Child

Week 17 Child
Matthew 2:1-12
Epiphany
 
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%202%3A1-12&version=NRSVUE
  
This coming Sunday is Epiphany Sunday, the day that we celebrate the magi following the star to find the child. Scholars say Jesus was probably around two years old when this took place. He was not the newborn baby like is portrayed in all the Christmas plays, cards, and decorations. They were searching for a child. Yes, the child “who has been born king of the Jews,” but their leading question was “Where is the child?” (v.2).
 
The word “child” was used four times in this passage, and “Messiah or Christ” was only used once when Herod inquired where the Messiah was to be born. After that, even Herod referred to Jesus as a child when he told the magi to “go and search carefully for the child” (v.8). King Herod was threatened by this new King of the Jews, as he did not want to lose his power to another king. Ironically, Herod is threatened by a child.
 
Herod would do anything to remove this threat. He schemed and plotted to learn of the whereabouts of the child. When the magi outsmarted him, Herod was so angry he murdered all the children two years old and younger. The power this child held caused grown men to spiral and turn to violence when the threat still loomed.
 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer also understood the power this child held. He wrote in God is in the Manger, “A child has our life in his hands.”[1] The magi traveled a long distance searching for such a child, who has our lives in his hands. Yet, we don’t often think about Jesus as a child who has the power to upturn kingdoms and our lives. We don’t often think children are that powerful. We think children could grow into powerful people, but we don’t view children themselves as powerful, especially powerful enough to hold our lives in their hands.
 
Children are powerful though. They are just as powerful as adults in their own right, and we could learn from children if we listened to them. I’ve learned some wonderful lessons from my own children who have shown me a different perspective from my own. One of my favorite pieces of preschool artwork from one of my son’s is a stick figure of me smelling flowers. One thing he noticed about me on our walks together was that I would always stop to smell the roses when I walked by them. When he gave it to me, it was a great reminder for me to always make time to stop and smell the roses, literally and figuratively. I’m sure he meant this as a literal representation of what he observed about me, but it holds so much more power than that. I still have it framed and hanging in my office fifteen years later as a reminder to always make time to enjoy the things that bring me joy.  
 
Children are powerful, and the Jesus child already holds the power in his tiny hands. As a newborn and as a toddler, he held the power to overturn death, kingdoms, and our lives. He had the power to make grown men fall to their knees in worship and awe. Jesus as a weak, vulnerable child, one who was not considered valuable or important in their society, was [and is] exactly the king we need. The magi understood that and trusted that this child they were searching for was powerful enough to be their king.
 
God became a child. Jesus was not another adult king who would strategize against or compete with the current ruler. He was a child who came to save the weak, the vulnerable, all the ones who are oppressed by the rulers of their society. To truly be saved by our situations and the people who oppress us, and to truly acknowledge that a child holds our lives in his hands, we too must become weak, vulnerable, and child-like. We too must hold the power of Christ’s love in our tiny hands, and offer it to a huge world in need. This is how we will become more like Christ and carry on Christ’s work. It is not by being a tyrant wielding power. We too must become a child to overcome the threats of the world.
 
Reflection Questions:
How do you view children? Do you see them as powerful?
Has a child ever taught you an important lesson?
How can you become weak, vulnerable, and childlike to become more like Jesus? Do you see this as necessary to carry on Christ’s work? Explore this concept in a journal or your own reflection.
 
Pray:
Show us, Jesus, where we need to be more childlike and less tyrant-like.
 
Action:
Show a child how much you appreciate them this week.
 
 
*New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. 
[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger, Westminster, 2010, 56.