Armpit Jesus (and other insights from the stories we tell ourselves)

I was at a Bible study last night, and a father of two young children was sharing some thoughts about celebration in Christianity. In the process, he shared a couple of stories about his 3 or 4 year old daughter, and that triggered a remembrance of another story. All three stories about young children’s thought formation about Jesus and God are extremely revealing of our Christian culture.

I remember one couple sharing their amusement and slight chagrin about the fact that their young son was absolutely terrified of Jesus. When asked why, the boy explained that he was afraid that Jesus was going to sneak in to the house at night and take him away, since Jesus was “everywhere” and “could go anywhere” and actually knew who the boy was, even though he was invisible. That phase lasted a little too long for his parents’ comfort

Last night, two similar stories were shared. His (three year old) daughter went through a phase where every time Jesus was mentioned, she would get angry, and she would say she was mad at Jesus and didn’t like him. “Really? Why?” asked her parents. “Because I have asked Jesus to come and live with me and he hasn’t.” (How can you argue with that?)

Later, his daughter went through a phase where she refused to talk about allowing Jesus into her heart. She didn’t like him, and didn’t want him in her heart. One day, the speaker came home and his wife excitedly told him that his daughter had made great progress. “Has she asked Jesus into her heart?” he asked hopefully. “No. But she has decided that he can live in her armpit.”

Though very amusing, these stories tell us a lot about how we adults think and believe. Can we blame children for their naïve assumptions? Though stories like these abound, I have never heard of a child seeing an act of service by someone, and asking if that person was Jesus. Children can’t see Jesus except in us. Explaining to young children that Jesus loves everyone, including a little child, needs to be done with actions, not words.

More than my child saying that they love Jesus (which is too abstract for very young children and even some adults), I hope that any of my future children, when they are young, will say that they want to be like Jesus, and act like it too.