When I was quite young my father used a straight razor to shave. I had seen him shave many times and asked questions. He was generous with his answers. Once when my grandparents were visiting for an overnight I hurried to their room in the morning, and found Grandpa shaving with an electric shaver. I had never seen one before, and was fascinated. “ You don’t have a beard,” he said, “so I can’t share this with you, but hold out your arm, and I’ll shave your arm for you.” He shaved my arm, and I stared at it.

I kept this incident to myself until after Grandpa left, and at first I quietly mentioned to my father that Grandpa had shaved my arm. I felt as if I had entered the intimate lives of grown ups and now existed on an elevated level of understanding, and even belonging. It hadn’t happened to any of my siblings, each of whom asked me, “How did it feel?” I never forgot this incident, and it brought me pleasure every time I thought of it. I never lost the sense of somehow being favored by Grandpa.

When Jesus saw this (people with children turned away) he was indignant. He said to 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)

This passage appears in more than one Gospel, and it is mentioned from pulpits occasionally, but seldom is the faith of a child considered a model for adults. Jesus clearly valued the simplicity and receptiveness of children and even saw in them the requirements for entrance into God’s kingdom. In a complicated world, and ours is certainly that, children are often seen as burdens.

We can’t avoid, however, the truth that God’s son on earth came as an infant. It was foreshadowed by the miraculous birth of Isaac, and prophesied by the prophet Isaiah: Unto us a child is born. (Isaiah 9:6) The children who left Egypt with their parents at the Exodus spent most of their lives eating manna and witnessing the cloud and the pillar of fire of God in their midst. These are the “Children of Israel” who lived to enter the Promised Land, and fulfill God’s plan for His people. Their parents never made it. Jesus came as a child, that we might all become children of God.

Love in Him,

Prue