Becoming Like a Child
Luke 9:46-48
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
Luke 9:46 Now an argument started among them as to which of them might be
the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their hearts, took a
child and had him stand by His side, 48 and He said to them, “Whoever receives
this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent
Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”
In Luke’s gospel chapter 9 verses 46 to 48, we have Jesus saying something about
children. His disciples were arguing who would be the greatest and the inference is who
would be the greatest in heaven. Their thinking was part of the culture of the day.
People in Jesus day believed that there was a hierarchy in heaven. They also treated their
children differently than we do today.
To illustrate what Jesus was saying to them or should I say trying to teach them, he
brought a child into their circle. He then said, receive this child as you would receive
me. To unpack the statement, we have to quickly look at the culture of the day. When
high officials or dignitaries entered the town, the children of the town would flock
around the person. They were curious about what was happening and who this official
was. That person would come in on a fancy horse or maybe a donkey, but they would
be dressed in extremely nice clothing and have lots of fancy jewelry. This would pique
the interest of the children because they didn’t see that in their towns. The common
person was poor and was lucky if they had one set of clothing, and was considered well off
if they had two sets of clothing.
Let’s say that Jesus was countercultural. Every scholar believes that. Why? All you have
to do is look at what Jesus did and said. In this case, Jesus is saying that children are just
as important as adults and their entry into the kingdom of heaven will occur. This is
significant because in Jesus day, infants and young children's mortality rate was pretty
high. The survival rate of children into adulthood was low, and it’s hard for us to
conceive that because in today’s world, especially in the United States and other
technological countries, we don’t have that problem.
Parents loved and cared for their children. Children are a blessing from God and the
people in Jesus’ day treated their children as blessings from God, however, there were
certain cultural norms about children. For example, when an official or dignitary was
invited into a house for a meal, the child was sent outside to play. The host and hostess
did not want the children to bother the guest. Furthermore, the children would not be
interested in the discussion of the adults. They would get bored, and those of us who
have had children or have dealt with nieces and nephews know that young children get
very agitated when they're bored. Children always want to be doing something because
they’re active.
So, the anti-cultural part for Jesus was telling his disciples that children are important.
This theme shows up several times in all the Gospels. Now there’s another aspect that
we should take a look at. Children learn from their parents and from the environment
that they are living in. Children learn to hate other people through watching their
parents' actions and listening to their words. The other way children learn is that they
see what their culture is all about. They see how their neighbors react to each other.
They see how older children react and what they say and what they do. So, children are
like a sponge that just want to soak up all the knowledge that they can, and then their
attitudes through life come from the soaking of that information.
Children also can be considered a clean slate because they can come to understand that
their words and actions are wrong and can change the way they act and what they say a
lot quicker than adults can. So when Jesus says to his disciples you have to become like
children, he’s telling them they have to clean out their mind of all the things that they
were taught religiously and learn Jesus' interpretation.
The way to live by God’s law was determined by the Pharisees and religious leaders of
Jesus day. History tells us that a lot of the laws that the Pharisees created had nothing
to do with the Bible. The laws of God, but rather laws were created to keep them in
power and to bring wealth to them. If you want to truly please God and you want to
follow God’s laws that we find in the Bible and most importantly implement those ways
in the manner that Jesus teaches us in the Gospels.
I believe that the best way to please God is to honor Jesus by doing things and thinking
the way Jesus teaches us in the Gospels. He makes it very plain and clear how we live
by God’s law. This is something each one of us has to learn to do. It is not an easy task.
Our culture and society today has become decreasingly based on the biblical ethics and
morals, and based on progressive ideas that are sometime anti-biblical.
Every time I turn on a news broadcast, I get shocked by the actions and words of people
that are so anti-God and anti-Bible. You could consider those news broadcasts as
warnings about how not to act and how not to talk in your life.
In the mid-1990s, I taught leadership training in a large nonprofit organization. One of
the books that I used in the seminars was written by Warren Bennis. One of the things
that he brought out is that we learn how to be a good leader by watching and learning
from a good leader, but also learning what not to do as a leader by watching bad leaders.
When I apply that to our lives today, there are people whose words and actions tell me
how I do not want to be, and that’s what I get out of the daily news. Then I go out and
look for examples of people who are following God’s word and imitating Christ, and
that helps me to further my ability to serve God by following his laws.
So ask yourself, are your words and actions in alignment with Jesus' words. If not, you
have to become like a child, which means you need to get rid of those ideas, and replace
them with the words of the gospel. Anything that you do that is anti-biblical or immoral
or unethical, you need to replace them with the way Jesus would do it. Read the Gospels
and learn how Jesus tells us to implement God’s laws which not only will please Jesus
but will please God and that becomes your sanctification which leads to your entrance
into heaven and eternal life with God.
