At that time the
disciples came to Jesus and asked, “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. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these
little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone
were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
- Matthew 18:1-6
For
the past three days, I’ve been getting to know my daughter, Katherine Joye
Camp, who we welcomed into the world on Tuesday morning. The days and nights
have been filled with diaper changes, feedings, photos, visits by family and
friends, and not nearly enough sleep. And as you probably guessed, I love our
little girl more than I ever could have imagined.
In
the quiet moments in our hospital room, when the nurses have been busy elsewhere
and Katherine’s been contentedly sleeping, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking
about the responsibilities Jesus gave us with regards to children in Matthew
18. The Lord not only cared about children, but wanted us to learn from them—and
in six simple verses, gave us three separate instructions.
The
first is to become like children—to
humble ourselves by recognizing and even embracing our own vulnerabilities so
that we might rely on our Father instead of ourselves. Since her birth, Katherine
has been totally reliant on the adults in her life, especially her mother and
me. For her to flourish, she is counting on us to be with her and give her what
she needs. Jesus says that as adults, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is
the one who adopts exactly that posture, who abandons any pretense of
self-sufficiency and instead recognizes that it is God who sustains us. In a
world that calls for strength, Jesus calls us to be as vulnerable as children.
The
second instruction Jesus gives us is to welcome
children—not just to tolerate them, but welcome them as though they were
Christ himself. For the past three days, I’ve been reminded not only of the joys
of caring for infants, but of the inconveniences as well: they can’t follow
instructions yet, they can’t control their own bodies yet, and generally
speaking they don’t give you much of a break. And yet Jesus says were are to respond
to these most demanding of humans not with cold shoulders or begrudging help,
but open arms. The weakest among us are also the neediest, but as far as Christ
is concerned that is more reason to love them, not less.
Jesus’s
final instruction is to make the world
safe for children, to keep them safe from “stumbling blocks” which might
cause them to fall away from the Lord. Our approach to life is often
self-centered—we’re thinking about what we need to get through the day, what we
need to stay happy and healthy. Jesus reminds us to broaden our focus and think
about how our actions are affecting the least among us. For three days now, I’ve
had to be more concerned with Katherine’s needs than my own, and while the
world says that kind of attitude is the exception, Jesus says it should be the
norm. Life doesn’t happen in a vacuum—we each have a responsibility to think
about how we’re affecting the weak and the vulnerable among us.
In
three days, Katherine Joye has already reminded me of something Andrew Kenneth
has been showing me for nearly three years, something Christ himself told us:
that children are not only learners, but teachers. If we will give them our
attention, our respect, and our love, who knows what spiritual lessons they
will teach us.
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