Kids these days

Saturday October 13^th, Mark 10:  ¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." ¹⁶And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.  I can usually be seen grabbing the first baby that comes down the aisle following worship and holding them while the rest of the people walking by and greeting one another.  I, like most modern Americans love babies.  I have eight children, eight grandchildren and twin grandchildren on the way in a little over a month.  A goodly chunk of our GNP is dedicated to buying things for children of all ages.  We live in a world where children are cute and doted upon.  This was not the case in Jesus day.  In Jesus day children, like their mothers and other women had little or no power.  Children had a 60% chance of not surviving to adulthood and were considered property.  (note: Paul’s Ephesians 6 text therefore speaks to a Roman law where slaves, children and women had no legal rights and proceeds to cut the guts right out of that way of looking at the law) The family existed to uphold and promote the status and standing of the pater familias, or the male head of household.  Jesus pulls a child into the middle of the disciples and tells them to become like one of these.  It is a call to become and identify with the powerless in our world.  Become and identify with the lowly of this world.  Who would Jesus pull into our midst today and say, Unless you become like one of these, you won’t make it in the Kingdom?