Jesus and Children: Inspiring Faith, Hope, and Joy like the Little Ones

I may not be able to fix stuff real good. I’ve tried and tried. I also may not be the most successful radio person in history. That’s a pretty safe bet, now that I think about it.

I also may not win a Pulitzer or Nobel for my book-writing. That’s a safe bet, too. But in the end, if and when people remember me, they may say, “You know what? That Brant guy sure played with a lot of kids.”

Now THAT I have done it, and I’ve done it everywhere. I’ve played with kids in Kenya and Indonesia and Haiti and Afghanistan and El Salvador. And then there’s Senegal, where they schooled me in soccer, and India, where they were amused at my attempt to play cricket.

I’ve gotten to dance with kids in Niger and twirl kids in Thailand. I’ve gotten to play, and play with abandon, in Rwanda and Mexico and Uganda and Peru and Zambia. Ethiopia, too. Lots of playing with kids and balloons there.

I could go on, but you get the point. I’m so thankful for the memories of giggling kids. But one thing was pretty consistent: In all these places, I noticed grown men don’t play with kids. It’s just not something they typically do in traditional cultures. It’s weird to them.

Jesus Said Let the Children Come to Me

All this to say: I’m sure Jesus’ culture was that way. So I love imagining him playing with kids, and playing all-out, laughing and twirling the kids and enjoying them. His disciples would be scandalized. But he just keeps doing it.

They may have been embarrassed. They wanted to take the kids away. No self-respecting, full-grown man, a rabbi no less, would be so undignified.

Jesus said if you’ve seen him, you’ve seen the Father.

Imagine that. This is God? This is not normal. Zeus does not play with little kids. Thor does not play with little kids. Allah does not play with little kids.

The God of the Bible? He’s all in. He defends the little ones. He even tells us, in Matthew 18:2-5, that if we want to enter His kingdom, we need to be like them.

And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:2-5

I can love a God like that.

Brant Hansen
Morning Show Host, STAR 99.1