Some of you may remember Art Linkletter…and his specials about how “Kids Say the Darnedest Things.” It was great…always bringing smiles to people’s faces…
Several years ago, it was all the news when an 18 wheeler was making its way through Iowa – and the driver misjudged the height of his trailer.
His roof got lodged under an underpass. It has happened many times since then, in as many different places.
All the experts got together to try and figure out “how to dislodge the truck.” That’s when an eight year old boy suggested, “Why don’t you just let the air out of all the tires?”
Or the old-old story about a Midwestern farm town that held a serious prayer service because of the lack of rain. One adult brought a picture of Jesus walking on the water. Others brought their Bibles, some even brought crosses…but it took a little boy to bring an umbrella. He shamed them all – unintentionally.
Yep kids are amazing, even when they spill their milk, or hit a baseball through a window or scratch the family car when they throw down their bicycles in the driveway. Kids are great – all kids.
The wit and the wisdom of children should surprise no one. Jesus himself attempted to lift them up – whenever possible. He obviously loved children.
In the gospel text for tonight he says, “I thank you Father, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”
You may also remember that Jesus said, “Unless you become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
And the time he took up little children into his arms and blessed them, much to the concern and the consternation of his disciples…who thought it was a waste of his precious time…
Or the time he physically took a little child and placed him in the midst of the disciples to make a point.
Jesus began the 11th chapter of Matthew’s gospel by chastising the Judeans for their treatment of John the Baptizer.
They criticized John for reaching out to a bunch of nobodies. They criticized John for his asceticism. They criticized him for his clothes and his diet and for his fiery tongue. They simply did not like the movement he had created or the crowds that he was attracting.
And then they turned around and criticized Jesus for his movement and his constant association with sinners. Us people, can be very critical of others…you know…
And so a great many missed out on the good news that Jesus was proclaiming.
They pointed fingers, they criticized. They were mean spirited. They were hateful. They judged others constantly. They were spiteful.
So, Jesus went on to tell them, that faith is really pretty simple. It is not at all, as complicated, as they have made it out to be.
Jesus said you don’t have to carry around a bunch of garbage anymore…leave it with me and get on with your life and living…
The load that most Jews carried was religious laws and rules…and the guilt for breaking even the least of them. There were 613 laws to be followed every single day…plus the original 10 commandments besides!
There were rules for dressing and cooking, for eating and for washing, for women and for men, for marrying and for burying, laws for when in public and laws for when in private…
And Jesus said, if you are tired of carrying the weight of all these laws with you, come to me, where the laws are few and the grace is always abundant.
Some came. But most did not. They relied on those laws, they counted on them.
But the ones who really understood Jesus’ message were the infants, the young at heart, those of simple faith…their lives maybe were cluttered with sin, but they were uncluttered with religious laws.
Their rules and laws, statutes and teachings were literally – too much to bear, too much to carry.
Childlike is good. Simple is better. Honest is awesome. The ability to see with the “fresh eyes of faith” is a plus.
The Gospel is good news for everyone, but even the youngest of our children can get it.
You do not have to be a theologian or a religious scholar to enter the kingdom of Heaven.
The faith of a child is more than enough…more than enough! It really is quite simple. Amen.