Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’"
The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,”they were indignant.
"Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’"
Matthew 21:12-16
"I don't eat vegetables."
"I can count to infinity. "
"I like you. "
"Are you a princess?"
"My new mom and dad came to pick me up from the foster home and brought me to my new house- I flew the coop!"
"My daddy lost his job and we might have to move. "
"You are pretty."
"Hey, you're not my doctor. You're a girl."
The best part of my job is getting to listen to kids talk. Four year olds are my favorite. The worst, very bad, no good day can be turned around when a little one says something beautiful and true. Children speak truth. Truth as they see it. Truth as they've been told.
Hidden in the gospel of Matthew is a story about children doing just that- truth speaking. I'm not sure why I never noticed until recently. Maybe because we move through the Bible from important event to important event and skim past the parts we don't think matter too much, like stories that involve children. On Palm Sunday we celebrate the story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem by having our children wave palm branches in church. We all know that story. Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem while the crowds waved branches and cheered. They sang, "Hosannah to the Son of David!" They were proclaiming Jesus as the messiah. He was on his way to Jerusalem. The time had come. God was going to do big things. Maybe they thought Jesus would free them from Roman oppression. Maybe they thought this would be the beginning of a new golden era for God's chosen people. I don't know what they thought Jesus was heading to Jerusalem to do, but I can bet that it wasn't to go to the temple and start throwing tables around, attacking their own way of life. I'm sure they didn't think this new Son of David would go to the temple just to be surrounded by the lame and the blind. Where's the glory in that? How does God's mighty power show up in a man who is telling them they themselves are corrupt (not the Romans) and he wants to hang out with the beggars and broken ones (not the rich and powerful)?
All those people who were waving palm branches and singing praises to Jesus just moments before were now speechless. Their singing stopped. Their questions began.
But here is the rest of the story- The children kept singing. They watched everything Jesus did in the temple and they kept shouting, "Hosannah to the Son of David!" The children didn't stop singing when the messiah they praised in the parade was not the messiah that actually showed up at the temple.
Jesus heard the children proclaiming him to be the messiah and these may have been the sweetest praises he had ever heard, sweeter than the angels own songs. I think his heart was filled with deep, overwhelming joy at the sound of these tiny sons and daughters of God, declaring the truest Truth for all to hear. They were speaking words of Life. They were prophets, echoing what Simeon and Anna had declared in that very spot decades before.
Jesus heard them and he knew that they knew. They knew who he was. For real.
When the Pharisees tried to turn the children's praise into a mockery Jesus said, "No."
In that moment, these little ones were the voice of God. The Spirit had given them a song to sing and the praises of children were called forth from God's own holy dwelling place.
I believe that's really all that God wants from any of us. To sing God's praises no matter what, without expectations, without agenda.
Can we still sing God's praises even when God has disappointed us?
When God has not lived up to our ideas of who God is supposed to be?
When God takes us down a path that looks so very different than the one we imagined?
When God takes a whip to the greed in our lives?
When God heals some but not others?
When the miracles are nowhere to be found?
When they mock him?
When they mock you for believing in him?
When you can see the cross looming in the distance?
And you know that there is no way around it.
No way to skip from Palm Sunday straight to Easter.
In Matthew's gospel this marks the point where Jesus begins to make more enemies than friends and the plans are set in motion for ending his radical ministry here on earth. God came to be with us, but it was not the God we expected and so we said, "No thanks." Shortly afterwards, Jesus would be arrested, beaten, betrayed, and hung up on the cross.
I believe there was a reason that the last songs of praise Jesus heard were sung by children.
Could it be that the Spirit-God knew that God the Son, through his suffering and solitude would need to have those sweet little voices singing a song of the Father's love, echoing in his heart?
Could it be that the Spirit knew Jesus would somehow find comfort in praises from perhaps the only ones among us who are able love without condition?
Could it be that it is still this way?
That in spite of all our best planned worship, our most impressive singing, and most inspired sermons, it ALL falls short of what true worship is meant to be.
Could it be that it is still the children who are the only ones among us who are singing truth, speaking love, and pointing us towards God's own heart?
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