Eighty Percent Mortality Rate

Meditations for Ragamuffins

November 22, 2023

Eighty Percent Mortality Rate 

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:3 

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about being great in the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:19) Just before our passage for today, the disciples had asked Jesus, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1). Jesus replied that unless they became like little children, they wouldn’t even get into the Kingdom of Heaven, much less be counted among the greatest. In our culture, we tend to romanticize Jesus’ words and try to think of the admirable qualities of little children we know, like trust and wonder, which we can emulate. That’s not what Jesus had in mind.

Consider these statistics for children in Israel 2,000 years ago. For every 100 children born, on average, 30 died at childbirth. Another 21 would die before they reached the age of six. Of the remaining 49 children, 29 would die before they reached the age of sixteen. That is a child mortality rate to age sixteen of 80%. On average, only 20 of 100 children born would survive to become adults. You might think a society would thus deem children as precious and highly valued, but that was not the case in that culture. Children were little regarded and considered of no value until they reached adulthood.

Jesus is saying that the first step into the Kingdom of Heaven is to turn from our sinful ways. The second step is to become humble and unassuming as were the little children in Jesus’ culture. Then Jesus’ words will resonate deeply within our souls: “Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4) (“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:3 NLT)

My Takeaway: By the way, life in the Kingdom of Heaven is a matter of repeating steps one and two, every day.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.