MAY252024

Some historians and anthropologists speak of the “invention of childhood.” The argument goes that children were just viewed as mini-adults until their exploitation and abuse during the industrial age caused modern society to recognize childhood as a distinct period in human development. Whatever the merits of that theory it certainly did not apply to Jesus. Jesus saw children as worthy of attention and emulation.  Jesus again and again turned to children to teach us something essential about the kingdom of God. We must “accept the Kingdom of God like a child,” we must become like children, we must receive a child as a way of receiving Christ, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. As was so often the case, Jesus looked into the ordinary stuff of life — in this case childhood — and found revelation.