mind numbing

I've been a professing Christian since I was eight years old. I knew very little about Jesus at that time, I had very little doctrinal training, I hadn't even read very much of the Bible.

But in a few moments that changed my life, my dad explained to me that I needed Jesus. He also explained to me what Jesus had done so that I could have what I desperately needed.

In many ways, my little eight-year-old mind grasped it.

In other ways, it very much didn't. But on that day in 1988, my life started. My journey with Christ began.

Now, at 31, I sometimes scoff at the "decisions" of small children to come to Christ.

They don't get it, I think to myself. Sometimes I say it out loud.

My lack of grasp is mind-numbing. I find myself in the shoes of the disciples in Mark 10, who were trying to prevent the children from getting to Jesus. Apparently, they thought Jesus had better things to do.

Maybe they thought he should be teaching systematic theology or attending a finance meeting.

Jesus, however, thought otherwise. He became "indignant" with his disciples (those who were supposed to know him best, mind you) and said to them, "Let the children come! ...the Kingdom belongs to such as these."

What?

The kingdom?

THE kingdom.

To children.

And "such as these."

Skip to Matthew 18. My 31-year-old self is told that my 8-year-old self who longed for company with Jesus might have had it more right.

Then Jesus drops one of those ultra-heavy nuggets that probably screeched all goings-on to a complete standstill.

Get this. Matthew records Jesus as saying "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Whoa.

Millstones are heavy.

Jesus was heavy.

Don't mess with children. They get it. You don't. Be like them.

In today's day and age, I think about the news and scandals that are all over, most currently in the world of sports.

I think about child molesters and sex offenders - predators of helpless children.

I wonder what Jesus would say to them.

I really do.

I know what I'd say. I know what most of you would say.
And do.

We'd happily help tie the millstone.

Would Jesus?

Keep in mind, Jesus wasn't calling for the death penalty here. He said death would be better for those that caused little ones to stumble.

Better than what?

The guilt? The divine judgement on the other side?

Yes, I know Jesus was not talking about sex offenders here, but he did feel very strongly about the spiritual safety of these children.

I wonder if he felt as strongly about their physical welfare. I can only imagine he did. Most people, whether they believe in Jesus or not, seem to agree.

You don't do that. It's not OK.

It's sick.

It's evil.

And in our minds, it deserves punishment.

Maybe in God's mind, too.

And we can make a thousand well-constructed arguments to support that assumption. And so we all start picking up our stones.

And warming up our pitching arm.

Ready or not...

But wait...

Remember that lady in John that all the religious guys threw in the dirt in front of Jesus and started calling for death because of her sin?

Remember what Jesus said to them?

He didn't argue with them that she deserved death according to the law. He just didn't.

In fact, he seemed to agree.

His response was simply, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

He didn't say, "...the one who has never committed this particular sin."

He said he who is without sin.

Oh.

Maybe I should set my rock back down and think just a minute.

Turns out, I don't qualify. Romans 3:23 indicts me, as does a cursory review of life.

But... I've never done that.

I mean, that's sick.

Guess what?

Jesus came for the sick.

I was sick once. You were, too. Maybe we still are.

Jesus came for us, not because we were healthy, but so that we could be.

The legal system will punish Jerry Sandusky if he is found guilty. Dodd, too. Fine. I'm not here to argue penal codes and the American justice system.

In fact, those that commit these acts should be punished legally and will one day have to answer to God Almighty. Who they won't have to answer to: you and me.

I am not turning a blind eye to lives ravaged by abuse. We, Christians, must reach out to them, too. And take them in and be the channels of healing and love and recovery. They are precious children and, left alone, may be lives essentially ruined.

What I am talking about is how we as Christians portray the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Child molestation is not ok. It IS sick. It IS evil. But Christ is bigger than sin and sickness and evil.

His death on the cross and his resurrection ended that battle forever.

How do we partake?

We know that we were wretched sinners and that we needed Christ's sacrifice to bear the brunt of God's wrath. The millstone around the neck. We give ourselves in total humility knowing we could never, ever, ever make atonement for our own sins.

When I treat a child as if their conversion doesn't count but mine does because I'm somehow more educated than them, I lose the heart of the gospel.

When I treat Jerry Sandusky (or anybody else) as though I need Christ ONE IOTA less than he does, I lose the heart of the gospel.

But when any of us, in childlike faith and dependence, fall at the feet of Jesus and give ourselves totally to Him as a response to his sweet offer of otherwise-totally-unavailable redemption, I am nearer a complete understanding than that of a thousand scholars.

Mind numbing.