Recognise and Welcome
Towards the end of today’s Gospel our Lord warned his disciples saying “I tell you solemnly, anyone who does not welcome the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mk 10:15). This happened after Jesus made the beautiful promise “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but him who sent me” (Mk 9:37). So, what is it that our Lord is teaching us.
One way to look at this is that our Lord wants us to have a childlike faith. The dictionary definition of ‘childlike’ is ‘having the good qualities, such as innocence, associated with a child’. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes “[Christ] wants a child’s heart, but a grown-up’s head. He wants us to be simple, single-minded, affectionate, and teachable, as good children are”. God wants us to see him as Father, willing to follow His will, and trust in His wisdom.
Another way is by looking at the language of the verse. Some translations use ‘receive’ instead of ‘welcome’. Both are valid translations of the Greek ‘dexētai’; but ‘receive’ is more passive (an experience that can happen to us), whereas ‘welcome’ is active (something we choose to do). Jesus was indignant at his disciples because they chose to turn away the children who were brought by their parents to receive his blessings. That, despite his earlier teaching, his disciples failed to recognise and, consequently, welcome God’s kingdom in the children in front of them. C.S. Lewis continues to write “but He [Christ] also wants every bit of intelligence we have to be alert at its job, and in first-class fighting trim.” Not taking away anything from the unjaded innocence and trustfulness of a child, Jesus wants us thinking, reasoning, doing. Instead of just passively receiving the kingdom of heaven, comfortable in our faith that we have been saved by our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross, Jesus wants us to have our eyes and hearts open and recognise and welcome God’s kingdom in the everyday things we see and in every people who come our way.
“You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:22,26).
Luke 17:20, “The Kingdom of God will not come with observable signs.”
Randy Reyes
