“Touchdown! An Amazing Reeption”
How do we receive Jesus Christ?
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Text: Luke 9:43-50
One of the key characteristics of children is their dependency. Children are dependent on adults and the world, physically, for they are not in a position to sustain, support, or feed themselves. As well, they depend on adults to give them moral guidance and leadership.
Marina Warner, an English writer, wrote: “Children imitate their elders. They cannot generate moral standards independently of the adults who surround them.”
In other words, even for their moral formation, children depend on others to give their lives guidance and structure. Likewise children depend on others and most especially their families to give them their sense of identity. For example, if you ask a little girl about her background and what she is proud of, chances are she is going to talk about her pride in her parents. Children vicariously live through the experiences, the successes, the values of their parents.
I read a lovely story about two boys competing with one another to assert their own identities. One of them blurted out: “Well, my daddy is a doctor, therefore I can be sick for nothing.”
The minister's kid said: “Well, my daddy's a preacher and I can be good for nothing!”
We're always participating in one-upmanship with those around us, and children depend on those around them to provide them with their identity, their morality and their physical support and nurture. But children are not only dependent. It's also amazing the way they elicit responses from adults.
I went shopping in a great toy store a couple of days ago down at Queen's Quay. It's absolute nirvana for me. I saw two amazing things happen there back to back. The first one was a little girl in a stroller. She was cute as a button, dressed in a bunny suit. She was nice and warm and all you could see were her eyes, nose and little mouth - the rest of her was bundled up. This big man dressed in a business suit (he looked like a banker) leaned down to this little girl and said: “Oh, you cutesy, wutesy, little cuddly, wuddly, darling!”
The mother looked at him and said: “Yes, she is a cutesy, wutesy, little cuddly, wuddly, darling.”
The man momentarily reverted to being a child in the presence of this little girl. Likewise, I noticed something else: While the children were looking at the toys, the men were getting down the remote controls and playing with the remote control cars, running them along the floor. (I confess, I got one out of its box and played myself). It's amazing how children elicit a response in us, and we all have (and psychologists agree) a child within us, which is very often brought out by the presence of a an actual child.
Nobody understood the power of children better than Jesus. In this morning's passage there is a wonderful encounter between Jesus and the disciples. I think this is a marvellous post-Christmas text, because it tells us the whole nature and spirit of the Christmas experience.
What we have here is a squabble amongst the disciples. They are acting like children. Each of them, particularly the two brothers, wants to elevate himself within the kingdom. Each of them is trying to put himself ahead of the others and wanting to know who is going to be first, who is going to be the dominant one.
Now, Matthew and Luke give two different accounts, yet they are similar in that the disciples want to elevate themselves and be recognized. They want Jesus to say one is better than the other. In response, rather than giving a diatribe, Jesus uses an illustration. He brings into the midst of the disciples a child and says these immortal words: “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all - he is the greatest.”
In other words, he is using a child as an example. Now, it is fair to say that doing this he is elevating the status of children. Indeed, even today, children are often very much looked down upon. Children are often belittled and seen as deficient. How often does one hear comments like this: “Children now love luxury. They have the bad manners, contempt for authority. They show disrespect for elders, and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households.” How's that for a quote? That was Socrates, 2,500 years ago!
Very often in today's world we undervalue children. And in the world in which Jesus lived, children were often expendable - not valuable. Their lives in the Middle East were sometimes dispensable. We can see that by the way Herod treated them in the Christmas story. There is a sense that children, in their dependency, are the most vulnerable of all.
But Jesus elevated the status of children. He brought a child into the midst of the disciples to teach them a profound lesson. And the lesson is about the whole nature of His ministry. It's about the whole nature of the kingdom of God. It is about the Kingdom. It is about who He is and it is about how we are to receive Him.
So let us look at this a little more closely. What was Jesus saying to us by bringing the disciples this child?
First of all, He was expressing and revealing something through this child about the nature of the kingdom of God - the kingdom that He came to inaugurate.
There's a wonderful passage at the end of Matthew's Gospel and we've heard it many times: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these, my little ones, you did for me.” Now, “little ones” in that text is a Greek word, ptochoi, which means “the vulnerable,” “the people of the land,” “the poorest,” “the most dependent.” But notice Jesus said, “whatever you do for one of these children you do for me.” This is expressing the nature of the kingdom: Whatever we do for someone else, whatever kind gesture, whatever we do to help someone who is dependent, we are doing as a ministry in the name of Jesus Christ.
