By Katie Nguyen Palomares
I
don't think it's unfair to say that joy is something we're all looking for at any given moment - but especially in 2022, as we’ve all been striving to figure out a "new normal" post-COVID. If 2020 was God taking everything off everyone’s tables, then 2022 was the first year of us as a society attempting to figure out how to sit at a full table of food with other people again. Easier said than done. Amidst all of the chaos associated with simply learning how to be again, my attention has recently been captured by a short, almost side scene, in Matthew’s Gospel.
There’s a little cluster of verses in chapter 19 of Matthew’s Gospel where he depicts “little children” being brought to Jesus and his disciples immediately trying to get rid of them. Why should Jesus waste his time on little kids? He’s got the whole world–and us–to worry about. But Jesus wasn’t cool with that. He rebukes his disciples’ best efforts to fend off the kids by saying, “Leave the little children alone, and don’t try to keep them from coming to me, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (v. 14). The ones who, out of everyone around Jesus at this point, should have ‘known better’ are the ones Jesus basically rebukes with, “Don’t mess with them or make it hard for them to get to me because it’s people like them to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs.” Like the little children, the ones brought to him by their community did at least seem to know enough that these little children needed to be empowered and brought to Jesus, not the ones who keep those who need him away.
Advent has been an interesting season for me to wade into this year: 2022 was chaotic. I found myself working at a small church that started the year in conflict that even though I wasn’t right in the middle of it, I found myself around a lot of it. Yet also in this year, I experienced the distinct joy and excitement of getting engaged and married! In a lot of ways, throughout 2022 I’ve experienced both helpful community and hurtful community and everything in between. Suffice it to say that this year entering into Advent season…I’m tired.
But also within the last year, amidst God’s bride acting less than holy, God has reminded me along the way that my hope and joy truly are found in him. Whether through a shared dinner table one night or a hangout centered around nothing but laughter and kazoos, he has reminded me exactly who he is. Even in the midst of his bride acting up. It’s been in those little moments of me just living my life that bring my mind back to the little children in that short scene in Matthew 19.
The children had the right idea–nor did they go to Jesus on their own: they were brought to him by their community. They were being supported. And it seems to me that after being brought to Jesus only to be shooed away by his closest disciples, they might understand a little of what I’ve gone through in this last year. They experienced support and empowerment by the community to be brought to Jesus as well as the less-than-helpful actions of the disciples attempting to shoo them away. It makes me wonder: What can we learn from those children?
The ones who Jesus’ own people–the ones closest to him and theoretically should have been the best representatives of his mission on earth–rejected. It was those little children, shooed away by his disciples, that Jesus lifted up as an example: be like them. The children who seemingly had some inherent understanding of their need for community to empower and enable them to come into proximity with Jesus as well as some degree of understanding that seeking him is truly enough.
Joy doesn’t look the same in every season. For some this Advent, that may look like taking the time to heal and patch up the wounds we’ve collected this year; for others, it may look like opening their eyes to see communities they’ve ignored and explore what it looks like to engage in community with them; for some, it may just look like getting out of bed in the morning on time for whatever lays ahead in the day. In whatever it may look like this Advent season, I hope you find joy in contentment, knowing the Savior is there with you and for you wherever you are, ready to join you in whatever posture you find yourself.
Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash
Katie is a Mixed Vietnamese/White pastor, writer, and speaker in Austin. She works with Kingdom Capital Network as the Program Manager serving and empowering small business owners to make a kingdom impact in their communities and with AACC as the Marketing/Comms Coordinator and part of the Editorial team. She earned her M.A. in Christian Leadership from DTS and B.A. in English with teacher certification from Texas State. She also consumes books like they’re chips, can often be found bouldering on indoor rocks with her husband, or enjoying a good cup of coffee and conversation!