This week's study covered two separate incidents, but tied together the message of humbleness and a dependence on God's goodness and mercy. In verse 9, Jesus targets his comments to a specific group of people..."some who trusted in themselves and regarded others with contempt (looked down on everybody else..NIV). He told a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector who both went to the temple. The Pharisee stood praying thanking God that he wasn't like others, thieves, adulterers, etc. and pointed out to God how good he was because he fasted twice a week and gave a tithe to the temple. The tax collector, in contrast, stood off at a distance and did not even look up to heaven and said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Jesus said that the tax collector went home justified before God rather than the Pharisee. Jesus said "...for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted." Just as Jesus targeted the self righteous around Him, this message is targeted to us who suffer with this same self righteous attitude.
The next verses talk about Jesus welcoming the children. The disciples sternly ordered the parents to not bring the children, but Jesus welcomed them. In our discussion we saw ourselves in the disciples. We get busy doing Jesus' "important" work, yet we don't recognized what delights Him. The picture of child when a parent walks into a room; the pure joy, love, excitement, and happiness is impossible not to bring delight to the parent. That is how Jesus must react when we respond to Him like those children, making Him the center of our devotion, trust, dependence, and love. He said, "...for it is for such as these that the kingdom of God belongs." We felt as He was talking about himself when He talked of the kingdom of God, and we were drawn to the word "belongs". He offers himself for us to possess, to have as our own. He is not on loan or just for us to enjoy or experience temporarily.
In verse 17, Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." We discussed that we cannot go back and get rid of all the baggage we accumulate as we grow up, so to go back to our childhood innocence is impossible for us to do. But Christ offers us Himself, so if we humble ourselves as the tax collector did, recognizing our need for mercy and acknowledging that we are sinners, He will see us as His children...trusting, dependent, and delighting in Him. In our humbleness, we are justified and He freely welcomes us and we receive Him.
Discover and Proclaim the Truth of The Bible which is: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life." (John 3:16 NRSV). Jesus came to humanity to proclaim and give evidence to that love and He has commanded us to do the same. We, who believe, must not merely be followers, but we must be proclaimers of the Gospel Message and we can only do that by being filled with the love of God.
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