The Gospel

in the Chd
Hans-Ruedi Weber
When I Am Small Again is the title of a psychological novel written by
Janusz Korczak, a Polish pediatrician and educator. The story begins with
the recollection of the day-dreams the author had when he was still a boy.
He wanted to be big, an adult, not going to school any more but performing
heroic acts for his mother and before his people. Yet when Korczak had
entered the adult world and become an educator, he sometimes wished he
could be small again, join the boys and girls in their play and run and laugh
like a child. Then, during one of these wishful day-dreams, a dwarf magician
entered his room and fulfilled his wish. He became small again and experienced
all the joys and fears of a schoolboy. The complicated and confused relationships with his parents, his teachers, his brutal and gentle classmates and the
whole world which surrounds a child are minutely described. Thus we read
of the many events in a normal school day, the excitement when a house in
the neighbourhood burns down, the joys and worries when the boy rescues a
wounded stray dog and finally his tenderly confused feelings when, for the
first time, he falls in love, with a niece who came to visit the family. During
this extraordinary experience of being small again the author never forgets
that once he was an adult. The most revealing paragraphs are therefore those
which begin: "When I was still an adult, I thought that children..." Here all
the misconceptions, prejudices and, above all, the gross insensitivity adults
display in their relationship with children are analysed.
This novel was written in 1925 and was later published in German.1 The
author has long since become a victim of the Nazi persecution of Jews. In
August 1942 he went with his beloved Jewish orphans into the concentration
camp at Treblinka and died with them there. Nevertheless, his book could
well have been written for 1979, the International Year of the Child.
"Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom
of heaven" (Matt. 18 : 3). Korczak's novel and his whole life and death with
children are like an existential interpretation of this word of Jesus. We must
not become childish, yet unless we become childlike we will have no access to
God's kingdom. Both with regard to the International Year of the Child and
the theme of the coming World Mission Conference in Melbourne 1980
Dr WEBER is Executive Secretary of the Portfolio for Biblical Studies, World Council of
Churches,
Geneva.
1
Wenn ich wieder klein bin, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Gttingen, 1973 and Union Verlag,
Berlin, 1978.

227

THE ECUMENICAL REVIEW

("Thy Kingdom Come") it is therefore important that we reflect on the gospel

of Jesus Christ which comes to us in the children we meet.
Jesus' way with children
The world in which Jesus lived had a highly ambiguous attitude towards
children. Among Greeks and Romans children were disposable entities. The
Greek historian Plutarch describes what happened in ancient Sparta when a
child was born: "Offspring was not reared at the will of the father, but was
taken and carried by him to a place called Lesche, where the elders of the tribes
officially examined the infant; if it was well-built and sturdy, they ordered the
father to rear it, and assigned it one of the nine thousand lots of land; but if
it was ill-born and deformed, they sent it to the so-called Apothetae, a chasmlike place at the foot of Mount Taygetus, in the conviction that the life of that
which nature had not well equipped at the very beginning for health and strength
was of no advantage either to itself or the state" (Lycurgus 16.Iff).
The Spartan procedure with children highlights what was quite common
in the ancient world. The widespread practice of child exposure threatened
the survival of whole families and cities. As in all human societies so also
among Greeks and Romans touching examples of parental love for children
can be found. On the whole, however, the special personality of boys and
girls was not recognized. Children had no rights; and girls and the offspring
of slaves particularly were held in low esteem. Boys had worth only as future
soldiers, citizens and fathers of families. Nevertheless, during the centuries
immediately before and after Christ, something like a "rediscovery of the
child" occurred. Artists and poets began to idealize childhood, and Roman
matrons bought beautiful children on the slave market in order to play with
them. Moreover, children fulfilled an important religious function: because
they were considered to be sexually innocent, they could serve as media between
the gods and the adults. There was even a messianic expectation that soon a
divine child would come and inaugurate the golden age (cf. the fourth ecologue
of the Roman poet Virgil, written in 40 B.C.).
Among the Jews children were received as a great blessing from God and
no child exposure was practised. "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, the
fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons
of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them!" (Ps. 127 :
3-5). Yet here again children were in the first place seen as future Israelites.
Those who could not yet recite the Shema, the basic affirmation of the Jewish
faith, and those who had not yet memorized the precepts of the Torah, the
will of the living God, could not fully participate in the worship and life of
the covenant people.
Jesus' way with children was in sharp contrast to what was current in his
own world. So astonishing were his words and gestures that even his disciples
could not comprehend them. One wonders whether the Apostle Paul and the
Christian Church since have ever fully grasped the meaning of what Jesus
said and did when He sought the fellowship of children.

