As the time to celebrate the birth of Jesus approaches, friends and I have been thinking about Jesus’ words recorded in Mark 10:13-16:
People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
For years, I thought that ‘receiving the Kingdom of God like a little child’ referred to innocence – or to being trusting. Maybe it does include that. I, for one, feel I have a lot to learn about genuinely trusting God, in our deeply disturbed world.
But someone recently pointed out to me that the main defining characteristic of children in first century Palestine was their lack of status in society. They were powerless.
Maybe letting go of status and power is the main lesson that Jesus wants us to learn.
As I thought about that, I realised that Jesus’s own earthly mother would have known what that meant. As a young woman without any status, she bore a child in deeply unusual circumstances. And then, she fled and her family fled to another nation (Matthew 2:13-18), in fear for their lives.
I further reflected on the ways that the Living God gave a voice to this powerless young woman. Her voice echoes down through the millennia to us today in Holy Scripture through Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55) and in her other words recorded for our edification.
Our aspiration, as Christian Daily International, is to elevate the unheard voices of those without status – the powerless. We pray that we might succeed in doing that – in the spirit of Mark 10:13-16.
May we all know Him who welcomes the powerless in this Christmas season.
As a team, we wish you and all those you care for (locally and around the world) a very Happy Christmas.
Gordon Showell-Rogers, International Director of CDI
