Section Ten

Counter Cultural

Matthew, Mark and Luke have parallel passages that record a conversation between Jesus and the disciples. The conversation starts with the disciples either asking or arguing about the questions of who is the greatest (Matthew adds ‘in the kingdom of heaven’). Jesus’ response was to put a little child at the centre of his answer. The first thing to note about this is just how different to the culture at the time this was (as indeed were many of the things that the gospels record about Jesus). Children weren’t really considered to be of value in themsleves (they were only of value for what they could bring in the future). The gospels recount many times when Jesus reached those on the margins of society. Many Jews had created a culture that said that they had an exclusive lock on God - Jesus said otherwise. So, in choosing a little child to frame the discussion about the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus was saying that children can be a part of what God was doing. Is there a parallel to today? Question: Would things look any different if we truly recognised that God doesn’t want children to be on the fringes?