228

Did not idealize children

Before turning to the episodes which report these sayings and meaningful
gestures of Jesus, one thing must be strongly emphasized: Jesus did not roman-

THE GOSPEL IN THE CHILD

tically idealize children. He saw them realistically as they are: not as innocent
beings, always sweet and obedient, nor as especially divine. It is significant
that in the whole New Testament actual children (paidia) are never called
"children of God" Qiyoi theou). Just as in Korczak's novel so also in the
gospels we meet children as they are, trusting and quarrelling, both enjoying
and spoiling the game. A children's game which led to a deadlock actually
served as one of Jesus' parables. Some wanted to play marriage feast, but the
others did not dance; some played a burial ceremony, but the others did not
wail (Matt. 11:16-19 and Luke 7: 31-35). In this parable the children are seen
as metaphors for "this generation". They act as stubbornly and foolishly as
the people who recognized neither the mission of John the Baptist nor that of
Jesus. Thefirstmessage communicated to us through the children is therefore
the following: Children show us who we9 the adults, really are. Sometimes
children spoil the game. So do we in the games we play. We are often blind
to what really matters in the history of this world and the world to come. In
children we see ourselves as in a mirror and we can discover how much forgiveness we need. They show us how much patience God must have with us
and how much love He must waste on us until we respond.
Also, the two occasions when Jesus sought the fellowship of children are
recorded in the first place for the teaching of adult members of the Church.
A complicated history of oral and perhaps already written tradition and interpretation lies behind these texts.2
Even a quick examination of the parallel accounts in Matt. 18 :1-5/Mark
9 : 33-37/Luke 9 : 46-48 and in Matt. 19 :13-15/Mark 10 : 13-16/Luke 18 :
15-17 shows that the first three evangelists transmitted these episodes with
different wordings and within different contexts. For instance, there is a
tendency to shift the emphasis from actual children to children as metaphors
for the Church (cf. Matt. 18 : 1-17 with the gradual shift from "this child" to
"children" to "one of these little ones" to "your brother" in the Church).
It is also doubtful whether Jesus' saying in Mark 10 : 15 was originally linked
with the episode in which people brought children to Jesus. In the oral tradition
this was probably an unattached saying of Jesus, because different versions of
presumably the same affirmation appear in other contexts, both within two
canonical gospels (Matt. 18:3 and John 3:3,5) and the second century apocryphal gospel of Thomas.
Clearly the passages on Jesus and the children are not simply "factual"
television reports of what Jesus actually said and did. They also contain the
churches' various interpretations of Jesus' words and gestures. We can
confidently assume, however, that these varying accounts contain good
historic memory. When the disciples wondered who was the greatest among
them, Jesus did in fact take a child and put it in the midst of his ambitious
disciples, thereby teaching them a central lesson concerning discipleship and
the kingdom. Children were, in fact, brought to Jesus and he did get angry
with his disciples when they wanted to prevent these children from coming
near him. Whatever the original form of these sayings and meaningful gestures
2

Cf. my Jesus and the Children: Biblical Resources for Study and Preaching. Geneva: WCC,
1979, and the literature indicated there.

