Sun Kwak, “Paradoxical Proximity”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4U2AOXQpis

TEXT: Mark 10:13-16

[13] And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. [14] 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. [15] Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” [16] And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

SERMON: “Paradoxical Proximity”

There’s something with stories called a time loop narrative. This is when something is repeated and relived over and over again. And examples of this in film we find with Source Code, which is one replaying events over and over again, in order to change the outcome of a train bombing. Or, The Butterfly Effect, which shows, perhaps, some of the darker consequences of changing something from the past. Or, Time Traveler’s Wife, where the men of a certain family possess the ability to go back and relive moments in the past. But perhaps, most notably, Groundhog Day, where Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray, lives the same day over and over again until he learns to change his heart’s dispositionand become a better and more altruistic person. And it seems that this is a bit of what happens to the disciples a bit frequently during their time with Jesus. They have to relive moments, and Jesus has to reteach them lessons. He’s had to tell them about what his suffering means, about how he would die and be raised. And this whole thing with children, it’s a repeat telling. We saw this back in chapter 9. And it’s a lesson that comes about as Jesus catches the disciples arguing about who was the greatest, which for the record, isn’t excluding children. I caught my son Jones two years ago typing something into the Target search console. And I thought he was trying to find an actual item, but what I caught him typing out — Jones Kwak is the best. I have a feeling he might have been pretty engaged in this argument with the disciples, six years of age and all. But that wasn’t Jesus’ intent in telling these disciples this lesson about children. It’s not that children are protected from their own sinfulness until a certain age. It had to do with dependenceand an admitting to a lack of self-sufficiency. But after this whole ordeal in Peter’s home, which may have involved Peter’s own child or niece or nephew brought tot he center. Even after this, it still seems like Jesus finds the need to tell them something again — about the kingdom of God and its relation to children and the lack they represent. But it’s kind of like that moment with Phil Connors in Groundhog Day, in his repeat conversation with the elderly innkeeper — Do you ever have deja vu, Mrs. Lancaster? To which she replies to Phil — I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen. Here, we get a repeat teaching where Jesus doubles down — Children, yes, these children are constituents of my kingdom.

Now, this isn’t a very PC thing to say. But children, in that context, were considered to be expendable. In the streets of this Greco-Roman society, you might find children stranded off to the side of the road. That when families didn’t have sufficient means to feed everyone, the youngest children were the first to go. Because they especially had no means to contribute to the welfare of the family. And while we might overvalue children in our context, with the likes of Disneyland, thousand dollar carseats and two thousand dollar strollers, just to name a few examples. Our neighborhood has this community playground that’s situated in the middle of a group of homes. And it’s been a five year battle with one of the neighbors, who always smokes outside on his balcony, which happens to be about twenty feet from the playground. And I’ve been in conversations with patents, researching ways to legally bring about consequences for those in this home that won’t stop smoking outside, regardless of how much people complain. But I was just thinking about it this past week. Do you think people would have made a big deal about second hand smoke in these days? Not just because there wasn’t that kind of research then. But society didn’t care enough about children in these times. Because again, they offered nothing and contributed nothing to the welfare of society. And Jesus is saying — Those are the kinds of people who belong in my kingdom, the kind that bring nothing to the table. And we’re going to unpack that yet again, to see how the gospel flips upside down our understanding of worth and belonging in a community and society.

And that opening verse in today’s context might not seem right when read a certain way — That they were bringing children to [Jesus] that he might touch them. But this touch most likely represented either a healing or an imparting of blessing. And before mentioning the meaning of this from the other side of things, I don’t know if you’ve ever taken your kids to take Santa pictures. Sometimes, kids go willingly to sit on Santa’s laps. But I’d say that more times than not, if these kids are well-bodied, they resist in some form or fashion. Just wanted to bring that mental image there, not making any correlations to Jesus and Santa Claus but just the proclivities of children sitting on the laps of strangers. And maybe Jesus exuded some really safe energy. But these children aren’t the privileged children of our setting, where they have the option to refuse a blessing or healing or proximity to a rabbi, a teacher of the law. Because most of all, what this represented is proximity more than anything else.

I once heard Sinclair Ferguson talk about how we as Americans so unknowingly and casually use the phrase Bless you. That every time we hear someone sneeze, it’s courtesy to say Bless you, just as much as it might be courtesy to say Thank you when someone holds the door for you. But as Ferguson was explaining, this was a phrase that carried much historical weight. That he as a Scottish man was semi-regularly reminded in his context in Glasgow of the heaviness of those words. Because these were words of blessing, words that combated the effects of the plague and the death toll on those most vulnerable, which were the children. That every time you said Bless you during that time in Europe, you were saying — The Lord’s salvation be upon you, the Lord spare you from death.

