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Text: Mark 10:13-16 Click here for print-friendly version (requires Acrobat reader) |
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We are told in the story that Ann and Melina read this morning that people were bringing children to Jesus-but that his followers were shooing them away! And why not? For you see children in first century Palestine were no-bodies! They held no status or position in society. They were, in fact and in truth, expendable-with no rights or political protection. And thus the action of Jesus' disciples -them shooing the children away-was based on a social premise-that children were simply of no interest or importance! And as hard as it may be for us to fathom, this is the first century social context in which we need to hear Jesus' words! We are told that Jesus became irate with his disciples and said, "How dare you push these children away! Don't you ever, ever get between them and me-for unlike the current social norm you are upholding, these children are at the very center, at the very heart, of the communal life I am constructing! And you know what? If you cannot accept this God-infused community with the simplicity these children demonstrate, then you yourself will never be part of it either! Don't ever get between them and me-for the children are at the very center of the Kin-dom!" Now you would think that in the 21st century we would have gotten this lesson down-that we would have taken it to heart! Surely children are not seen today as expendable, of no worth, as tradable commodities rather than as tender, cherished beings. Here in Palo Alto we provide our children with the finest educations money and taxes can buy. We prime them and prep them for the most prestigious colleges and universities this nation offers. But are we really placing ALL children at the very center, at the very heart, of the communal life Jesus encourages us to construct? Are we upholding social norms and political policies that block the way of children and bound them in lives of fear, and threat, and trauma, and living death? Because of our affluence, it is hard for us to see and to sense the children all over this world who are in harms way, who have been shooed away from the table of grace, and equity, and innocence. But see them we must! Listen to these unbelievable war statistics as they relate to children: Estimates suggest that over 300,000 young people under the age of 18 are currently being used as child soldiers in over 35 areas of conflict around the world. These children witness and are expected to commit acts of violence on a daily basis. As one child states, "I was forced to plant land mines, stop vehicles, set homes on fire and destroy crops . . but what was most frightening for me was when other children got too tired, we were ordered to kill them!" Children in support roles also face extreme violence. Young girls are very often recruited as army wives to be exploited as sex slaves. Other children are also exposed to the danger of physical injury and disability. Landmine clearance is a task often left to children-and obviously, they then become victims of mine explosions which cause them to be socially ostracized because of their injuries. As one child victim writes, "Before my injury I could go to the market and do shopping . . .I used to play football, but not anymore! But there are other consequences of war that effect children. Due to conflict or human rights violations, roughly 32 million children have lost their homes, either displaced as refugees or within their own country. As family life is disrupted, the physical and social pressures on children rise dramatically. Children become increasingly vulnerable to hunger, disease and poor health. HIV/AIDS prevention strategies are significantly disrupted by war, as is the opportunity to go to school. War-affected girls face a lack of adequate reproductive health care, and again, the loss of family leaves them more vulnerable to sexual violence, prostitution and early marriage. But there are also other dangers, and other issues, that
face child on a global scale:
But let's come even closer to home as we look at the condition of children in this-the most wealth, resource rich country in the world.
And we must not forget the daily toil that poverty takes on children in this nation:
Where is our outrage, I ask you? Where is our protest and
our anger and our irate-ness in the face of such horrific
injustices against the very least of those among us? Why is
it that we too quickly We need to raise our voice in repentance and resolve with Marian Wright Edelman, the founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, who offers the following prayer: O God of the children of Somalia, Sarajevo, South Africa,
and South Carolina, O God of Black and Brown and White and Albino children O God of the child prodigy and the child prostitute, O God of children who can walk and talk and hear O God of beaggar, beaten, abused, neglected, O God of children of destiny and of despair, or war and
of peace, And so may we be ever-determined to place all of the world's children at the very center, at the very heart of all of our efforts to form true, and just and equitable community. And if we can't, and if we won't, then let us be damned! AMEN |