THE ECUMENICAL REVIEW

of Jesus may have been, they contain the gospel in a nutshell. It is therefore
important to ask not only what is the role of children in the gospels, but what
is the gospel which we meet with in children.
The reversal of pedagogy
The Latin term for education is erudire. This means that what is raw
(rudis) must be given form and be shaped to become truly human. In the
Graeco-Roman world education was indeed the art of making out of the raw
material of children fit soldiers, responsible citizens, respectable fathers or
whatever other educational ideal predominated. The Hebrew key term for
education is jasar which means to flog, to discipline, to instruct. Both in the
Graeco-Roman and the Jewish society children were thus considered as
objects of education, and mature adulthood was the aim. Jesus, however,
put a child in the midst of his disciples who aspired to be great. He reversed
pedagogy, and the child became his teaching model for the quarrelling adults.
This reversal of pedagogy in no way denies the human aspiration for excellence and growth. It is no call to become childish, "tossed to and fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their
craftiness in deceitful wiles" (Eph. 4 : 14; note that the Greek term which in
this verse is often translated by "child" differs from the one used in the earlier
mentioned passages about Jesus and the children; not paidion but nepios is
used which should in this context be translated by "childish"). Jesus does not
call us to that so-called "Christian" humility which often leads to mediocrity.
He rather redefines what excellence means and what is the true purpose of
growth: "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all"
(Mark 9 : 35; cf. Luke 9 : 48). "Whoever humbles himself like this child, he
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18 : 4). But what does "like
this child" mean?
From the Church fathers onwards preachers and theologians have struggled
with this question. One is mystified and amused by the explanations given,
especially if one is a parent of a large family. They add up to a long and often
contradictory list of qualities assigned to children. Yet these qualities simply
do not fit the boys and girls with whom one lives today! Children are not
innocent, nor are they always subjectively humble, trusting, joyous, peaceful,
and so on. Those who stiU think so would do well to spend a rainy week
together with children in a small house or to read the novel by Korczak. When
he had become small again he found life as a child so frightening, so vulnerable
and unbearable that finally he asked the dwarf magician to retransform him
back into an adult. He simply could stand it no longer to be so sensitive
to people and things around him, to experience life as acutely as a child does.
Childlikeness and grace
To be "like a child" means undoubtedly that terrible vulnerability, that
objective humility and dependence which Korczak describes. In the New
Testament "humility" does not in the first place refer to a state of mind, but
to a state of life. It is the situation of those who have been brought low, who
have empty hands and therefore have nothing more to give except themselves.
Of Christ it is said that He "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant...

THE GOSPEL IN THE CHILD

He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on the cross"
(Phil. 2 : 7f). It is people in such a state of life who, like children, Uve totally
in the here and now and at the same time are open to the future, expecting the
impossible can become possible. They dare to challenge the hard facts of this
world by the reality of the coming kingdom.
If the above attempt to understand what it means to be "like a child" is
right, the gospel passages about Jesus and the children give us the narrative
version of Paul's doctrine about justification by grace alone. The children do
not merit the kingdom. They can receive it only with empty, begging hands.
Likewise we adults will never enter God's kingdom unless we learn to receive
it like children do, by grace alone. Among the Jewish rabbis there was a
belief that only those who faithfully pray the Shema, the basic Jewish affirmation of faith, can receive the kingdom of heaven. If this rabbinical belief
goes back to the time of Jesus it might well be that with his sayings and gestures
in regard to children Jesus has challenged the rabbinical concept of how God's
kingdom is to be received. No human possibility exists to enter that kingdom
by good works, merit or even prayer. Yet what is impossible for human beings
becomes possible with God (Mark 10 : 23-27).
In the final analysis the passages about Jesus and the children tell us less
about who the children are and more about who the biblical God is: He is the
one who gives freely to those who are ready to receive. To enter his kingdom
one does not have to carry a heavy yoke or wage a lifelong struggle to achieve
an even better righteousness than that of the scribes and Pharisees. Such
perfect obedience is impossible. Yet the metaphor of the child's receiving
shows that this human impossibility is shattered by God's grace. What was
abstractly taught by the apostle Paul is impressed on our eyes and ears through
the prophetic words and acts of Jesus as He embraced the children and promised
them God's kingdom now.
In this respect, children have a great affinity to other categories of people
mentioned in the gospels: "the little ones" and the "poor (in the spirit)". Only
to children, to these poor and to those who are persecuted for righteousness'
sake has Jesus promised the kingdom of God in the present tense: "Theirs is
the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19 :14; Mark 10 :14; Luke 18 :16; Matt. 5 : 3,
10; Luke 6 : 20).
Christ's presence in children
Christians all over the world affirm that Christ is specially present among
us in his words and sacraments. Many add that He is also present whenever
two or three gather in his name, that is, in the worshipping, witnessing and
serving Christian community.
Are there still other ways in which Christ is present among us? Many
think so. Especially in various types of modern liberation theologies Christ's
presence among the suffering, exploited and struggling poor on this earth is
emphasized. There is no doubt that in the context of their situation and struggle
the poor read the Bible with new eyes. They discern old and new ways in
which the biblical God acts in history, and they have much to teach Christians
who ignore the socio-political dimensions of Christian faith. Yet what are
the exegetical bases for affirming that Christ is specially present among the

