CHILDLIKE

 

We live in a world where people are expected to be in an ‘age-appropriate’ sweet spot before they’re deemed worthy enough to participate in many of life’s activities. Think I’m exaggerating? If so, you’re probably riding that wave of age-graded popularity. But do you remember when you weren’t so fortunate? Do you recall hearing that dreaded phrase, “Wait until you’re older”? Sometimes it seems like that is the only response a kid hears for years. I’ve never forgotten one such episode in my life. I was an eight-year old who triumphantly climbed to the top of a towering tree. One minute I was surveying the neighborhood vistas with one of my brothers, and the next I was free-falling at an astonishing rate. I hit the ground with such force I looked like a goldfish dumped on the kitchen floor – eyes bulging, flopping side-to-side and puckered lips gasping for air.

Chris post-fall

Yet the very next day I was tagging along behind my older brothers as they exited the front door in search of adventure in the woods surrounding our neighborhood. That’s when those infamous words came from my mother’s lips – words that make every kid cringe: “Wait until you’re older.”

“Ahh, Mom! I’ll be fine. When’s older? Who decides when I’m old enough to do something? When do I get to…?” The questions continued to roll on as my brothers faded out of sight. Shoulders slumped, I shuffled back into the house.

Older brothers

But what does the Bible teach about a person’s ability to bless others based upon age? Aren’t most people able to serve others in some capacity if they are helped, guided, and empowered to do so? “But,” some people say, “there are some things that a person is not able to do because of age.” I agree with that statement to a degree, but does that mean there isn’t something most people have the potential to do to bring joy and hope to others, regardless of how young or old they are? If not, then why is it hard to keep from smiling when you see the delight in a child’s eyes? Or to keep from chuckling alongside children caught up in a fit of laughter?

Video: Baby Laughing 

 

On a more serious note, at what age is a person responsible enough to help care for the life of a child? Remember Miriam looking after her baby brother, Moses, as he floated down the Nile? God used a young girl to protect and help nurture Moses, who would later lead the Israelite nation out of captivity in Egypt. God used a mere child as a conduit through which countless others would be saved!

“Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”[i]

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[i] Exodus 2:5-7

At what age can a person be used by God to take on the giant problems that weigh heavily upon the world? Remember David and Goliath? Sometimes I think Goliath’s opinion of kids isn’t that far removed from that of people in the ‘sweet spot’ of age.

Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.[i]

Yet God used David to slay Israel’s contemptuous foe and turn the tide for his people. “So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him….When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.”[ii]

Video: 6 Year Old Saves Sister 

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[i] 1 Samuel 17:41-43

[ii] 1 Samuel 17:50-51

At what age is a person able to selflessly give in order to be a blessing to others? Remember a young boy’s lunch willingly offered up for others to eat?[i] God used this boy’s gift as the seed for miraculously feeding over 5,000 people.

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” …Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”[ii]

In one young person from a town with less than 400 inhabitants, we find all three of these God-given abilities: responsible enough to care for the life of a child, able to take on giant-sized problems, and a willingness to serve selflessly. “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.”[iii]

Most Jewish girls were pledged to be married by the time they were 12-14 years old.  In our eyes, Mary would barely be eligible to work in many church nurseries – much less be a candidate for mother of the Messiah. Who on earth would choose a teenager to fulfill such an enormous task? “The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”[iv]

“Highly favored? Who? Me?” How could a lowly, teenage virgin from the town of Nazareth be the recipient of such a greeting? It was inconceivable to Mary. As a young, unmarried woman, Mary had virtually no social status. A person’s community standing being based on their age and gender is nothing new to our day and age.

But that was just the starting point of her perplexity. The religious elite of Jerusalem viewed Galilee as a repugnant, backwoods area. Galileans were considered ignorant, lower class, inferior Jews. Very rarely would the people of Galilee be able to attend the services and ceremonies of the temple, due to the 90-100-mile trek. In contrast, the booming, wealthy metropolis of Sepphoris was a mere three miles away, which made Nazareth look like a shanty town. To further complicate the situation, a Roman military camp had headquarters set up near the town of Nazareth. With the onset of the Gentile soldiers came a multitude of additional sinful activities. Perhaps John 1:46 best sums up the feelings about Mary’s hometown: “Nazareth!  Can anything good come from there?” Is it any wonder the teenage Mary was troubled at the angel’s words? 

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[i] John 6

[ii] John 6:5, 8-9

[iii] Luke 1:26-27

[iv] Luke 1:28-29

“But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.[i]

“A son named Jesus?” Mary must have asked. Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Yeshua, which means “Yahweh saves.” “She [Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”[ii]

Perhaps this only hinted at the Messianic potential of the child to be born. After all, Jesus was a common name. Mary didn’t have but an instant to ponder the possibility before Gabriel made it crystal clear: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”[iii]

“‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’…The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.’”[iv]

And what was Mary’s response to this miraculous message? “‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May it be to me as you have said.’ Then the angel left her.”[v]

This sounds like a nice ending, but do you realize what Mary had just agreed to? Christmas greeting cards and paintings of Mary and the Child fail to tell the courage of this teenage girl. Mary was willing to give up her relationship with Joseph, her reputation in Nazareth, and possibly even her life via death by stoning[vi] in order to be the Lord’s servant (according to Deuteronomy, both married and unmarried women guilty of adultery ought be stoned).

Wait until you’re older, or more mature, or more possessed of whatever qualification an adult thinks you need? God apparently had other plans for young adults like Miriam, David, the boy sharing his fish and bread, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. He saw the potential that many of us would have overlooked, because “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”[vii]

If you ever feel that you or someone you love is not valuable in God’s eyes, may these young people and the words of the Apostle Paul give you hope that there is a place for you in God’s family:

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”[viii]

Music: Heaven

 

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[i] Luke 1:30-31

[ii] Matthew 1:21

[iii] Luke 1:32-33

[iv] Luke 1:34-37

[v] Luke 1:38

[vi] Deuteronomy 22:23-24

[vii] 1 Samuel 16:7

[viii] 1 Corinthians 1:26-29