It’s not often we hear children telling their parents to grow up or to remember where they are when they’re in a solemn place like church. But here in today’s Gospel text Jesus uses children to teach us adults to grow up in the faith by becoming more child-like in our attitude towards Him. He says, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” So, what does He mean? How do we receive the kingdom of God like a child? How do children receive God’s kingdom?
Jesus doesn’t leave us to guess. In this text He gives us two examples. The one is that of how infants receive God’s kingdom. While many would say either that babies aren’t capable of receiving God’s kingdom or that they don’t need God’s kingdom or (worse yet) that they are somehow a hindrance to God’s kingdom (which is the way the disciples were treating them), Jesus says “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” With these words Jesus refutes each of these arguments. First, babies are capable of receiving God’s kingdom, because Jesus gives it to them here. Second, even infants need Jesus and His gifts, because otherwise Jesus would have nothing to give them; they could very well stay away from Him. And third, far from being hindrances to Jesus and His kingdom, they are in fact the only ones who receive it rightly and are therefore examples to everyone else as to how God’s kingdom should be received.
The kingdom of God grows as more people receive it as little children. Jesus does not say here that the kingdom of God belongs to children, as if they were already members of it by virtue of their age or because they were somehow sinless. Jesus says that the kingdom of God belongs to such as children. That is, God’s kingdom is given to all - adults and children alike - who receive it the way a child receives.
So, how does a child receive things? Adults (for the most part) get things by working for them; children, on the other hand, (and here especially infants) receive things only by being given to. An infant is given birth. He is then brought to his mother’s breast by the mother herself, so that he might be given the milk he needs to live and grow. An infant doesn’t change himself, bath himself, or clothe himself; the parents do all these things for the child. Babies don’t do anything for themselves; they’re done to. The parents give and the child receives. In the same way, parents were bringing their infants to Jesus, so that He might feed them on Himself, give them His gifts, and bless them with His touch. To receive His kingdom like a child, then, is simply to be given to by Jesus. We don’t work to get His gifts; He does the work Himself. He lived a life of perfect obedience to His Father for you. He gave His life as the perfect sacrifice for your sins on the cross. He rose again bodily from the dead for your salvation. He ascended into heaven at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, where He now intercedes for you. All of these things He did apart from you and without your help.
Now He gives you the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation which He Himself achieved for you. He gave it to you in your Baptism. Most of you received that while you were still infants. Did you make a choice as to whether to receive that gift or not? No, it was simply given to you. And even if you were baptized as an adult, it still wasn’t something you decided to do for yourself. Though you may have walked yourself up to the baptismal font, it was the Lord who brought you there by bringing you to faith in Him through His Word, and it was He who baptized you, not you yourself. As you grew older, Jesus continued to give you His gifts, as He taught you His Word, proclaimed His forgiveness to you, and gave you His peace. And once you were instructed about His Holy Supper He began to feed you on His body and blood, as He does to this day. Whereas adults want to take credit for the doing of all these things (even the believing of faith), children of God simply acknowledge that they are unworthy sinners simply on the receiving end of a gracious gift-giving Savior. Those who receive the gifts of God’s kingdom in this way truly enter into it. Those who try to act like adults and want to earn Christ’s gifts with their own works don’t enter into God’s kingdom at all.
The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is an illustration of this. It is the second example as to how one rightly receives God’s kingdom. First, Jesus shows us the wrong way by pointing us to the Pharisee. The Pharisee tries to receive the kingdom like an adult. Instead of coming to the temple with the attitude of a child, who’s nothing but given to by the Lord, the Pharisee doesn’t even ask the Lord for anything. His prayer betrays that he thinks that he has everything he needs based upon all the good works that he has done. He “thanks” God that he’s not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like the tax-collector, but he fasts twice a week and he gives tithes of everything he gets. The Pharisee focuses on what he has done for God instead of what God has done for him. The presumption of this so-called prayer is magnified by the fact that he stands alone by himself, away from everyone else, so as not be a associated with them, yet he prays loudly enough so that everyone can hear him. Such a man does not receive the kingdom of God. Instead, he has his reward - the recognition of others. He may be seen as righteous in the eyes of men, but he’s poor in the eyes of God.