Likewise, in this morning's text, Jesus said “Whenever you receive a child in my name.” Now, the word “receive” means not only to accept, but also has an active component to it. It means not only to accept this child, but also to actively take care of him, to bring him along. So when you receive this child, you accept him but you also make a promise to look after and keep him. It is not short term - it is something much more profound. Jesus was saying to the disciples: “When you receive this child, from now on you have to look after it. It is dependent on you.”
Over the last few weeks I'm sure all of you have received numerous phone calls and letters from charities asking for support. All charities do this, particularly at this time of year. I'm often surprised that non-Christian organizations make this time of the year important. I asked somebody who works with a charitable organization that has no religious component why they put such a press on at this time of year. His first comment was that it was for financial reasons - people can make their charitable donations before the end of the year. Then he said: “But Dr. Stirling, I've got to be honest with you. The real reason we do it is because of the sentimental impact it has at this time of year.”
I said: “What do you really mean by the ”˜sentimental impact?'”
He said: “The impact of riding on the coattails of the Christ Child. There is something about the sentiment of Christmas and the message of this little child that enables us as a charitable organization to find a receptivity in the hearts of people that we don't find at other times of the year.”
I thought about that because very often our giving, our doing of good, is like that. It is sentimental. But when it is sentimental it often fades away. I liken sentimental giving to papering over the cracks on a wall but not dealing with the substance of what is broken. In other words, just covering over, masking over the problems of the world but not really going to the heart of them, not addressing the foundational cracks that exist.
Jesus knew that the disciples were interested in papering over the cracks. They wanted to know which of them was considered better. In their sentimentality they wanted to elevate themselves and do good. But by bringing a child into their midst He was saying “You have to receive the kingdom just like receiving a child.”
Now, let me ask you this question: When was the last time you saw a child born with a sticker put on its crib saying “30-day guarantee or your money back.” When was last time you heard of a child being born where it said you can take care of it from May to December but from January to April you're not obliged to care for it? When was the last time you ever heard of a child coming into the world and you are told that you need only bring it up to the age of eight, and from then on the child is on his or her own? You haven't, have you?
That's why Jesus brought a child into their midst. He was saying: “Whoever is going to do the work of the kingdom, whoever wants to be one of my disciples is going to have to do it unconditionally.” You do not just say, “Well, I'm going to be kind now for a while, but I will cease to be when the days get cold and long. I will be committed because I feel good helping people now, but for the rest of the year I will not.” That is why I think it is true that in our church and in our denomination, we have rightly placed a high priority not only on charity but also on justice - not only on papering over the cracks but also on fixing that which is broken.
In other words, the kingdom is unconditional. It lasts. And, if those disciples wanted to be first, they would have to become like a child. They would have to understand that it is a lifelong commitment if they are to receive this child and if this child is to become like them.
Jesus was also saying something profound about Himself. One of the great struggles I have found in the history of the Christian church has been to appreciate just how human Jesus was. Jesus makes it abundantly clear: “Whoever receives this child receives me.” Whoever receives me, therefore it must equal, receives the child. Now, I don't know whether Jesus was thinking back to His own childhood. Who knows whether He understood just how vulnerable and dependent He was on His mother and father, how dependent He was on the grace of God to save Him from the hand of persecution under Herod, how dependent He was on coming into the world and finding that His parents could only give turtledoves, a sign of their poverty, when they came to have Him blessed by Simeon.
I don't know the extent to which Jesus understood what He was doing in the light of His own childhood, but over and over again Jesus makes it clear that he identifies the most vulnerable and the most dependent and the most innocent of the world with Himself.
As I have said before, the great struggle of the Christians in the early church was not to preserve the divinity of Jesus but to preserve His humanity. In fact, compared with other religions which sometimes try to borrow from Christianity and change the story, it is the humanity of Jesus that becomes the great dividing point, not so much the divinity. But if you look at the First Book of John, Chapter Four, verse two, one test of your Christianity is if you believe Jesus came in the flesh - came as a human being. Right up to the Council of Chalcedon in 451 the Christians had to struggle to define the humanity of Jesus. There was a faction called the Monophysites who wanted to subsume the humanity of Jesus into the divinity of Jesus, losing His humanity and only seeming to be human not to be a real human. In Chalcedon the Church Fathers affirmed once again against the Monophysites that Jesus was fully human.
Now, does this matter? I believe it does. Not only because of God's identification with us, but also because of the nature of His kingdom. God's kingdom has come to those who are dependent on God and on one another. And we are dependent on God. We are in a sense like little children. We are like those who need preserving and protecting. We need moral guidance. We need support and nurture. We need protection. We need a sense of identity. We need the strength that God gives us every day of our lives.
