Children & The Kin-dom of God
AM Psalm 2, 26 • Isaiah 49:13-23 • Matthew 18:1-14
PM Psalm 19, 126 • Isaiah 54:1-13 • Mark 10:13-16
The Feast of the Holy Innocents remembers all the children Herod had killed because he felt threatened by Jesus’ birth and the rumors of his power. Can you imagine being so threatened by a baby that you order all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two be killed? Herod’s crime is horrible and hard to imagine, but it also tells us how threatening Jesus’ rule was to the earthly kings of his day, and if taken seriously, to our earthly leaders now.
In our gospel passages today, Jesus reminds the disciples, “unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). And also, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark 10:14). Jesus, who survived Herod’s state-sponsored terrorism because his parents were warned in a dream, is now an adult. He is an adult teacher reminding the other adults in the room to make space for the children, to recognize their proximity to the kin-dom of God, and even to be like the children.
So how do we become like the children? Here are a few ideas: We can see the world with curiosity and wonder. We can extend friendship without judgement. We can play and laugh with one another. We can listen to stories ready to learn and grow.
The truth is kids often seem to act in accordance with the kin-dom more than we adults do. How can we embrace a childlike attitude and a childlike faith today? How will that offer us insight to the kin-dom of God?
We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Collect for the Feast of the Holy Innocents, BCP 238)
Written by Rev. Adelyn Tyler
Adelyn rejoices in the birth of our Savior. For her, Christmas is a time of childlike wonder and of complete awe of our God.