Childishness And Small Religion

Have you noticed that Jesus holds two ideas in tension? He tells us to be childlike …and also warns us not to be childish. Only Jesus can say, “Become as little children” and “Grow up”…in the very same breath. He sees what we cannot. He can tell the difference.

Our passage today is Luke 7:31-35.

Jesus tells a very short parable. Just a few verses.

Yet it exposes an entire spiritual posture.

The context matters. Jesus is responding to critics. John the Baptist came preaching repentance in the wilderness. The religious leaders grumbled, “That guy must have a demon. He is too strict. Too intense. Too weird.” Then Jesus comes, and He heals and feasts and welcomes sinners. They complain, “He’s too relaxed! A glutton! A drunk!”

It is a strange thing.

Two very different prophets.

Same rejection.

When someone is determined to not listen, no one can satisfy them.

When someone wants an excuse, any excuse will do.

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There’s an old Arab tale about a farmer asked to borrow a rope.

The farmer replied, “I can’t lend you that rope. I’m using it to tie up my milk.”

The neighbor protested. “That makes no sense!”

The farmer smiled. “When you don’t want to do something, any excuse will do.”

That is the heart of Jesus’ story.

The Pharisees didn’t just disagree with Jesus. They moved the goalposts so no one could ever please them. John was too holy. Jesus was too joyful. They had a long list of what God couldn’t be like.

It always feels safe to make God small.

? ? ? ? ?

I think about how kids act sometimes when playing hide-and-seek. My sons used to put their hands over their eyes and say, “Daddy, you can’t find me!” Because they couldn’t see me, they assumed I couldn’t see them. A few years older, and Eric would hide in the house and call out “WHO WHO! WHO WHO!” while giggling right under my feet. I’d pretend to search all over the house, but he wasn’t exactly subtle.

The Pharisees thought they were hiding. They thought their criticisms made them look wise. They didn’t realize their accusations were revealing their own hearts instead.

“He eats with sinners!” they said.

Yes He does. That wasn’t exposing Jesus. It was exposing their absence of love.

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There is a difference between being Christian and being religious.

A CEO friend once told me about a staff meeting. Someone complained, “Our workplace is becoming too Christian.” The CEO responded, “No such thing. Some people get too religious. But you can’t be too much like Jesus.”

The danger is to become so religious that we forget to become like Christ.

The Pharisees were not childlike.

They were childish. So Jesus paints them a picture:

“Imagine kids in the marketplace. Some want to play wedding— but the others refuse. So they say, ‘Fine, let’s play funeral’— and still, the others refuse. No matter what is offered, they just won’t join in. They fold their arms, pout, and say: ‘We’re not playing your game.’”

“Why be difficult…

when with a little more effort

you can be impossible?”

Jesus wasn’t attacking children. He was describing adults who refuse joy, refuse change, refuse grace. People who have already decided, “I’m right” and then build their faith around that conclusion.

In Jesus’ words they look like “spoiled children who won’t dance when the flute plays and won’t mourn when the dirge is sung.” They refuse to respond to God no matter how He comes.

John played a funeral tune.

They didn’t like it.

Jesus played a wedding song.

They didn’t like it either.

There’s a phrase for that: Small religion.

Religion that must stay in control at all costs.

Religion that refuses joy.

Religion that pushes away any God it cannot manage.

? ? ? ? ?

Let’s talk honestly. Childishness is not cute in adults. It looks like:

• The demand to always have my way

• Inability to celebrate when someone else is blessed

• Criticism as a shield against real change

• Complaining instead of repenting

• Protecting comfort more than people

Childlikeness is something else entirely:

• Trust

• Honesty

• Growth

• Gratitude

• Quick repentance

• Quick forgiveness

Childlikeness is humility learning to walk.

Childishness is pride refusing to learn.

Jesus isn’t asking us to lose innocence. He is calling us to restore it.

There’s a story I love about a little boy taken to New York City for the first time. The taxi doors open, he steps onto the sidewalk, and instantly the world is bigger than he expected. Engines growling, skyscrapers rising into the clouds, crowds rushing like a river behind him.

His father offers his hand.

The boy proudly says, “I walk by myself.”