“A little child shall lead them” is the hope of Isaiah’s Peaceable Kingdom and many paintings.  It’s not that children are innocent.  I’ve never met one yet who wasn’t hatching some scheme.  No, it is rather that children understand what is really important.  The two year olds in our Preschool are my peer group–we started here about the same time–and I’ve learned a lot from them.

I don’t know if you watched the political debate Wednesday night. I didn’t. It’s a little early for me to get involved. I’m going to wait until they sort themselves out and I know whom to vote against. One of our members said that his wife was going to pop some popcorn and enjoy the show. Games and circuses. It worked for the ancient Romans and it seems to be working for us also—a group of people arguing about who is going to be the most important.

Sometimes, when humans are being human, I wonder if God doesn’t have to go into his inner office and hang a do not disturb sign on the door. Jesus certainly must have been exasperated with the disciples periodically for they certainly were human. The Gospel lesson tells us that Jesus had taken the disciples away by themselves to prepare them for what was going to happen. Apparently on several occasions, he explained to them that the Son of Man would be betrayed and killed. He talked to them about sacrifice and resurrection. And where were the disciples’ thoughts directed? There must have been an on-going conversation among them—a conversation about who was the greatest. Several, even at one point, had their mother ask Jesus if her sons could sit at his left and right hands. Could one be the Secretary of State and the other the Secretary of Defense?

Jesus said, “whoever wants to be first must be last and the servant of all.” Then he picked up a snot-nosed kid and put him in the middle of the disciples, wrapped his arms around him, and said, “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.”

I’ve said on several occasions that my peer group is the youngsters in the two year old class, the ones who were in the 18 month old class last year. I would suppose that you think that I’m joking. I’m not. We all started at Our Savior about the same time. And some would say that I operate pretty much on the same level as they do. I’m not fluent in toddler and need a translation once in a while, but I’ve learned a great deal from them. The young ladies have an innate sense of which adult males are malleable and can be channeled into doing what they want. All of them have a rather elastic understanding of age, which is important for someone in his upper seventies to grasp. And they have a clear understanding of what is important.

They know that they need to be loved if they are to thrive.

They are careful with their trust and hug only those whom they want to hug. They know that they need to be cared for and can be vociferous when their needs are not met.

Into the midst of a group of men who are trying to establish a pecking order, the Lord thrusts a child. “If you want to understand who is important, here this child is the one who is important. As in the parable of the sheep and the goats, it is the least, the one overlooked, who is the Lord in disguise. Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of God.

The standards of importance that the world establishes—money, career, power, celebrity status—are not necessarily the real measures.

There is an old song: “What’s it all about, Alfie?” that was recorded by both Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach. The lyrics go something like this:

What’s it all about, Alfie

Is it just for the moment we live

What’s it all about when you sort it out, Alfie

Are we meant to take more than we give

Or are we meant to be kind

And if only fools are kind, Alfie

Then I guess it’s wise to be cruel

And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie

What will you lend on an old golden rule

As sure as I believe there’s a heaven above, Alfie

I know there’s something much more

Something even non-believers can believe in…

So many are asking today “what’s it all about,” “what is really important,” “what direction should my life take?” And what is our answer? What do we as Our Savior Lutheran Church on the corner of Northwest 5^th and University have to offer? Well, we have friendliness. Most people would say this is a friendly congregation. That’s important.

People should feel that they are welcome here.

But is there more?

Maybe we need to listen to my peer group. The Gospel lesson started out with Jesus telling his disciples that it was necessary that he be handed over to men who would kill him, and that in three days he would rise from the dead—Good Friday and Easter were both coming, and Good Friday and Easter were both important. The disciples didn’t have an understanding of the devastating nature of human sinfulness. Their concept of the Messiah didn’t have room for sacrifice. They were looking for a triumphant parade to domination. They anticipated greatness, not a cross. They wanted to share in glory not degradation. They were busily dividing up the booty of anticipated conquest. A snot-nosed kid didn’t have a role in their vision of the future.

My peer group can teach us a lot.

My peer group recognizes the necessity of being loved. That’s important to them. We need the sense of being loved also. We need to understand that the very cross that Jesus was trying to explain to the disciples was the measure of love that God has for us. My peer group understands that being loved gives one a sense of security. Trusting in the love of God gives us the ability to face the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that fall upon us from time to time. My peer group understands that they have so much yet to learn. They are doing pretty good with letters and numbers and shapes, but they haven’t tackled calculus yet. They experience so much wonder. Every day is pretty much a new gift.

My peer group understands the necessity of sharing hugs.

They share hugs with the ones who love them, and they can share hugs with those who are hurt or sad—that’s a sharing of the love that they have received. We need to share hugs with the God who has given his Son for our sake and we need to be aware of those around us who need a hug and a share of the love that God has so wildly bestowed on us.

The disciples were so busy contemplating themselves that they didn’t even see the child hanging around until Jesus thrust him into their midst. The disciples had a lot to learn and maybe the child could lead them into a deeper understanding of what was truly important.

Could they make time and place for this child for the sake of Jesus? And in the dirty face of an overlooked child could they see the face of their Lord? And in the Jesus Christ who was himself in their midst could they gain a better understanding of what God is all about?

Yes, the two year olds, who were the 18 month olds last year, really are my peer group. We started together about the same time, and maybe we operate pretty much on the same level, and I have a lot more to learn from them for Jesus’ sake. Amen.