Tuesday, March 21, 2023

 

Tuesday, March 21, 2023


Psalm 50

Exodus 2

Luke 18:15-30


Observance: Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, martyr and liturgist (d. 1556)


Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.


This would have to be one of Jesus’ most enigmatic statements. Forget His trinitarian puzzles; His apparent non-sequiturs; His commandments both to peace and a sword: this is an absolute statement about entering the kingdom of God, and it requires our attention.


These words follow on very closely from Jesus’ teaching that we should be persistent and tenacious in our prayers. Does God find joy in our nagging?


Perhaps the kingdom of God is like this: we have been travelling down the highway for several hours now. Us kids are stuffed into the back seats, sweating and jostling, and we have run out of car games to play. Mum and Dad are in the front, starting to think about how they can keep the kids happy. One of us starts a chant, asking to pull over at the next stop for a treat.


Crank that scenario up to eleven. God knows exactly what we need; He is the joy of our heart’s desire. Before we even ask, He is resolved to give us what we ask. What God desires is a big, happy family, and that is why Christ came and bled on the cross: so that we whom He loves can be freed from the family of sin and enter into the family of heaven.


We want a transaction for our entry into this family, but that is impossible for mortals. But for God, anything is possible: for us to be as little children, cheering in the back seat as we are driven into the kingdom of God.





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