by Pastor Douglas Brauner
It’s Time to Play
“People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When 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.””
Mark 10:13-14 New International Version
Do children annoy you? I mean they’re always in the way, running here and there, breaking the rules, or creating rules that make no sense. They do what they want, when they want, and how they want.
Yet, as I mused over this picture of children mesmerized by a fishpond in room filled with flitting butterflies, I wanted to be one of these children and not like the people encircling them. A woman takes pictures with her phone. A man looks uncomfortable as he crosses his arms and his legs, looking away from the woman sitting near him. This woman is looking at her phone not aware that she’s in the largest butterfly pavilion in North America.
One child smiles, another contemplates, and a third plays in the water.
The disciples thought that children were beneath Jesus. He couldn’t be bothered with children whom adults had brought to Jesus. All these adults wanted was for Jesus to touch their children, to bless their children.
Mark alone writes that Jesus was “indignant,” a word signifying righteous anger. Jesus was mad with cause. Children were not below him. Mark will go on to record that Jesus laid his hands on these children suggesting that he even lingered over these children.
And [Jesus] said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:3 NIV
It’s time to smile. It’s time to contemplate. It’s time to play. We can play, contemplate, and smile because Jesus’ hand of blessing rests on us. It rests on you today. Maybe it’s time to splash around in a fishpond.
Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
