"Children" - Part 3: "Young Ones, Smaller Ones"

Today, we look a word that doesn't mean "child" exactly, but it is used by Jesus somewhat interchangeably with paidion (article here), with Jesus sometimes alternating between the two terms in the same dialogue. This makes sense because the two words have similar meanings. Paidon is more specific, meaning “little child,” and this word mikros (μικρος) is an adjective that means "small," "little," and "young." Used as a noun, with a direct article before it, it means “these little ones,” and “these young ones.”

Jesus uses it obviously to refer to children in only five verses. One of the verses is more or less the same in two different gospels, so this leaves only four different verses. All these verses are both thought provoking and entertaining, so we will look at all four.

Offering Coldness to a Small One

First, we will look at the first of these in the Bible, Matthew 10:42.

NIV: And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.
Listeners Heard: Also, whoever pours one of these young here a single cup of coldness, in a name of a student, truly I tell you, never does he lose that reward of his.

There is a hidden play on words here that is lost in translation. This play on words shifts the apparent meaning of the verse. First, the adjective translated as “thirsty” also is a metaphor for “thirsty for knowledge.” This is why the word “students” is important.

There is no word “water” in the Greek. It can be inferred from the verb meaning “to give a drink,” that I translate as “pour,” but this refers to “water” only in the sense that we “water” animals or plants when they drink. The addition of “water” disguises the fun in the word translated as “cold.”

The word “cold” is treated like a noun because it is used in a form which means “a cup of cold” so its sense is “a cup of coldness. The word means the temperature, “cold,” but it also means "vain," "cold-hearted," "heartless," and "indifferent." So, this cold can be good, as in a “cold drink” or bad, as in a “cold shoulder.” This verse is both a promise of a positive reward for one and a threat of a punishment for the other, depending on the type of “cold” offered.”

Tripping Up a Small One

The next verse we encounter in the Gospels is Matthew 18:6:

NIV: If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Listeners Heard:  The one, however, when he trips up one of these young ones here, trusting as much as me? It benefits him when a millstone of an ass is hung around that neck of his and he is drowned in the depths of the sea.

This clear threat is humorously exaggerated to the point of farce with its millstone and drowning. There are many cues in the Greek that Jesus meant it to entertain his listeners with its excesses. Many of which are eliminated in Biblical translation.

The verb translated as “cause to stumble” means “to trip up,” a staple of physical comedy down through the ages and a standard fun word in Jesus’s teaching. The description of this “benefiting” him comes before the act. The following description of the act make it clearly ironic. The millstone is that of “an ass,” mean on drawn around in a mill by a donkey. This makes it extra big and extra asinine because it is too big to lift, much less put around a person’s neck. And the “sea” isn’t enough. It is the “depths” of the sea.” Jesus often uses exaggeration in his humor, especially in threats.

Looking Down on Angels

Next is Matthew 18:10 which is also echoed in Mark 9:42, its parallel:

NIV: See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
Listeners Heard: Watch out! You don't look down on one of these small ones here. Because I tell you that those messengers of theirs in the skies? They see, through all, the face of that father of mine, the one in the skies.

The humor in this verse is lost in translation because the Greek verb is translated as “despise.” The verb means, literally, “looks down on.” In this verse, I translated mikros as “small one” instead of “young ones” because that idea is a big part of the joke. We look down on those who are smaller than we are by necessity. But “look down on” has two meanings which shapes the humor, physically looking down and the jdugement of looking down. Jesus could have used another word for children, but mikros works because looking down on the small is necessary.

I find the last part of this verse very thought provoking, but it makes me wonder if children have special messengers in the skies.

Destroying Ourselves

Last, but not least, we have Matthew 18:14:

NIV: In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Listeners Heard: This is not a desire of that father of mine, the one in the skies, beforehand, that one of these young ones here should destroy himself.

The Biblical translations completely miss the point of this verse. The lesson is that the Divine doesn’t create children to grow up and one day destroy themselves, but of course they do. The Divine may see this beforehand, but he doesn’t determine it by any choice of his. This is about free will. By leaving out the “beforehand" and mistranslating the “destroys themself” as “should perish,” this makes it seem like it is about others destroying children, but it isn’t. The verb is in the middle voice, someone acting on themselves. And all young ones do perish, of course, simply because we grow up.

Some Last Points

All of these verses are different, and more interesting as far as giving us things to think about, than their Biblical translations. They all share one interesting feature: they all have the word “here” after the “young/little ones.” We don’t see this in Biblical translations because they translate the word that means “here” as “these” and ignore the direct article before “little one” that can also mean “these.” The “here” comes after “little ones” not before. This word makes it clear that Jesus is talking about children that are with him.

Most of the references to "little/young ones" focuses on their vulnerability. Jesus uses it to emphasis their size and dependence on adults. As opposed to those big kids, over seven, who can take care of themselves. Small ones are thirsty students,” those who can be tripped up, looked down on, and those who can destroy themselves.

Next week, we will look at mikros in another form, where it is translated as “the least.”