The Outsider Mark 10:13-22 Bill Allison November 4, 2018 Tell me what s good, generally, about children Uninhibited Innocent Honest Cute Joyful Unburdened Unscarred by life Impressionable Natural curiosity Tell me what s bad, generally, about children They are honest Undisciplined Noisy Require a lot from you Selfish No filters Throw tantrums Expensive Messy It s all about me
Limited perspective Lack of understanding Children biologically are human beings between the stages of birth and puberty, ie: a minor. Children have fewer rights than adults and are classed as unable to make serious decisions, and legally must always be under the care of a responsible adult or child custody. We all start out as children. You did. I did. Here s a few pictures of me. My father was in the Army, and we traveled the globe with him. When I was two, we lived in Okinowa. From ages 4-8, I lived in Germany. Later Texas, Fort Ord, Fresno. We moved over 25 times before I finished junior high. Diane and I are so proud of this church and its stand for children. We are pleased that part of the DNA of the church is its commitment to intergenerational life. Whole families are allowed to serve together in worship, serving (Serve Sundays) and missions (Mexico, Uganda and others). We place a high value on the whole family unit, so much so that we have a full-time Family Pastor, Tim Gallaher, and a full-time Children s Director, Sarah Silva. Sarah teaches kids about Jesus at the Village Preschool Chapel services and at VBS, and so many other gatherings of children and parents. We offer a Kids Choir, directed by Lindsay Roush, that meets weekly on Wednesdays, where we have between 30-70 children to love on. Lindsay teaches music skills and songs, but also incorporates spiritual truths. Last week I went down to Village Preschool to lead singing for kids and parents alike on their dress-up days. The kids were adorable, and I had so much fun! Although one little girl got sad
when we were all singing Jesus Loves Me because others were singing and she wanted them to stop, as she said, He loves ME, not you! Another little princess saw a character with face paint and she said, I don t need face paint. I m already beautiful! Today we re continuing the series in Mark called The Outsider. Tim opened the series talking about how Jesus welcomed and reached out to outsiders, including the calling of the disciples, and asked those outcasts to follow him. Sally showed how an outsider tax collector, Levi, was invited by Jesus to follow him and became the disciple Matthew. On Serve Sunday, Jerry challenged us to serve alongside outsiders and model Jesus, and last week Arvin challenged us to consider who the outsiders are and our response to them, quoting Jesus who said, Whoever is not against us is for us. Today s scripture is Mark 10:13-22. It s basically two paragraphs describing two separate but related incidents. The first is when parents were bringing children to Jesus, and the second incident is about the rich young ruler. Both deal with the subject of who s an insider or outsider as it pertains to the Kingdom of God. All three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, include both incidents together, and in the same order. When you study this, it s important to see all three accounts as they fill in different details. Mark 10:13-14 13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. And they were bringing children to him. Who is the they? Was it mothers, grandmothers, nannies? Not necessarily. In Greek, the word they is a masculine pronoun, so not just mothers, but for sure fathers and probably parents bringing their children to the Lord.
The word that Jesus used to describe children was paidian. Note: there are at least five words in the Greek translated child or children. This one refers to anyone from infant up to twelve years old. Note: Luke uses a different word, brephos, meaning newborn or small children, ie: up to four years old. Those who are very dependent upon someone for their care and well-being. Anyway, the text goes on to say that the disciples welcomed them all into the house with open arms. Wait a minute. That s not what the text says. And the disciples rebuked them. The Greek word for rebuked is the same word Jesus used in casting out or rebuking the evil spirit in the previous chapter (Mark 9:25) and also when he rebuked the winds in a storm (Mark 4:39). Children are often considered the most powerless group in society and often treated, in ancient cultures, as the least. They are the last of society rather than the first. The text says that the parents kept bringing them and the disciples kept rebuking them. Jesus sees and hears parents trying to bring children to him and the disciples, being his right and left guards, are letting no one get to the quarterback. Before I go on I need to ask, who are we overlooking in this discourse? The children. Like normal you can feel them not being considered important, cast aside. We re too busy for them. A side note, looking back at this chapter, it began with Pharisees coming to trick Jesus and asking questions about divorce. Had the disciples stopped the Pharisees from asking questions? Of course not. Did the disciples not remember what Jesus had done earlier when the idea of greatness was brought up and which of them were greater? Mark 9:35-37
35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me. Jesus often highlighted and put in the forefront the weakest, the downtrodden, the widows, the poor, the outsiders, so how does Jesus feel about the children who were at that point being overlooked and treated like outcasts? Mark 10:14 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant. Indignant, not a nice or gentle word. But indignant, the same word, was used when the religious leaders were angry with Jesus. Why is he so upset? Because they, in a sense, are misrepresenting Jesus and the way he has shown them to treat children. He goes on to say, Mark 10:14b-15 Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. What? Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it? Really? That s not on any of the tools like the 4 Spiritual Laws or the Romans Road or Evangelism Explosion, or other ways I ve been trained to lead people to Christ. So after reading this, it makes me stop and think to such belongs the Kingdom of God. Childlikeness, or dependence, is needed to belong in the Kingdom of God. Hold that thought! Didn t Jesus already say who the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven belonged to? Yes, he did, in the message he gave, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, the
Beatitudes. The stained glass window in the sanctuary pictures this Jesus, Peter, John, parents and probably eight children. Matthew 5:3 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So who are the poor in spirit? What does poor in spirit mean? The poor in spirit are those who recognize they are in need of God s help, those who confess their spiritual bankruptcy and depend on God for what is needed, not those who have it all together and think they don t need God. Children are such that they are dependent, not self-sufficient. They are helpless, no resources on their own. Children come simply, openly trusting, unpretentious, weak, and lacking achievement. What Jesus is saying is that entering the Kingdom of God is not on the basis of what you have done. The qualifier is dependence on God. What did Jesus do next? Remember I told you this story is also in Matthew and Luke? Mark is the only gospel that records this Mark 10:16 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. He enfolded them in his arms, held tight and secure. Then one by one he eulogized and blessed them fervently. Recently a counselor told me this illustration: Bill, when you feel overwhelmed or too stressed, try this exercise Cross your arms like this and pat your arms with your hands. Think about Jesus embrace and think about the words he s telling you!
