March 15, 2026: On Dignity

Old Testament Reading  Deuteronomy 24: 17-22 (page 173)
The Gospel:      Matthew 19: 13-15 (page 853)

Several years ago I did some volunteer work with the Vermont Food Bank in Rutland. Most of the time, that involved bagging items like potatoes, beets or onions or sorting donated canned goods. However, one time, I went to a farm in Shrewsbury to glean. The farmer had already harvested the majority of a crop of zucchini and we volunteers were there to go over the field one more time picking any stray squash, which was then made available to families in need through the foodbank. Gleaning is not as rewarding as picking the first crop since there is not as much there, but yet finding each wayward zucchini was satisfying, especially knowing it would be a healthy gift for someone who was hungry.


The idea of leaving a bit in the field for those in need is a long standing tradition as we heard in our Deuteronomy scripture. That little bit extra was to be left for the immigrants, widows and orphans, those on the edge of society who needed some extra support. But notice that the scripture did not say harvest your crop and give 10% to the immigrants, widows and orphans. Instead, there seems to be an acknowledgment that there is dignity both in the work of gleaning and also in the knowledge that those in need contributed to their own support by harvesting the food themselves. It might even be a benefit to the farmer that the immigrants, widows and orphans did the final clean up of the field. 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines dignity as “the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.”  These people, who were struggling in life and needed some support, were still worthy of honor and respect and work preserves one’s dignity; they were not so much getting a hand out as working for their food. This Deuteromic rule was a dignified form of food justice that worked well at a time when people lived closer to farms. I had to drive quite a ways to glean for the Food Bank and that might not have been possible for those in need of the food. 

In ancient times, and still true for some today, widows and orphans lost their primary support through the loss of a husband or parents who provided the livelihood for the family so one can see why they were named in this scripture as needing help. But immigrants are also named and their need for help thousands of years ago is similar to today.

 Imagine the challenge of having to leave your home, culture, language and everything and everyone you know and traveling, often on foot, to a foreign land in search of a better life or a job to support your family. Some have left a place due to not being able to find sustainable work, others due to violence or injustice in their home countries. They want to work and will often do work that others do not want to do. They are not looking for a hand out but a hand up - like gleaning. 

I have gotten to know some of these people through my work with Bridge to Rutland, an organization started in Grace Church in Rutland, to support asylum seekers. Their stories of the danger they left and the challenges they faced trying to get to America are heartbreaking. It took years for some of them to get to the border, to enter the country legally and then more years to get their work permits here in the U.S. but they were so happy when they were able to work and provide for themselves and their families. Many send money back to their home countries to support family members there. It is hard to be so far from home and all that they know, but they are here so that they and their families can have a chance to live. 

Much of the Bible is devoted to those seeking refuge or even being enslaved in a foreign land as the Israelites were. Jesus began his life as a refugee in Egypt to escape Herod’s injustice. 

In Deuteronomy God’s command to help the immigrants, orphans and widows comes with the reminder: “Remember that you were once a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there.” Unless we happen to be Native American, our ancestors were once immigrants. For many people in the world, their ancestors were once enslaved. Remembering this is a reminder to care for those who are struggling - those whom society has pushed to the edges like the immigrants, widows and orphans but also the poor and the marginalized. As Christians, we are called to follow Jesus’ model of being an edge-walker, someone who pushes societal boundaries for the greater good. Jesus did this by welcoming all people and treating all of them with dignity. 

One group in Jesus' time that was not treated with much dignity was children, which is really hard for us to understand since we value our children for the miracles they are and would do anything for them. In True to Our Native Land, Michael Joseph Brown provides context for the reality of children in first century Israel. He writes: “We should dismiss ideas of childhood bliss when we read this passage. Childhood in antiquity was difficult. Fifty percent of children died before the age of five. They were the weakest members of society. They were fed last and received the smallest and least desirable portions of food. They were the first to suffer from famine, war, disease, and natural disasters. Many, some say more than 70 percent, would have lost one or more parents before reaching puberty. A minor had the same status as an enslaved person, and it was not until adulthood that they would be considered a free person.”

So the disciples were acting according to the customs of the times when they spoke sternly to the people trying to bring little children to Jesus. They were likely thinking, Jesus has important work to do and these children are not worthy of his time. They are not dignified as adults are. They may not even make it to adulthood. But Jesus the edge-walker once again turns society’s rules on their head. “Let the little children come to me and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” He then blesses them and continues on his journey. 

I actually think the society of Jesus’ time was starting to change their attitude towards children, at least some of them were because someone brought those children to Jesus, presumably to be blessed by him. Whoever these people or parents were, maybe they wanted to beat those terrible odds of death before age five and the loss of a parent or more before puberty. And they had faith not only in this man Jesus that his blessing could make a difference but that he would bless the children in a way that society would not. 

Reverend Clarence Herbert Woolston felt this way about children as well. He was pastor at the East Baptist Church in Philadelphia from 1887-1927 and was said to have preached to 100,000 children in that time. He also grew the church from 196 members to over 1000! He liked to use magic tricks to emphasize portions of his sermons and often borrowed animals from the zoo like monkeys or tiger cubs to use in his services. As such, the children came from all around and crowded into the front of the church to see what Reverend Woolston might show them each week. Now the late 1800s in Philadelphia was a huge time of immigration. After the Civil War newly freed black people were moving north, immigrants were coming into the city from Italy, Ireland and Germany. There was a lot of poverty and struggle and not everyone liked all these relatively poor newcomers so there was often violence in the streets as well. But Reverend Woolston preached to all of these people and the children were from all different backgrounds. Woolston noticed that the families who had been in his church longer did not want to sit next to these immigrant children who were crowding into his church. They did not see their dignity as Jesus and Woolston did, so he wrote the hymn, “Jesus loves the little children” with the famous  line “Red and yellow black and white, All are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world.” He wrote that as almost a subversive sermon for those in his congregation who were acting prejudicially against those immigrant children. He reminded them that Jesus truly does love all the children no matter their race, nationality, or ethnicity,  their cultural or religious background. And by making this song about the children, he was also telling the adults, again subversively that Jesus loves all people, the poor, the immigrants, the different, the loved, and unloved. He was challenging them to see them as Jesus did, fellow children of God and to love them like Jesus did, unconditionally. 

This message is, sadly, still needed today. While we have generally learned the value of children, have we learned the value of all children? While we understand the value of people in our community, do we also, like Jesus, see the value in all people? Even those who are different? Even those with whom we disagree? This is what Jesus was showing his disciples when he broke convention, stopped what he was doing, and blessed the children. This is what the Deuteronomy scripture also invites us to do, to help all who are in need by giving them a hand up rather than a hand out, recognizing and respecting their individual and collective dignity, no matter who they are and where and how they live. Deuteronomy goes one step further by reminding those who offer those gleaning opportunities to those who need it, that they should do this “so that the Lord, your God may bless you in all your undertakings.” Be a blessing and be blessed, Amen. 

Now let’s sing the hymn that Reverend Woolston wrote. It is printed in your bulletin.