THE ECUMENICAL REVIEW

232

struggling poor? The "poor of Yahweh" (the anawim), which from the prophecies of Zephaniah onwards played an important role in Old Testament
spirituality, are often interpreted as embracing the poor in general. These
anawim are indeed prominent in the proclamation of Jesus, yet it is to his
disciples that Jesus said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of
God" (Luke 6 : 20).
Another key text invariably quoted in this connection is the parable about
the last judgment in Matt. 25 : 31-46: "I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison
and you came to me." "I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these
my brethren, you did it to me" (vs. 35f, 40, 45). This indeed states a special
presence of Christ among the poor, but the exegetes are far from unanimous
about who are actually meant by "the least of these my brethren". It may
well be that Jesus originally referred to the poor in general. In Matthew's
account of the parable and that is the only one in the New Testament
it is more likely that "the least of these my brethren" refers to persecuted
Christians. According to the same gospel of Matthew, Jesus made a similar
affirmation with regard to "the little ones", and there it is quite clear that
He referred to his followers: "Whoever gives to one of these little ones even
a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose
his reward" (Matt. 10 : 42; cf. also Matt. 18 : 6-14 where the term "the little
ones" occurs no less than three times in connection with members of the
Christian Church, which is also called "the little flock" in Luke 12 : 32).
The exegetical basis for stating that Christ is specially present among the
poor in general remains shaky. This is not the case, however, for affirming
another special presence of Christ among us, namely, his mysterious presence
in the children: "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and
whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me" (Mark 9:37;
cf. Luke 9:48 and Matt. 18:5). While the presence of Christ among the
poor, exegetically not clearly affirmed, received much attention from modern
theologians, his much more clearly stated presence among the children has
until now been ignored or neglected by most of them.
It is true that for the evangelists the term "children" had already received
the meaning of a metaphor, standing for all the little ones, be they children,
persecuted Christians, or even generally all those who do not count. When
Jesus made the above-mentioned affirmation, however, he certainly referred
to actual children. Christ, even God who sent him, is thus mysteriously present
in ordinary children playing or crying, tender or cruel, nicely washed or
dirty.
How can this be explained? It remains a mystery, yet Jesus' words and
meaningful gestures correspond very well with that particular God who revealed
himself in the history of the people of Israel and in Jesus Christ. It is the God
whose heart goes out to those in greatest need. The prophet Ezekiel described
God's election of the people of Israel as the love story in which a passer-by
took a cast-out girl to his home, cared for her and made a marriage covenant
with her (Ezek. 16 : 3-14). The only biblical answer we receive concerning the
mystery of election is the one given to the people of Israel in the book of

THE GOSPEL IN THE CHILD

Deuteronomy: "It was not because you were more in number than any other
people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the
fewest of all peoples; but it is because the Lord loves you" (Deut. 7 : 7-8).
If we want to learn this gospel of God's mysterious love we must look with
new eyes at the children in the midst of us. Like Janusz Korczak we must
become "small again". Then in a new way we will discern Christ's presence
among us, and with him God's kingdom.

^ s
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