Sometimes we think we are independent. We think that we are like those disciples who wanted to elevate themselves above everybody else. The fact is, you and I as mortal human beings are as dependent and as vulnerable as any other human being on earth. No matter who we are, how great we are, how wonderful we are, or how moral or religious we are - we are all dependent on God. That means in our ministry to people, to those who are the most dependent, those who are the most innocent, those who have the least, we have an unconditional obligation to care for them as our brothers and sisters. By coming into our midst, Jesus is affirming over again, in person, how important that ministry really is.
Which leads me to the final thought: How are we to receive the child brought into our midst? How are we to receive the Christ who was the child?
In a New England church they were preparing a pageant many years ago (this is a true story). They were getting their pageant ready and were excited - this was going to be the best pageant they ever had. They had all the children in Sunday School sign up to play various parts. One child wanted to play Joseph and another Mary and others to play the angels and shepherds and the kings. They had everybody all sorted out, but there was one little boy who was late getting to the audition, for he had polio. He walked with crutches and moved slowly so was the last to get to the audition. The only part left open for him in the whole of the story was the innkeeper. The little boy was mortified, because of all the characters except Herod (and in their pageant they didn't even mention Herod for good reasons), this was the only one who wasn't nice and kind to Jesus in the midst of it all. This little boy went home absolutely heartbroken. For days he didn't know what he was going to do. Everyone else loved Jesus, brought Him gifts, were angels, what was he? He was the innkeeper: “There's no room for you.” It bothered him.
Finally the pageant began and everyone played their parts perfectly. Mary and Joseph arrived at the inn and when they got there the little boy cried out in a loud voice: “Come in. I've been expecting you!”
He just couldn't reject Jesus. He just couldn't do it. Well my friends, that should be our attitude at Christmas to the Christ child and to His message: “Come in. I've been expecting you. I've been waiting for you.” And we must do so in an unconditional manner. When we receive the Christ child we don't say “Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry I can't receive you quite yet. I'm not ready.” I can't say “Oh, I will receive you but I just can't change my life to conform to what you want. There are little sins that I would just like to keep with me if you wouldn't mind.” Or, “Yes, I would welcome you, but in welcoming you I am not prepared to welcome the stranger or the outcast or the person in need.”
No, no, no! You receive Christ, it is unconditional. There is no written guarantee. There's no return policy. It is for life. It also means that one needs to receive the Christmas message humbly.
At Notre Dame University, where they have one of the great college football teams of all time, there is a statue at the end of their football field. It is a statue of Jesus with His arms raised. They nicknamed this statue “Touchdown Jesus.” Whenever a Notre Dame player makes a touchdown, he crosses himself and looks up at Touchdown Jesus. I notice that when people talk about the Christian faith, particularly athletes, they often get wound up and excited with their success. It seems more and more athletes are pulling up their jerseys and praising Jesus underneath their Nike emblems (which I always think is a fascinating reference point).
But everyone always seems to want to give Christ the glory and the praise when everything goes well and my friends, I've got to tell you I see nothing wrong with this except, is it really always in the successful, the glorious, the touchdown that we praise God? Do we not praise God and receive Christ unconditionally? Do we not praise God when we drop the ball as well as when we catch it? When we miss the line rather than crossing it? When we are tackled or sacked rather than just when we make the great play? Why is it always in the glorious and successful that we look to Christ and raise our hands and give Him praise? Is it not often when we are at our most dependent, our most painful, our most sorrowful, our most sinful that we come to Christ and receive Him unconditionally? It is not just in the glorious and the magnificent that Christmas is born but in humility in a child in the midst of the disciples.
Just recently I was given a wonderful book containing messages given at the Empire Club of Canada over many years. In March, 1954 there was a speech by a Dr. C.C. Goldring, who was at that time the head of the Board of Education in Toronto. In his speech to the Empire Club, he said:
In human relations the five most important words are, ”˜I am proud of you.' The four most important words are, ”˜What is your opinion?' The three most important words are, ”˜If you please.' The two most important words are, ”˜Thank you.' The smallest words is, “I.” The home exemplifies the spirit implied in that quotation is a good home for children.
My friends, it is not only a good home for children but a good home for the children of God. For this is exactly the spirit, the sentiment that Jesus demonstrated Himself. It is what He showed His disciples by bringing a child into their midst, and it is the kind of kingdom that He wants us to receive, humbly, unconditionally, passionately, forever. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.