If you watch his fights in the 1960s, you can hear people booing him. Many came to his fights wanting to see him get a beating. His close friendship with Malcolm X, his decision to become a Moslem, and his being a conscientious objector against the Vietnam War made him one of the most hated men in America. Even to this day, people in power intentionally forget his contributions to the civil rights movement. Then there are those who still call him Cassius Clay, still binding him to the slave name of his ancestors.
Sunday's lection reminds us about who are the greatest in the Kingdom of God: children. Not because they are playful. Not because they are forgiving. Not because they are innocent. But because then and now, despite our rhetoric to the contrary, the world treats them as nobodies.
The world spends more money on cosmetics, chocolate, ice cream, perfume, and pet food than on basic education and access to safe drinking water. Close to one billion children cannot read or write. Close to one billion children, mostly girls, spend up to 20 hours each day fetching water. Around ten thousand children starve to death every single day. Around half a million children die each year from diarrhea. Food is the solution to the first. Water, to the second. Our world has never been a child-friendly world.
So, what does it mean for us to proclaim that children are greatest in the Kingdom of God?
*art, "Jesus welcomes the children," JESUS MAFA collection (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).