Because while Jesus blesses these children, we’re told of a different posture in how Jesus responded to his disciples who were seeing to prevent the children from being brought to Jesus. We’re told here in verse 13 that Jesus rebukesthe disciples. And that this came from a place where he, according to verse 14, was indignant toward them. And I don’t know if you know any awesome Enneagram 8’s. The not so awesome ones aren’t that awesome, but the awesome ones have your back and let you know they have your back. Where if someone offends you, they’ll step in and defend you and tell you something to the effects of — I’m not just mad at them, I’m mad for you. And I think that’s the sentiment here. Because that word for rebuke is what Jesus did to the storm, what he did to the demon that possessed the boy. This is about reversing what was wrong and broken in this crooked order. Because as we’ve been saying throughout our time, there was something incredibly crooked about this hierarchical benefactor system. And in the Greco-Romanworld of honor and patronage, there were actually very few people who got paid. Soldiers got paid, but they worked for the government, they worked for Caesar, who was the ultimate patron. Because for the most part, one’s living was made through favors and trade. And so, it’s not just about how well you do something. But it was about who you knew, how much power they had, and what they thought of you. And so, the greatest were those who were not necessarily the most professionally adequate but the most socially connected and culturally favored. The greatest were those who were closest to the top. And you think about all that Jesus is explaining through this repeat lesson. What do you think he’s saying about his kingdom, when he says in verse 14 — for to such belongs the kingdom of God. That the kingdom was for the likes of them, those who have nothing to bring. Why? Because these are the ones who are closest to the greatest benefactor in God’s kingdom. These are those who are closest to God, because Jesus flies to those in need and to those of us who confess of our helplessness — true to the words of Psalm 34:18, that God draws near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

There’s this story about a teacher who would read the story of a grasshopper and an ant. And the story goes that before winter season would come, the ant and grasshopper would both gather. But the ant, while slow, was diligent in gathering. And the grasshopper, while fast, was lazy in gathering. And so, one winter came, and the ant gathered muchbut the grasshopper had nothing. And the grasshopper asked the ant for some food. And here’s where the teacher would do her version of choose your own adventure — Do you remember those books? She would ask her students listening — What do you think the ant said back to the grasshopper, when the grasshopper asked for food? And she would ask them to write it down, even draw a picture, of what they envisioned this response to be like. And every student she had she said responded in one of two ways. One way was the simple reply — No, that’s not fair; I’ve worked too hard, and you’ve been lazy. And the other was — Sure I have enough food; you can have some of what’s left over. But she recalls one particular student. And this student had a rather unique response. She said that this child wrote down, “The ant gave all of what it had. And the grasshopper lived through the winter, but the ant died.” And next to the ant, the little boy drew a picture of the cross.

And we’re told here that Jesus invites the children to come to him. And that’s the call to come empty and with nothingand with no qualifications. That these are the ones who enter the Kingdom of God. Because Jesus has been saying and will say later in the chapter that it was he who came first. That he drew near. Not just that he was sent. But the courage and reflex for us to come to Jesus must first come with the understanding that he came to us. That for us to enter the Kingdom and the Father’s house, it meant that he had to leave — to come to us. To come to us who had left home, to come to us who told the Father that life is better without him. To come to us to teach us, to show us that it’s safe in his kingdom. Because for us to enter, he would have to leave. For us to be received, he would have to be forsaken. And wouldn’t it be that Jesus would receive these helpless into his upside down kingdom, because he who was the ultimate patron and greatest son of privilege would empty it? Where he would willingly be placed in a position of weakness and societal marginalization when hanging on the cross. Where he was functionally orphaned so that you and I might be brought into the kingdom, into the family of God.

And here’s how I want to bring our time to a close. In the film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Tom Hanks plays the beloved Fred Rogers, who spent his days loving kids, welcoming those who didn’t feel welcomed. In the film Lloyd Vogel is a journalist for Esquire magazine, who’s cynical that Fred Rogers is actually as kind and as altruistic as his screen personality. And he’s suspicious that Fred might actually really hate kids behind closed doors. But through his cynicism and skepticism of Fred Rogers, the closer he got to the man, the more he not only realized that his kindness was genuine. But the more he was changed by Fred’s proximity to him. And for Lloyd, even his dysfunctional family relationships got repaired, because of this kindness and positivity and hope that was imparted onto him. But the end of the movie shows Fred Rogers, after filming one of his episodes. He’s sitting in front of a piano on set after the cameras stop filming. And he starts playing a song but then suddenly just bangs on the keys. And out came these sounds of distortion and collapse. And it’s this picture that while his kindness toward Lloyd and to children who give him nothing in return. While these were genuine and from the heart, they came with a cost. Because he carried their stories, he carried their hurts. And so, he unleashes on these keys, with the weight, the pain, the anger, the sorrow.

And you see, when Jesus welcomes the likes of children, the likes of you and me into his kingdom, into his family, it cost him. Not just his fingers upon the keys of a piano. But his hands outstretched on the cross. Where as the little boy writing out his speculated response of the ant might say — He gave all that he had, and he died. That this is the story of the cross. Where for some odd reason, this man would die in order to bring undeserving people hope and happiness and life. Not just at a magic wave of a wand but through a deep exchange, where he would swallow every bit of angst of helplessness and hopelessness when estranged from his Father in heaven when hanging on the cross for the sins of his people. And so, let’s land the plane. Jesus’ last words in this short discourse — Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. In C. S. Lewis’ Narnia world, there’s a pattern that Lewisintentionally has the reader observe. And it’s that the children stop appearing in the stories after a while, after a certain point. And with the first of the books — at least, the first you’re intended to read — The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, you have all of the kids who are initially there. But after they grow up, they stop appearing. And what Lewisshows is the magic that involves — and I’m not trying to be irreverent saying the magic. It’s this magic that involves the childlikeness of faith. Where there is not just a helplessness but also a belief — what Paul Ricoeur refers to as the second naïveté. I think there is an element of — Is this really for me? Because it comes from the place of — I really don’t deserve this. But with open hands and childlike faith, we receive the story. Because we can’t imagine someone so good. But maybe God is beyond our imagination. Maybe he’s not just that strong and able. But maybe, just maybe, he’s that good.