Chapter 11 - "It's everyone's job to make sure I'm ok"

Awareness

 I grew up in a town less than twenty miles away from Dunblane.  And yet, I don’t think I had ever heard of Andy Murray’s home town, until one horrific day in March 1996.  I was 12, a year or two into high school.   And we had never known anything like what happened that day, so close to home.

 On 13 March 1996, Thomas Hamilton walked into Dunblane Primary School, armed with four handguns, and opened fire on a class of five and six year old children in the school gym hall.  One teacher and sixteen children were killed, and as many more were injured in the massacre.  The shooting ended when the gunman turned his revolver on himself.

 This was the worst mass shooting ever in the UK.  And it is made all the worse by the nature of the attack.  This was a merciless attack on innocent children.

 In the wake of the massacre, there was a sea change in attitudes, and policies, about child protection.  Children are vulnerable, but also extremely valuable to God.

The greatest

 In Matthew 18:1-5, we read the disciples of Jesus asking him who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

 Jesus answers them by getting a child to stand among them, and he says, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes a humble place – becoming like this child – is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven…”  I think there’s a couple of things to think about here.  In the first place, I think the disciples are confused.  They’re not thinking in God’s way, in the kingdom way.  They ask a question about the kingdom, but they don’t understand it.  They seem to think that it has a pecking order, that it’s a competition for status within God’s kingdom… But Jesus puts them straight, by showing them a child, who wouldn’t have had a lot of status in their world.  And so Jesus says, be like this child, accept a humble place, don’t get ideas above your station – in fact, don’t worry about status at all.  Then you’ll be the greatest.  That’s how God’s kingdom works: the last are first, the humble are lifted up.  I’ll never forget my former boss Alan Burns, when he conducted the dedication of our daughter, talking about this story.  And he illustrated very graphically what happened.  The disciples would sit on the ground, around their master.  So they’d be low.  And then Jesus has the child stand among them.  Stand.  So this child is suddenly above them.  This little, insignificant figure is towering over them.  They look up to the child.  That says all they need to know.  Who’s the greatest here?  The child is head and shoulders above them…

 The way to get ahead in kingdom life is to be humble, to come as children before God.

 In fact, the child image shows us so much about how we should live in God’s kingdom: we are to live as children of our heavenly Father, dependent on Him, obedient to Him.

 But then Jesus says something really amazing:  He says that, “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”  Why is this amazing?  Well, it says that Jesus identifies Himself with children.  He says if we welcome a child, we welcome Him.

 Later on, in Matthew 25, Jesus says that whatever we do for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick or the prisoner, we do it for Him.

 Jesus identifies with the little ones, the ones the world would call the ‘least’.  He’s in their corner.  And so, the child is important to Jesus.  Every child is important to Jesus.  And if every child is important to Jesus, every child must be important to us.

Causing harm

 In Matthew 18, and from verse 6, Jesus talks about the little ones, particularly the little ones who believe in him.  So, who does he mean, who are these little ones who believe in him?  Well, by the context, little ones might mean children.  Or it might mean those who are humble, like children.  Literally, it means ‘the least’.  It means those of low status.  This would include children, but I think it’s wider than that.  I think Jesus is talking about all those of low status, those seen as the least in the world: the children, the vulnerable, the marginalised, the poor, the voiceless…

 And when Jesus talks about these little ones who believe in him, does he mean those who come to church every Sunday?  Perhaps.  Does he mean those who have made a decision and prayed a prayer to follow Him?  Maybe.  But it might also mean those who are seeking him, those who are trusting in him, who are looking to him to help them.  And that could be a wider group – especially since some of these people don’t even know that it’s Jesus they’re looking for…

 So Jesus says that anyone who causes one of these little ones to stumble, or to sin, anyone who offends one of these little ones – well, there’ll be trouble.  It’s a big mistake, this really winds Jesus up.  You see, what he’s really talking about here is people hurting the little ones.  If anyone causes any hurt to one of these little ones, it’s really bad news.

