Receiving the Kingdom as a Child

Scripture – Luke 18:15-17 (NRSV)

People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

Devotion

This is the third and final devotion focusing on a short story in Luke 18. It begins with people bringing babies to Jesus so that he might touch them and bless them. When Jesus’s disciples rebuked those bringing the babies, Jesus corrected them. He welcomed the “little children,” explaining that “it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (18:16). Then Jesus added, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it” (18:17).

What does it mean to receive the kingdom of God as a little child? Commentators and preachers often wax eloquent about the positive attributes of children that make them fit for the kingdom, including their unworldliness, openness, trusting nature, freedom from hypocrisy, and so forth. Though it’s possible Jesus had some of these character traits in mind, I’d rather focus on what we can know with confidence from the passage itself.

First, we can know that the kingdom of God is something we “receive” (18:17). We don’t achieve the kingdom, make the kingdom, or build the kingdom. You’ll sometimes hear well-meaning Christians talk as is the kingdom is something we create through our own effort. This doesn’t fit, however, with the teaching of Jesus. Though we are to live under the kingdom of God, and though we are to uphold its priorities, it’s not something we produce. Rather, the kingdom of God, or we might say the reign of God, is something we receive from God. God chooses to reign over our lives and over our world as an expression of God’s own grace. The kingdom of God is something we receive as a gift.

Second, we receive the kingdom of God “as a little child” (Luke 18:17). The Greek word translated here as “a little child” means, well, “a little child.” It was used for infant boys and girls as well as toddlers and other young children. In context, Jesus was referring to those identified as “infants” in verse 15. We don’t know much about them, other than the fact that they were being brought to Jesus. These little children were dependent on others, on the parents who carried them to Jesus and on Jesus who blessed them with his touch. The trait of children that Jesus emphasized here was their dependence, you might even say their helplessness.

Thus, the phrase “as a little child” strengthens the implications of “receive” the kingdom of God. We don’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. We don’t build it. Rather, we receive God’s reign in our lives from a posture of utter dependence and need.

What we learn from the story of Jesus and the children reinforces, therefore, what Jesus taught in the previous passage of Luke. There, as you may recall, the Pharisees who boasted before God of his spiritual accomplishments was not justified before God—whereas the tax collector who cried out for mercy was justified, according to Jesus. Humility before and dependence upon God are essential if we’re going to live under God’s gracious reign.

As one who was raised to value self-reliance and independence, I find Jesus’s teaching in Luke 18 to be challenging. It reminds me of just how much I must rely on God’s grace if I want to live under God’s reign. It confronts my pride in my own spiritual accomplishments and calls me to be, not an earner, but a receiver of the kingdom of God.

When we come before God in our neediness, when we lean back into God’s sturdiness, when we admit our utter dependence on God and then choose to depend on God completely, we receive the gift of God’s reign in and over our lives.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the High Calling archive, hosted by the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: The Brave and Radical Kingdom of God

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