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
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