “30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples.” Jesus did not want to fight the crowds who were trying to make him a king. He came to serve not to be served and right now he needed to serve his disciples.
The disciples were beginning to realize that Jesus was more than a Rabbi. Not that long ago Peter expressed an infant faith when he confessed that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God”[2]. Jesus wanted His disciples to understand what it truly meant to be the Christ. Jesus told His disciples, “31 The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” This was a hard lesson for the disciples. The kind of things Jesus was talking about were not supposed to happen to the Christ. Every little Jewish boy and girl was told the Christ would come to overthrow the Romans, rebuild the kingdom of David, and call the scattered chosen home. Like all other Jewish boys and girls, the disciples thought the Christ would be an earthly king who would rule God’s people. That is why we read in verse 32, “But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” The disciples didn’t want to hear about a Christ that would be betrayed into the hands of men who would kill him. They wanted to hear about a Christ who would be bathed in glory as He ruled over His people with power and might, and maybe also hear about how a little of that glory would spill over onto them. The disciples were afraid if they asked Jesus questions about the Christ, they wouldn’t like the answers.
So, Jesus and the disciples continued down the road, but they did not travel in silence. The disciples started to act like children in the back seat of a car. But instead of arguing who gets a window seat they began to argue about who was the greatest. Maybe Peter said, ‘I’m the greatest, after all Jesus picked me to go up the mount of Transfiguration.’ To which James and John might have replied, ‘Whatever Peter! You are also the one to whom He said, “get behind me Satan”. Besides, we are the greatest for we are the most zealous for the Lord and we will call down fire from heaven on anyone who doesn’t believe it.” To which Judas might have replied, “Settle down sons of thunder. I am the one He trusts with all the money clearly I am the greatest.” To which Andrew might have replied, “I have been a disciple the longest so according to the rules of seniority I am the greatest.” To which John might have replied, “everyone knows I am the disciple Jesus loves that means I must be the greatest”. After that I imagine the conversation consisted mostly of them shouting back and forth nu-uhh and yeah-huh.
It is striking that in the aftermath of Jesus’ discussion about the sacrifice He was about to make, the disciples would so childishly be discussing their greatness. It is also striking how often we see the same childish behavior among us. The older we get the more childish we tend to act. As we become more and more aware of things like honor, prestige, and status the more we act like children fighting in the back seat of the car. I might say, ‘I’m the greatest because I have been chosen to be a spokesman in the church.” To which one of you might reply, “I’m the greatest because the only two radio station I listen to are K-Love and The Fish.” To which someone else might reply, “I’m the greatest because I have been entrusted with the most responsibility in the church.” To which still someone else might reply, “I’m the greatest because I have been a member of Messiah longer than anyone else.” As we gather before a cross that reminds us how our Savior sacrificed Himself for us, it is a little embarrassing how childish we can be.
Jesus wants His disciple to be young again, but He doesn’t want them to be so childish. That is why when they arrived at Capernaum, Jesus asked His disciples, “33… “What were you arguing about on the road?” No one wanted to say anything. Like little children caught with their hands in the cookie jar they did not have the courage to admit what they had done. So, Jesus sits them all down and says, ‘children I want to talk to you about your childish behavior.” Saint Matthew tells us, “Jesus called a little child and had him stand among them.” Jesus told them, I want you to be young again, but instead of being childish, I want you to be childlike. Telling His disciples to be like a child was telling His disciples to be the opposite of great. You see, a Jewish child had no rights until his father granted him status during his Bar-mitzvah. The child was under the absolute authority of his father. He had no claim on possessions, power or prestige. His status was not all that different then the household servant. Mark summarizes the childlike lesson for us with these words from Jesus, “35 If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Just like a child.
This morning Jesus sits us down in order to talk to us about our childish behavior. Jesus tells us He wants us to be like a child; He wants us to be the very last, and the servants of all. But very often we give in to the temptation to make ourselves the very first and the greatest of all. Every time we are more interested in being understood than being understanding, we are being childish. Every time we think more about what we can get than what we can give, we are being childish. Every time we put one of our wants ahead of the needs of others, we are being childish.
Jesus’ call for us to be young again is not a call for us to be childish, but childlike. It is a call for us to be the very last and the servant of all. We have an example of this in our Savior Jesus. As Jesus placed a child before the disciples to teach them childlike humility, in the pages of Scripture, God has placed a child before us to teach us childlike humility. God places before us His one and only Son Jesus “ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”[3] God’s one and only Son was childlike so that you could be forgiven for being childish.
The disciples don't fully appreciate the difference between being childish and childlike right away. Two more times they will argue about who is the greatest. The disciples had more growing up to do. However, eventually they would understand what it means to be great in God’s kingdom. After they watched Jesus sacrifice Himself on the cross and the Holy Spirit helped them understand how His sacrifice brought them salvation the disciples started being more childlike than childish. Instead of fighting about who is the greatest Peter writes, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.”[4] James writes, “ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”[5] And John is happy to identify himself a “little child”[6] and a “fellow partaker in the tribulation”[7] Once they understood the difference between being childish and childlike, the disciples fill the rest of the New Testament not with arguments about greatness but with encouragements for humble service and sacrifice to others.
Oh, to be young again! As we grow older it is not always easy for us to fully appreciate the difference between being childish and childlike. The temptation to fight with our fellow believers about our own greatness is always there. But so is the cross. On the cross, God’s child sacrificed Himself to save us. In light of that sacrifice let us strive each day to become more childlike than childish. Let us answer our Savior’s call to be young again. Amen
[1] Matthew 18:3
[2] Mark 8:29
[3] Philippians 2:6-8
[4] 1 Peter 4:10
[5] James 4:10
[6] 1 John 3:2
[7] Revelation 1:9