0121 CHILDREN LEAD THE WAY

CHILDREN LEAD THE WAY

Matthew 21 opens with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, to the cheers and praises of the masses. “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” The word “hosanna” means “O Save!” But by the time of Jesus, it was more of a generic word for “praise.” Even so, the choice of words is very significant, for Jesus had indeed come to save.

The whole city was stirred, Matthew says, and they were saying “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from nazareth of Galilee.” So Jesus was known to strangers as a prophet, who shockingly was from the little village of Nazareth in the Gentile area of Galilee.

Then Jesus enters the temple and clears the out the moneychangers, saying they have made the house of prayer into a den of robbers. Interesting that Jesus had mercy on tax collectors, but not on moneychangers. Do you suppose the reason is because the tax collectors knew they were compromising their fellow Israelites. But the moneychangers were doing the same thing in the name of God, forcing worshipers to cut them in on what was to have been dedicated to the Lord. Jesus is indignant, we might assume.

Then we revisit praise and indignation. Jesus is there in the temple, healing the blind and the lame, and the children are crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” And this time it is the chief priests and the scribes who are indignant. That’s because they saw the signs and wonders, and they heard the children praising, and since they assumed that Jesus was just a man, it sure looked like blasphemy to them. Sure enough, it would have been blasphemous, even if Jesus had been a prophet. Except that Jesus was divine.

Children have picked up on the refrain they heard earlier in the day. It must have been some sort of a sing-song chant, like what happens today at sporting events and political rallies. It becomes “sticky,” and now the children repeat what they heard the adults singing. 

That’s how it works, you know. Children imitate what they hear. When they see their parents and other grown-ups being wholly involved in something, it becomes infectious in some simplified form with the youngest ones. These children are not theologically discerning, questioning to themselves what the implications are if they connect the words “hosanna” and “son of David” in a song. Sure enough, they repeat what they saw and heard. And it pleases God for things to work this way. It’s how it’s supposed to be.

The indignant religious leaders say to Jesus, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Of course, what they are saying is that Jesus is worthy of praise, and is the rightful king of Israel. Jesus says it is in fulfillment of the psalmist, who wrote, “Out of the mouths of infants and children you have ordained strength (Jesus uses the word “praise”), to silence the foe and the avenger.”

God has ordained that when innocent children, who do not yet fully grasp the implications of what they say, copy adults and parrot back the words of praise, simply believing what they are saying, without years of doubt and analysis and skeptical scrutiny, then God uses that praise. He uses it to grow the children to become the next generation of warriors and worshipers. He uses it to silence the foe and the avenger.

Silencing the foe and the avenger by means of children’s praise. That’s the moment that I want to understand fully.

Maybe it’s like the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes. All of the adults saw the same thing that the child saw, but they were all too wrapped up with adult doubts and hesitations. A child simply said what they saw: “He has nothing on at all!” And, sure enough, it was true, and everyone else had seen it, too. But it took a little child to lead them,

I also think of the moment in 2 Chronicles where God sends the singers at the front of the army as they march into battle. And as the singers lift up their praises in loud voices, it says the Lord set an ambush against the enemy. Sure enough, praise silenced the foe and the avenger, once again.

Leave it to a child to lead in things of the kingdom. Hosanna to the son of David!