If there is one thing that the Bible, or any classic literature really, reveals is that human nature has not changed for at least ten thousand years. We are as a species violence-prone, greedy, ambitious, jealous, selfish, out of control, covetous, judgmental — and those are just the characteristics we can glean from the scripture readings for this Sunday! All of which says that no matter what our sins as human beings they are simply repeats of the original sin of Adam — grasping after that apple. There is something we don’t have — something we imagine we need or want — and we go after it no matter the consequences. Jesus proposes as a counter to this all too human tendency “receiving a child.” At other times Jesus proposes becoming like a child but to counter the grasping nature he saw in his disciples he suggested that receiving a child would be the corrective. Think of how any parent receives a child. When you receive a child into your home, into your family you become automatically a giver. Children do not contribute to your wealth. In fact, they are very costly. Children do not improve your health. They cause you stress, contribute to your anxiety, frequently leave you at wits’ end. Children do you add to your status. You find yourself cheering for a the six year old version of soccer — mob ball — instead of going to the society ball. Nor is this limited even to the time we refer to as childhood — adult children can also drive you crazy. But as parents can testify it’s all worth it. Receiving a child makes one’s life richer, happier, more fulfilled, more blessed, more completely human. When we receive a child we learn the truth of the Biblical saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
There are many ways of being to be receptive of a child as Jesus commands besides having biological children. In fact, since everyone is a child of God whenever we find ourselves in the role of giver instead of grasper we are heeding the word of the Lord. The poor and hungry are children of God — receive them into your heart. Immigrants are children of God — receive them with open arms. Those who look different or talk different or think different are children of God so we need to receive them in our lives. The sick, the handicapped, the oppressed and depressed should be received as well.
One concrete example of having the kind of receptivity Jesus calls for is having a spirit of hospitality and welcome. Our natural reluctance to think of the stranger as strange can be overcome when we see them as children of God and “receive them.” What we will find when we give of ourselves to those who enter into our circle of care is that we are, as Jesus put it in the gospel, receiving Christ himself.
