Who Jesus is
Jesus and Children
Jesus welcomed children when his own disciples tried to turn them away. Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, he said, taking them in his arms and blessing them. He set a child in the midst of grown men as the picture of greatness in his kingdom, and warned that anyone who caused a little one to stumble would be better cast into the sea.
Jesus and Children
When parents brought children to Jesus for a blessing, the disciples tried to shoo them away, assuming a rabbi had better things to do. Jesus was indignant. He told them to let the little children come and not to hinder them, for the kingdom of God belonged to such as these. Then he took the children up in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them (Mark 10).
Children were more than a soft moment for Jesus; they were a lesson in the shape of his kingdom. When his disciples argued about who was greatest, he called a little child, set the child in their midst, and said that unless they turned and became like children they would never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18). Greatness, in his eyes, looked like the humility and trust of a child.
His tenderness toward the small came with a fierce protectiveness. He warned that whoever caused one of these little ones to stumble would be better off drowned in the depths of the sea, and he said their angels always behold the face of his Father (Matthew 18). To harm a child is to touch something Jesus guards.
What Jesus said and did
Where this points
Jesus makes the child the emblem of the kingdom, and himself the one who gathers the small into his arms. To come to Christ is to come as a child comes: empty-handed, trusting, unafraid. The Lord who blessed them still receives everyone who comes to him with that same open trust.
People also ask
What did Jesus mean by become like little children?
In Matthew 18, when the disciples asked who was greatest, Jesus set a child before them and said that unless they turned and became like children they would not enter the kingdom. He pointed to a child's humility and trust, not childishness, as the way to receive God.
Why did the disciples try to stop children from coming to Jesus?
The disciples likely thought children were an interruption unworthy of a teacher's time. Jesus was indignant and corrected them, welcoming the children, blessing them, and declaring that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Mark 10).