My neighbor watched as I told my three year old daughter and her friend to look both ways before crossing the street in front of our house. “Be sure to look both up and down the street,” I said; and then we watched as she and her friend stared up at the sky, then down at their feet by the curb. “What are they doing?” my neighbor asked. “They’re looking up and down,” I said as I went to the curb, held their hands, and walked them across. Again I explained to the girls that we were looking to see if a car or other vehicle was coming on our quiet street. The girls were seriously trying to obey my directions while missing the point entirely.

Jesus said to them (the disciples) , “let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:14-16)

The qualities that Jesus observed in children must have been many, but the quality of simple obedience, based on unconditional trust is one that he looks for in adults to find their trust in him and in his Father. Such a trust is vital to a relationship with God, and Jesus sees children displaying it more clearly than most adults.

Simple trust shows up in some of Jesus’ parables as well. In the parable of the two sons, Jesus tells of a man who tells both sons to work in their vineyard. The first son said “No”, but later, he did go. The second son said”Yes”, but then he never went. There is no mention of punishment in this story, but only of the choices that two sons made. Jesus said that the first son, who, like a child, actually went after saying “no,” was the obedient son (Matthew 21:28-32). The first son’s moment of rebellion was swallowed up by his changing his mind and obeying his father. It’s a simple story, but it reveals Jesus’ sense that willing obedience in His children is close to God’s heart, whether it’s immediate or delayed.

The willing obedience of Jesus himself when he prayed to His Father in Gethsemane, “not my will, but yours” is the act of total obedience, the fruit of the unconditional love of his Father.

When I saw the little girls looking up at the sky, and then down at their feet, I laughed, but I was touched that they took such pains to follow what they thought were my instructions. Jesus spoke to his people about “such as these.”

Love in Him,

Prue