 And hurting the little ones – the children, the vulnerable, the poor, the voiceless – can take many forms.  There’s physical violence and abuse – things that are done; as well as verbal abuse – things that are said; there’s neglect – things that are not done, needs that are not met.  And of course, we might think of spiritual abuse, which is perhaps the most obvious reference here – where one might damage the spiritual well-being of the ‘little one’, might cause something to come between the little one and God.

 Jesus has very stern words against those who might cause any hurt to any of these little ones, especially those who might have come to him for refuge…

 And we might think, “This is a church, full of good, Christian people…”  But sometimes we can cause hurt quite accidentally and unknowingly.

Wandering sheep

 In Matthew 18:10, Jesus says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”  When Jesus says, do not despise, he’s really saying don’t look down on these guys, don’t have a low opinion of them.  These little ones, whether children, or vulnerable people, or poor people – whoever the world sees as lowly, as the ‘least’ – we’ve not to think of them that way.  Instead, we are to be humble ourselves.  Because we’re all little ones.  We’re all vulnerable in one way or another.  We’re all God’s children.

 And then Jesus tells the story of a lost sheep, a wandering sheep.  If someone’s got a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, won’t he leave the ninety-nine in safety, and go after the lost one?  Imagine the parent in the supermarket with their child, and they turn round, and the child’s gone missing… I think that’s the kind of story Jesus is telling here, this wandering sheep is like the child who’s gotten lost.

 And of course, there’s all these other sheep, who are safe.  So, Jesus says, the owner of the sheep can go and find this lost one, in the knowledge that the others are all safe.  I wonder if part of that safety comes from their being together.  They can look out for each other, keep each other safe, but the one out there on its own needs more care and attention…

 So, again, there’s a sense that Jesus is talking about someone who’s been one of us – a follower of Jesus – who’s lost their way a bit, and needs finding again.  But, if we go back to what Jesus said earlier: “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me”, then we’re reminded that Jesus identifies with the ‘least’, the last, the lost.  And, our Father in heaven is not willing that any one of these little ones should perish, or should be lost.  God wants all his children home.

 If Jesus is bringing the lost sheep home (in whatever form they take), and rejoicing about it, let’s join in!  Let’s welcome the lost sheep, let’s keep them safe, let’s allow them to enjoy life to the full.

Suffer the little children

 In Matthew 19:13 and 14, we read of the disciples telling people off for bringing children to Jesus.  But Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

 Children, like everyone else, matter to Jesus.  And we have a responsibility to make sure that they can enjoy worshipping God freely, that they can enjoy healthy relationships with God, with other children and adults, and to make sure they are safe.

 In my previous life, before becoming a Salvation Army officer, I worked in a special needs school.  And I’ll never forget the child protection training we received there.  The thing that stuck the most was, we were told about a little girl, perhaps five years old, who was asked, “Whose job is it to make sure you’re OK?”  She replied, “It’s everyone’s job to make sure I’m OK.”

 She was right.  And I think Jesus says to us, it’s everyone’s job to make sure each person, the youngest to the oldest, regardless of status, is OK.  There’s a proverb, perhaps African, that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.”  In other words, all children, and for that matter, all people, are formed by their environment, by their community.  What kind of community are we, for shaping people?  What kind of children, or adults, are formed in our community?

 Perhaps we have to look at our lives, under the light of the Holy Spirit, and ask if we are hindering anyone, or causing anyone to stumble or be hurt.  Do we hold attitudes that are not like Jesus.  Are our actions unlike Jesus?  Do we need to ask God, and allow Him, to change us?

 I think God made children on purpose.  I think childhood is a vital stage in our development.  Children must be allowed to be children – to enjoy, experience and express their childhood in healthy, natural ways – otherwise, they’re missing out on a key stage of development.

 Perhaps, though, this all speaks to us as followers of Jesus too.  If we’re not developing naturally as Christians, we’re not going to grow into healthy, mature Christ-likeness.  And perhaps that means we have to ask questions – to allow ourselves and be allowed to ask questions, to help us to grapple with our faith, to own our faith.

 I think Jesus, in this whole passage is saying, first, that we have to come to Him as children, and second, we have to welcome and safeguard and look after little ones – whoever they may be…