Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me

 

 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.  For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And after He is killed, He will rise the third day."  But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him. 

 

Then He came to Capernaum.  And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?"  But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."  Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.  And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."  

 

Now John answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."  But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.  For he who is not against us is on our side.  For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."

 

- Mark 9:30–41 

 

On Saturday we read that, coming down fro the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, when He came to the disciples who remained behind, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.  Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.  And He asked the scribes, "What are you discussing with them?"  Then one of the crowd answered and said, "Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.  And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid.  So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not."  He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?  How long shall I bear with you?  Bring him to Me."  Then they brought him to Him.  And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.  So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?"  And he said, "From childhood."  And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him.  But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."  Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it:  "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!"  Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him.  And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead."  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.  And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"  So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."  

 

  Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.  For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And after He is killed, He will rise the third day."  But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.  Here Jesus predicts for a second time to the disciples His death and Resurrection (see this earlier reading for the first).  My study Bible says that this repeated prediction is meant to show that He is going to His Passion freely, and not being taken against His will.  

 

 Then He came to Capernaum.  And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?"  But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."  Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them.  And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."   The disciples have been disputing who would be the greatest.  This is because, at this time, Jesus has begun the long journey toward Jerusalem, and has prophesied to them more than once what is going to happen there at His Passion and Resurrection.  They do not understand what it means; it's still mysterious to them.  But it's likely they presume that there He will come into His Kingdom, and this they envision to be a worldly type of kingdom, the common expectations of the Messiah among the people.  So when they dispute who would be greatest, they're speculating among themselves who will get the highest place among them in this worldly kingdom they imagine is coming.  My study Bible comments that it indicates a selfish interest in worldly power.  Addressing this particular problem, Jesus points to a little child as a model of true discipleship.  He emphasizes thereby the virtues required for entrance into the kingdom of heaven.  These are, as noted by my study Bible, humility, dependence, lowliness, simplicity, obedience, and a willingness to love and be loved.  

 

 Now John answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."  But Jesus said, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.  For he who is not against us is on our side.  For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."  My study Bible remarks that Theophylact sees John's comment as a regret, that John's conscience has been pricked by Christ's teachings on being first and last.  But St. Ambrose, on the contrary, sees John as expecting full obedience to accompany such blessings.  In either interpretation, my study Bible comments, Christ's response shows that those who act in good faith are not excluded, even if they are not currently numbered among the disciples.  Theophylact comments on this similar passage in St. Luke's Gospel (Luke 9:46-50), "See how divine grace is at work even in those who are not His disciples."  See also Numbers 11:24-30.  On those who would use Christ's name without good faith, see Luke 11:23; Acts 19:13-16.

 

 Jesus teaches the disciples about greatness in today's reading.  He defines it through humility and through service.  He takes a little child in His arms, and tells them, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."   To honor God -- even God the Father -- is to seek to receive and to save even the least of these among us, even a little child.  Yet there will be more talk and more teachings about the relevance of little children to discipleship.  Jesus will teach, a little later on in St. Mark's Gospel, "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it" (Mark 10:14; see also Matt 18:3-4, Luke 18:17).  This adds another dimension of humility to our understanding of discipleship.  For, what does it mean to become like a little child (or "as a little child") but to understand that we have so much to learn?  Humility, then, is receiving God and the things God seeks to teach us like a little child, who knows that they have so much to learn.  Indeed, in the Orthodox theological tradition, there is what is understood as an apophatic orientation.  What this means is that, as we understand there is so much more to God than we know, it is wiser to make negative statements regarding what we know God is not, than to proclaim what God is.  For God is so infinitely unknowable compared to our capacity for discerning and receiving God.  Only God is capable of fully knowing God in this sense in which we seek to know a person or a thing.  To become like a little child is to admit that we don't know.  When we approach God as a little child we are an appropriate disciple, for we approach with our minds open to be taught.  We remove our assumptions and our need to prove that we know better; perhaps even more importantly, we prepare to let go of the certainties we think we know, the follow God's direction for expanding our understanding and hence orientation to life.  If once upon a time I always assumed X was correct, perhaps as I grow in maturity spiritually I will grow to see the wisdom of a different way.  For this author personally, that has for a very long time been a process of coming to understand the traditions of the Church in a way I could not see and perhaps could not receive when I was younger.  It has meant discarding my own fears and reservations, and coming to see what was always there, but which I could not perceive without becoming more like a little child in my own orientation toward God, and in my prayers.  For this understanding, I had to un-learn a lot of assumptions and popular theories, and to incorporate in my own life the glimmers of wisdom in the Church I hadn't previously been able to understand.  And this is grace, to become like a little child in order to receive God's grace, Christ's teachings, where the Spirit seeks to lead in teaching us who we need to be and to become.  This is a lifetime process, just like the growth of a little child is an ongoing process.  To receive a little child, or even an adult, in Christ's name, is more than simply to practice graciousness, for perhaps the key phrase here is "in My name" as Christ teaches it.  For this is the true Kingdom He's speaking about; when we act in His name we are within the grounds of the kingdom of God, and clearly, as Jesus teaches us, the rules in this Kingdom are different than those of a worldly kingdom.   In His name, the stature of a little child is as if one receives even God the Father.  He also teaches in today's reading, "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."  Note again, that qualifying phrase, "in My name."  Once again this stamp, like the seal of a royal king or emperor, means that we are in the realm of His kingdom, not a worldly kingdom.  And there, even those who practice the smallest grace in His name and for the sake of another belonging to His name "will by no means lose his reward."  Let us consider all the things it may mean to become as a little child in order to receive and to dwell in this Kingdom.