The tax-collector, on the other hand, does not come into God’s presence with a haughty or arrogant attitude. Instead, he humbles himself, confessing that he is a poor, unworthy sinner before God, who has nothing to give God but his sin. He doesn’t boast in his works. He doesn’t talk about any good things he’s done. And he doesn’t try to make comparisons. He doesn’t maintain that he is any better of a sinner than anyone else. Unlike the Pharisee who displays himself before others, holds himself aloof from them, and prays loud enough for everyone to hear him, this tax-collector stands far off, in order that people might not see him, and most likely whispers his words to the Lord, so that no one might hear him. He’s so ashamed of his sin, that he doesn’t even life up his eyes to heaven, but instead beats his breast and says, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner [not a sinner, as our translation reads].” This man (like the Apostle Paul) confesses himself to be the chief and worst of sinners. He recognizes that he has no right to demand anything of the righteous and holy God, but simply pleads that God have mercy on him, atone for his sins, and grant him forgiveness.
And that’s exactly what Jesus does for this sinner and all sinners who come to Him as children, humbling themselves before Him and awaiting His mercy. The Pharisee and the tax-collector were in the temple, the place where God was present among His people, granting them His mercy and the forgiveness of their sins on the basis of the sacrifices that were being offered there. Those sacrifices were but a picture of the more perfect sacrifice to come, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The Apostle John writes that Jesus is the “propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” The word “propitiation” means “atoning sacrifice.” It’s the word which the tax-collector uses when he prays, “God, be merciful to me...” When we pray that God be merciful towards us, we are praying that for the sake of Christ’s blood shed on the cross, God forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And that is what He does through Baptism, through Holy Absolution, and through the Lord’s Supper. He delivers His mercy to you by applying to you Christ’s atoning sacrifice through these means. And here Jesus does that as He gives His Absolution to the tax-collector and proclaims him justified. To be justified is to be declared righteous by God. And if you are declared righteous by God, you are a citizen of His kingdom and a recipient of all the gifts of that kingdom, including God Himself, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. So, when Jesus says that this man went down to his house justified, Jesus shows us that this man received just what he asked for.
The same goes for all who come to Jesus as this man did - like a humble child, a poor sinner simply on the receiving end of God’s mercy. Jesus says, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The one who exalts himself will find no entrance into the kingdom of God. Conversely, those who humble themselves (no matter how big of a sinner they are) will enter into God’s kingdom. Those who receive God’s kingdom as little children are those who enter into it. They don’t make any claims about themselves other than that they are sinners. They don’t compare themselves with others, but confess themselves to be the chief of sinners. And they don’t boast either in themselves, their faith, or their good works but in the works of Christ alone. The simply confess themselves to be the chief of sinners and receive God’s mercy from the chief of Saviors.
Perhaps you can see from this that you and I have often times acted more like the Pharisee than the tax-collector. We have often behaved more like adults than children. We are guilty of having exalted ourselves, rather than humbling ourselves. We are guilty of having boasted in ourselves and our works, rather than confessing ourselves sinners before God in need of His mercy. But today Jesus calls us back to repentance. He calls us back to our spiritual childhood, and the day when we were simply given to by Him at our Baptism. He wants us to receive His kingdom and its gifts today in child-like faith, receiving from His crucified hands the gifts of grace, mercy, and peace which He delivers abundantly through His Word and His Sacraments. Receive His gracious touch again today as He puts the body He gave into death and the blood He shed on the cross into your mouths and feeds you, His dear children, on the food of immortality. Confess yourself the sinner, plead His mercy, and hear Him say to you, “Go! You are justified!” Amen.