Note that before his blessing of the children, there is no indication that Jesus asked them any question about theirs, or their parent s spiritual condition, belief or unbelief, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, because these were non-issues in what Jesus was saying. Children cannot do very much for us. They don t necessarily bring a lot to the table. They don t add a lot to your cred. As a matter of fact, they require something, nearly everything, from us. They represent the poor, the needy, the ordinary, the plain the outsiders. But Jesus loved them, touched them, saw them and prayed over them. Now onto the second paragraph. Mark 10:17-22 17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother. 20 And he said to him, Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Who is this man? One of the other gospel writers, Luke, alone tells us he was a ruler. Luke 18:18 18 And a ruler asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Matthew adds a word about his age. Matthew 19:20
20 The young man said to him, All these I have kept. What do I still lack? What we glean by putting all three gospels together is rich, young, ruler. And this man asks, Good Teacher First thing he brings up is this idea of good. What does that have to do with anything? Jesus said, no one is good except God. Jesus could be identifying himself as good and making himself God. We re not sure. The whole question about being good has affected mankind for so long culturally, especially concerning eternity. My mother, even on her death bed, would say When God greets me at the entrance of heaven, I hope he ll say that my good outweighs my bad, and allows me in. Now you have to know my mom had secrets and a life before me. She actually was married to someone before my dad and it became annulled. She ended up having an affair out of wedlock with a merchant marine from Australia, and after he went away, she found she was pregnant. Later she met and married my father, but she always felt guilt and judgment. Even though she had asked Jesus to forgive her, she always felt like she wasn t good enough. Now hear me. I m not saying being good is not a good thing, but it has little to do with eternity. In the last paragraph, did Jesus only bless the good children? And don t think for a moment all those children were good. Oh, I digress. Jesus said to the young man Mark 10:19 19 You know the commandments: Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother. Did he mention all 10 Commandments? No 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and he leaves out the 10 th commandment, Thou shalt not covet. Matthew adds, You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:19). What Jesus asked should have been convicting, but it elicits one of the most arrogant replies in scripture. And the young man says, All these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus wept, no laughed, no.sorry.
Now what did Jesus really do? The inside story of what Jesus did here is only listed in the Gospel of Mark. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him. He agaped him divine loved him.like he did in John 11:5 when he heard that Lazarus was ill. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister and Lazarus. In the same way, Jesus felt love for this young man and wanted to help him. Side bar Parents, when you first hear something bad about one of your kids they ve fallen short or had an accident or made a bad mistake you don t just get mad. You re saddened because regardless (no matter what), you re going to love that child. I believe that is what we re seeing in this verse Mark 10:21 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. Jesus noticed he lacked something. He was not poor in spirit. He was self-absorbed, and he lacked the simple spirit of dependence so characteristic of those little children Jesus had just spent time with. When I was talking to one man from our church about preaching this week and mentioned the rich young ruler, he quickly was worried that I might use this verse to rip on the wealthy. Now, did Jesus say the same thing to others, like the Centurian, or Nicodemus, or Joseph of Arimithia? No. I believe Jesus was lovingly helping this young man to understand something about eternal life and the Kingdom of God. Sometimes certain things in an individual get in the way of what they should do, and this young man s wealth and arrogance are perhaps what Jesus is addressing. The Kingdom of God is not easily accessible to the proud, arrogant, those who can t let go of control and be willing to fall into the embrace of Jesus.
And then Jesus said, follow me become one of my disciples, be part of the team, the family. What does the young man say? Nothing. No more spoken words, just commentary. Mark 10:22 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Don t miss this important fact. This rich young ruler is the only person in the Gospels outside of the twelve whom Jesus personally invites to follow him. He is also the only person in the Gospels to walk away from that invitation. The young man went away sad because he had great wealth. But wait. Why sad? Did he know it was true of him? Did he realize that by having it all together and that by being self-sufficient, not needing anything, it would disqualify him for the Kingdom? If this guy who has all these things and keeps the law perfectly isn t going to make it into the Kingdom of God, then who will? Good question! That s what the disciples asked in Mark 10:23-27. 23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, Then who can be saved? 27 Jesus looked at them and said, With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God. Did you hear that? With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.
Did Jesus love the little children? Yes. He blessed them. Did Jesus love the rich young ruler? Yes. Enough to tell him the truth and asked him to join him. To the disciples dismay, Jesus spent time and showed love to the children and the rich young man. Both were about dependence on Jesus. So today I ve talked about two kinds of outcasts those who don t know any better and one who thought he did. Where are you on that spectrum? Are you able to come to Jesus? Here are two verses not included in our hymnbook from Rock of Ages. Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill Thy law s demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for rest; Helpless, look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.