When it came time for Jesus to showcase his ideal model for faith, he didn’t point to the scholar or the business person. He didn’t gesture toward the athlete or the entertainer. He chose a child. That’s why you need a Rhoda in your life. Rhoda?! Who was that? Rhoda was the first voice heard from a Christian woman in the church in the book of Acts. That woman was a child. Rhoda was the doorkeeper in the house of Mary in Jerusalem, and here’s her story.
The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered. So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him. Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leadersc had planned to do to me!” When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!” “You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.” Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison (Acts 12:6-17, NLT).
Sometimes it takes a child to point out the obvious. When Jesus wanted to show what discipleship was like, he plopped a child in front of his listeners. Why? Is it because children are innocent? Pure? Truthful? Hardly! (Feel free to insert your own story here about any toddler/parent exchange at the candy rack at the grocery check out.) Then why choose a child? Because it was a child and children were of no value in Jesus’ day. They possessed a rank below women and slaves, slightly ahead of beasts. “Little ones,” especially females, were viewed as worthless and insignificant. They were despised, degraded, and neglected. But in the gospel according to Jesus, “Little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong.” The gospel according to Jesus shows that little is large. Children first was Jesus’ model because in the Kingdom of God the last are first.
Tomorrow I’ll begin a listing of five ways that children teach us about connecting with God.
