I wish I could introduce you to H, a delightful little 9
year old who is trying to make a new start in a new language in a new school in
a new country. Add to this
equation the fact that her family is now following Jesus and you can understand
there is a lot of “new” going on in her 9 year old life.
While H’s parents are busy studying along with 20 other
students in a course called Christianity Explored, we spend a lot of time
together. I’m often not needed for
helping lead a small group among the adults, so my default mode is hanging out
with the kids. And since her best friend P has moved further away and can’t
regularly get to church, H has become my helper. We clean up after lunch together, gather all the trash bags,
and if there’s a film that is being shown to the adults, we often sneak back
into the room to watch along with them.
Funny thing, though:
H knows the story line in the Jesus film so well that she took me by
surprise this past Sunday. She
didn’t want to leave to help clean up, because she saw what part of the film
was going to be shown. “Barbara, can
we stay to watch Jesus, please? It’s
my favorite part of the story!”
By now, my curiosity is seriously aroused. How could this 9 year old, who has only ever seen the Jesus
film in the last 7 months of her life since coming to Belgium, know that her
favorite part of the story was coming up next? But perhaps the more important question, and certainly the
one that I could learn more about her, was “what was her favorite part of the
story of Jesus?”
It should come, then, as no surprise, that the video clip
that was being projected showed Jesus inviting the children to sit on his lap;
Jesus teaching the disciples and parents to welcome the children in their
space.
Mark 10:13-16
Some
people brought their children to Jesus so that he could bless them by placing
his hands on them. But his disciples told the people to stop bothering him. When
Jesus saw this, he became angry and said, “Let the children come to me! Don’t
try to stop them. People who are like these little children belong to the
kingdom of God. I promise you that you cannot get into God’s kingdom, unless
you accept it the way a child does.” Then
Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them by placing his hands on them.
(Contemporary English Version)
This is her favorite part of the story, whether reading it
in her first language Bible, or in her new Dutch children’s Bible, or watching
it in the English version of the Jesus film with her first language
subtitles. It’s all about Jesus
welcoming the children.
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| The pure delight of meeting Jesus as seen thru the eyes of children! |
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| In whatever language you read it, it's always the same message...Jesus loves you! |
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| Another friend's expression of Jesus' love through art ~ |
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| These words so reflect the message that we have to bring to our world |
In her 9 year old little girl eyes, Jesus is a good teacher
and yet he is also a kind man, one who welcomes children to come sit on his lap
and who blessed them. Perhaps it’s
the image of an important teacher who welcomes children in his space (something
that is not allowed in the religion of her homeland) that is so precious to
her. I’ll never know. But this one thing I do know: she can’t begin to understand the
importance of the real lesson that is being taught to the adults through that
video clip. The lesson is about
how we all have to approach our relationship to God with the wonder of a child
approaching a father. A child will
approach a parent with respect, awe, with hands open to accept, seeking
affirmation, love and blessing, and will love in return with an open heart, one
not full of preconceptions and conditions, but a heart that is just eager to
love.
My little friend H teaches me so much about God and her love for Jesus,
purely by her faith and trust….the faith and trust of a child. Wow. I still have so much to learn!
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| Tell me....what's your favorite part of the story?? |
