Significance of a Little Girl

Biblical commentary after commentary on Mark 5:21 - 43, focuses on Jesus’ healing of the woman and on the fact that the little girl’s father, Jairus, was a leader in the synagogue.  Both of these are critical messages for us to comprehend and reflect.  However, while the scholars'  attention goes to the two adults in this pericope, what is the greatest miracle?  Raising a young girl. 

In the biblical cultural context children were seen by Greco Roman culture as lowly yet Jesus takes time away from adults for a dying child. In our culture of soccer schedules, cellphones and text-messaging, children often feel insignificant.  A teacher commented to me, “It breaks my heart when children wait all day to see their mom or dad and the parent arrives and takes the child while chatting to another on the cellphone.”

Keith White challenges our understanding:  White acknowledges the contributions of child developmental theorists in outlining typical patterns and activities as children form.  However, he invites a fundamental mind shift by suggesting development is fueled by a desire to love and be loved which is embodied in security, boundaries, significance, community and creativity (White 2008).[i]

  

My experience with children suggests one of the reasons children fall so easily in love with Jesus is He embraces their significance. “There can be no love, with the giving and receiving of affection, promises, tenderness and sacrifice...unless there is a genuine belief ...that “I” matter or am worth something...” (White 2008:98).  

It reminds us of the legend about the great theologian, Karl Barth:  “Once a young student asked Barth if he could sum up what was most important about his life’s work and theology in just a few words. Barth just thought for a moment and then smiled,’Yes, in the words of a song my mother used to sing me, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’”[ii]

Sophia Cavalletti worked with Maria Montessori and the thread of child significance permeates their work[iii]:

"A little three and a half year old girl asked her father where the world came from. Her father, who is not a believer, gave her a long speech to explain that the world had not been created, and so on. After this explanation he added that some people say that everything was made by a most powerful being, whom they call, “God.” At this point the little girl started running around the room in a burst of joy, saying, “I knew what you said wasn’t true. It’s Him! It’s Him!” The grandmother was present during this. Though an atheist herself, she was the one who related this fact (to Montessori). When her father was speaking, the child felt he was betraying her in some way, but she could not defend herself because she was lacking the words. As soon as her father pronounced the word, she grasped it immediately and said, “It’s Him! It’s Him! I know what you were saying wasn’t true!” This is only one of many experiences that led me to see that there is a great religious potential in little children everywhere. In fact, it is so strong that I was forced to ask myself: Does there exist a mysterious bond uniting the young child with God?” (Cavaletti 1992:10)[iv]

 

“The Good Shepherd” is the concept of Jesus which Cavaletti taught to young children through story using wooden block props which the children can then use for their own play (Cavaletti 2002, 1992).  The Good Shepherd conveys powerfully the image, over and over throughout childhood, that Jesus perceives the significance of each child (Mt. 18:10-14;  Jn. 10:11-18).   When Jesus placed the child in the midst (Mk. 10:13-16) he spoke of the child’s significance in the Kingdom of God. 

I find children both sense their vulnerability and want to contribute to the world.  It begins with them feeling unconditionally significant to a loving Shepherd.  How do we walk alongside children and feel that significance as well?

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Reflections with Children  

Why do you sense Jesus took time out of his demands to go to the dying child?  Do you sense Jesus has time to listen to, to care for you?  What makes you sense that?  How have you learned that?  Is there a time you felt Jesus took His time to be with you?  What did it  feel like?  How did you feel before you were with Jesus and how did you feel after you sensed his help?  How does it help you understand the kind of God Jesus is?

Reflections as Adults, including as Parents

How are we significant to God?  Sometimes we are so hard on ourselves---  Would Jesus take time to have saved us?  Do we perceive ours is a life, a soul, a heart worth saving in an eternal sense?  Why or why not?  Where does that message or belief come from?  Does it need changing?  How can we change? 

Reflections as Teachers and Pastors of Children

How do we convey a child’s significance to each one?  What teaching practice or behaviors help a child feel safely significant to us?  Are there times when we feel too busy and overwhelmed with tasks to speak to the significance of each child?  How can we change that?  How do we teach children about the Good Shepherd with the love of the Good Shepherd in our hearts?

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[i] White, Keith.  2008.  The Growth of Love:  Understanding the Five Essential Elements of Child Development.  Abingdon,     U.K.:  Bible Reading Fellowship. 

[ii] Treven Wax. Kingdom People:   “Top Five Christian Theologians:  Karl Barth.”  The Gospel Coalition. Accessed 6/28/2012. Http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2008/08/22/top-5-christian-theologians-karl-barth/

[iii] See also:   Montessori, Maria. 1967. The Absorbent Mind. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

“The child’s true constructive energy, a dynamic power, has remained unnoticed for thousands of years. Just as men have trodden the earth, and later tilled its surface, without thought for the immense wealth hidden in its depths, so the men of our day make progress after progress in civilized life, without noticing the treasures that lie hidden in the psychic world of infancy (Montessori 1967:5).”

[iv] Cavaletti, Sophia. 1992. The Religious Potential of the Child. Translated by P. M. Coulter and J. M. Coulter. Chicago:   Liturgy Training Publications.

______. 2002. The Religious Potential of the Child 6-12 Years. Translated by R. Rojcewicz. Chicago: Archdiocese of Chicago.  This thread of child significance is also seen in the revered Italian Reggio Emilia early childhood model and is the same theory upon which Jerome Berryman has built the Godly Play model, a developmentally appropriate spiritual formation model incorporated by many churches in the U.S.