Mary Magdalene, Little Children and Jesus

When I was a little child I saw Jesus as a man who took children on his knee, like Santa Claus. When I asked my brother to remember how he saw Jesus as a child, he said he couldn’t recall how he saw Jesus. But he remembers seeing the lady Sunday School teacher as God.

In church this past Sunday, the lady Sunday School minister and the children led in the Worship Service. A child with the name Nicolas read the Scripture verse Mark 10: 14.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

The Sunday School Minister, now called Sunday Club Leader, told us adults that children know God and if we would only ask them, they would teach us about God.  It was her opinion that children were not empty vessels waiting to be filled with the knowledge of God.  It seemed to me she was saying, children are born knowing God.

So, what happens to this knowledge of God that little children are born with? Where does it go as we grow up? Why are there so many atheists and agnostics living in the world today who are convinced God’s promise of eternal life is impossible.

I remember lying in my crib when I was a baby.  I knew I was wearing a cloth diaper. I can still see the bars of the crib… the light streaming in from the window on my left. I remember thinking, I have been alive forever. I cannot remember a time when I was not alive.

This past Sunday, the Sunday Club Leader and the Children demonstrated a Godly Play lesson, a typical Sunday Club discussion session. Dressed in costume, they read a paraphrased translation from the following passage:

Now one of the scribes had come up and … asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord,  and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” “Right, Teacher, the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him, and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12: 28-34)

The children then asked themselves and us the following questions:

1. What did you like best about this passage?
2. Where are you in this passage?
3. What is the most important part?
4. If you could leave out something, what would you leave out?

Mark’s passage puzzled me. I couldn’t think of anything I liked best about it. So, I went to the next question. That too left me puzzling.  My mind focused on the part where Jesus said the Lord our God is One Lord. I asked myself. Why would Jesus say the Lord our God is One Lord? This was what was tripping me up?

Orthodox teaching says God is Love because God is Triune. [i]

At some point in Sunday’s service, the Sunday Club Teacher told those of us listening that kids often get what us adults miss and simply lack the language to express it.

So, I asked myself, “how might a child explain the Trinity? And I thought, well children often love their teachers like my brother did when he was little and see them as God.

Reflecting on Mark I thought of a simple way to express the Trinity.

God is One because God is Love and Loving makes us One.

Going home I reflected further with the Sunday Club Song that we sang in my head:

Like a rock, like a rock, God is under our feet.
Like the starry night sky God is over our head.
Like the sun on the horizon God is ever before.
Like the river runs to ocean,
our home is in God evermore.[ii]

Did I get it? Did others? Letting the children come to Jesus has always been a big deal. There are some things Jesus said and did that some adults want to deny or keep hidden from other adults and especially little children.  Yet, Jesus loves the little children and wants the little children to know the Truth and how hard it is to admit the Truth when we think the Truth will get us in trouble or cause the people we love to lose respect for us.

Kings, elders and leaders sometimes say and do things that hurt and offend people, just like children do.  Sometimes an apology will make things right again, and other times a leader must face the Truth and say.  Yes I did that and admitting it is something that is exceedingly bitter for me.  Please do not contact me right now.  I need to retire, to be left alone for awhile, to make peace with myself, with my family, my priest and my neighbours.

Jesus the Teacher called the Woman who anointed him with her tears, a sinner and called Peter, the Rock on which the Church is built—Satan.  How could Jesus the Teacher say such things? Peter the Rock on which the Church is built, told the Woman at the door, that he did not even know this man called Jesus. Why would the Rock say such a thing?

Adults want their children to see Jesus the Teacher as a perfect human being who is the best leader ever who never said anything mean or did anything to make someone else get hurt. Like my brother and I did when we were three years old, many Christians see Jesus the Teacher as God and incapable of making a wrong turn, getting himself tarnished with soot, or getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

So, I went home and sat down to think things through.  If I could leave something out, what would it be? It would be the phrase “not far off”. But then again, I thought this phrase is the most important part. It is the part that challenges me to think about who the Scribe is and what role I play in the passage. Because that part challenged me the most, I now say it is the part of the passage that I like the best.

Where am I in this passage? I am the one to whom Jesus says “Hear O Israel.” It is the part of the passage I didn’t hear in the paraphrase read by the children. They may have excluded it. I can’t say.

The Wise Scribe not far off from the Kingdom is the Rock. He stands like the children at the door—not far off—waiting for Jesus the Teacher and the disciples to welcome him in as the Rock, the Father of the Messianic Kingdom–who loves and forgives them as they love and forgive him.

Right! Sunday’s lesson makes sense to me now. God is One because God is Love and Loving makes us One.

Peter the Rock is the very wise scribe who spoke with Jesus the Teacher. He is the Lord the chief builders rejected.  He like many of you has much to learn and much to teach and say to the revered Teacher wearing the Robe about what it is like to be beaten and discriminated against.  Simon Peter the Wise Scribe, like many psalmists and bards, has had to work at many things such as gardening, fishing, carpentry, and even magic to sustain himself and perfect his craft. He has a storehouse of knowledge, just waiting to be mined and developed.

[i] William H. Lazareth, The Triune God: The Supreme Source of Life (Thoughts Inspired by Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity). Document TH4-4 Vancouver BC: World Council of Churches Sixth Assembly, 1983, 1.

[ii] words: Keri Wehlander, Adaptation to music: Linnea Good, ©1999 Borealis Music http://www.LinneaGood.com