Today’s gospel passage takes place before the crucifixion; in fact it is the same text we heard on Maundy Thursday when Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment.
Reading the text again, I noticed how Jesus calls his disciples, “Little children.” In our text a couple of weeks ago, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples on the seashore and there he called them, “Children” too. Hearing him, I wondered why Jesus addresses them that way. His followers aren’t “children” by any traditional definition. They are fully grown adults with families and responsibilities, homes and jobs when they are called as his disciples. And yet, he calls them, “Children.”
Some people think it is diminutive, that Jesus calls them children because their faith is not yet “mature.” But isn’t our faith always forming and re-forming as we learn more about who God is and who we are as God’s children? Faith grows and expands as we experience God in our lives.
Besides, I don’t think the Jesus we meet in Scripture belittles or talks down to the people around him, even when they make mistakes and he corrects them.
Others suggest Jesus called the disciples “Children” to express his affection for them, the same way my granddaddy called me “Honeychild.”
For me, Jesus’ use of the word “children” brings to mind the time that Jesus told the disciples, “Let the little children come to me.”[i] At that time, the disciples had rebuked the crowds for bringing the children to Jesus but Jesus welcomed them saying the Kingdom of God belonged to them. Perhaps the disciples finally had understood his teaching and were following Jesus with childlike faith, open to what God was doing in their midst.
But, perhaps the simplest explanation is that Jesus calls the disciples “children” because Jesus is God and they are “God’s children.”
In baptism, we are named God’s own sons and daughters. We experience a “sweet swap” when we receive faith in Jesus Christ —we are made co-heirs to the Kingdom and we receive all that belongs to the Son of God, and Christ takes on all that is ours. With this address, Jesus reminding the disciples of their identity.
In Jesus’ words I also hear an echo of the prayer and instruction in Deuteronomy 6 that the Jewish disciples would have known; it says:
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. [ii]From the time of our ancestors in faith to this present time, our identity as God’s children calls us to obedience to God’s Word and commandments.
When Jesus continues speaking to the disciples, he gives them the new commandment to love one another, just as they have been loved by God. [iii] And then he says, “By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We don’t follow God’s commands to earn our salvation, and we aren’t obedient so that we can be better people. We can’t. We can only live as God’s children through the grace that God first gives us. Jesus’ words remind us that our lives and actions bear witness to who Jesus is. When we speak with bitterness and anger and refuse forgiveness or reconciliation, we reflect a God of judgment and wrath. When we love one another, we reflect a God whose grace and love changes lives.
Peter was there in that room and heard Jesus speaking that night. And later after the resurrection and the ascension, when the disciples were traveling and witnessing to the Good News, Peter stayed at the house of Simon the Tanner, whose work would have made him unclean by ritual law. Peter ate at the same table as people who were outsiders and not Jewish. And the religious authorities called him on it. They questioned him, asking why he was disregarding the ritual laws and traditions of Judaism. And he recounted for them the vision he had seen where he had been told, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”[iv]
Peter made a lot of mistakes as a disciple, as we all do, but clearly Peter had learned what it meant to love one another. As he told the people questioning him:
17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?[v]Like Peter, each of us has been raised with biases against others – whether it’s a person’s appearance, education level, accent or nationality, religion or sexual orientation. We have been taught that some people are “other” or “less than.” We have been taught that some people “belong” and others “don’t.” And we have been taught wrongly.
Believing we are all God’s children, we must love one another. God created each one of us precious in God’s sight and loves each one of us.
Loving one another we are called to live in ways that people can see how our lives are changed by God’s presence and activity. And, by this, everyone will know that we are following Jesus.
Let us pray…
Loving God,
We give you thanks for Your Son Jesus who teaches us to love each other as we are first loved by You.
Help us live as disciples, with confidence in our identity as Your children and with obedience to Your Word.
Send us out as witnesses to Your transforming grace and mercy.
We pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
[i] Mt. 19:14, Mk. 10:14, Lk. 18:16
[ii] Deuteronomy 6:4-7
[iii] John 13:34
[iv] Acts 11:9
[v] Acts 11:16-17
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