Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely , whatever is of good report, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, ponder on these things. - Philippians 4:8

Saturday, January 14, 2012

EVEN THE LITTLE ONES


Let the little children come to me. (NCV) Mark 10:14A

      Have you ever heard of the saying “Children should be seen and not heard?” That was a question that was asked by a reporter that had knocked on the Blackwood’s front door. The reporter was working for the local newspaper and was asked to see if the people of Pupperville thought children were important.

      “I have.” Louie answered, “And it seems that I’m not only not heard, but I’m often not even seen. Many of the older people often make me feel like I’m not important and often times the walk right by me as if I don’t even exist.” Totally ignoring Louie’s response, the reporter asks to see one of his parents.

      “One could ask you the same thing.” Randy said as he came to the door. “Well, of course I believe children are important.” the reporter told him, “After all, I’m doing this survey for the newspaper.” “Is that why you ignored Louie’s answer?” Randy asked the reporter in return. “Louie?” the reporter replied, “Who’s Louie?”

      “Louie happens to be the child that answered the door.” Randy told the reporter. “Yeah!” thought Louie to himself, “You could have listened to me.” “Well, um, ah,” the reporter started to mumble, “Our readers don’t want to know what children have to say, they want to know what REAL people have to say.”

      “Are you saying children aren’t real?” Randy quizzed the reporter. “Are you saying that Harold, Stella, Bernadette, and Barney aren’t real?” “Who are they?” asked the reporter. “Just some of the most important people in our church’s youth group.” Randy told the reporter. “But that’s because they are people and not children.” the reporter responded.

      “But they are children.” Louie said with a big laugh, “Why do you think they call it a youth group?” “Let me remind you of what Jesus thought of children in Mark 10:13-16.” Randy told the reporter, “There, we read these words Some people brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch them, but his followers told them to stop. When Jesus saw this, he was upset and said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these children. I tell you the truth, you must accept the kingdom of God as if you were a little child, or you will never enter it.“ Then Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them. (NCV)

      Upon hearing those words the reporter turned to walk away and tripped over Harold who had walked up behind him. “Why can’t you kids stay out of the way!?” he yelled “Haven’t you heard kids are, are, are, never mind.” and he got up and left, mumbling something about how there should be a law against having kids.

      Prior to the verses quoted by Randy in our story Jesus had been busy teaching grown ups. This particular story about Jesus is not only found in Mark but also in Matthew and Luke where we learn what Jesus had been teaching.

      Prior to the story in Matthew 19 the Pharisees had been trying to trick Jesus with a question on divorce which lead Jesus into a lesson on marriage. When we turn to the story in Luke 18 we find Jesus was also teaching his followers about prayer and how we should be persistent in praying yet we are to be humble in our praying.

      It is this setting that the little children were being brought to Jesus so He could touch them. It seems to have been a custom in Jesus' day to bring young children to important religious leaders and teachers to be blessed with the laying of hands on the child's head and offering a prayer for them.

      Maybe the disciples thought children were a bother or a distraction to the work Jesus was doing, we don't know but we do know they tried to keep the parents from bringing them to Jesus and we know that Jesus was not happy with His disciples for trying to shew them away and chewed them out.

      “Let the little children come to me.” He told the disciples, “Become like little children.” He told them' “Or you won't enter the kingdom of God” What a blow that must have been to the disciples and what a blow it could be to us if we treat children the same way.

      In a society that's devoted to self – children become a nuisance or a hindrance for they take time, effort, love, discipline, training, and the list can go on but each and every child is worth it 100%

      Here's Something To Ponder
  • Do you treat the children in your life like Jesus did or His disciples did?
  • Are you willing to look at children as your example?

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