Little Children

Little Children

How long has it been since someone called you a little child? If you were over twelve years old did you take it as a derogatory remark? In the book of Matthew, Jesus rebuked His disciples for stopping parents from bringing their children to Him. Surely the disciples were only thinking of Jesus’ well being. Maybe they thought Jesus was too tired from teaching the crowds. No matter what they were thinking, Jesus rebuked them for not letting the children come.

This may be where we Christians get the idea of dedicating babies. In some other verses we see that He held them, prayed for them, or put His hands on them. That is a subject we will not discuss today.

My real point would be found in verse 14 of Matthew 19, “and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these”.

When Jesus came into Judea once more, there were Pharisees there to ask questions of Him. These two questions found in verse 3 and verse 7, are tough questions pertaining to marriage and divorce. Is it coincidence that immediately following this hard teaching which left the disciples wondering if it were good to marry [verse 10], Jesus is seen with families and blessings the fruit of these families.

My keywords in the phrase mentioned above would be “such as these”. Although we highlight the children, as we should, I want to bring these parents into view. Is the Kingdom for children only? As children are dependent on their parents so these Jewish parents express their dependence on the One that they believed to be the coming Messiah.


Jim Mussetter
2008