The Faith of a Child
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
Mark 10:13-16
When is a child not a child? No, I’m not asking when a child becomes an adult. I’m asking when a child is not a child.
You see, we are so immersed in our own culture that we miss the weight of Jesus’ words in this passage. When we miss the weight of his words, we thus miss out on what they mean, and in this case, he’s talking about the Kingdom of God; we risk missing out on the Kingdom altogether when we superimpose our 21st century ideas about children upon the text.
To have a coherent discussion about children in Bible times, you need to know several things. First of all, the mortality rate of children was extremely high (Ferguson, Everett, Backgrounds of Early Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993. p. 69). Many, many children died young. Certainly a factor in the high mortality rate was the attitude about children. Anyone who has children knows that the more children you have, the more money they cost you. That’s a fact that hasn’t changed since Bible times!
Today one of the big arguments is if life begins at conception or at birth. In the ancient near-east, life was considered to begin not at conception or at birth, but at adoption (Matthews, Victor H., and Don C. Benjamin, Social World of Ancient Israel 1250-587 BCE. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993. p. 10). You see, the father, as head of the household, had the authority to determine whether or not to adopt a child into his family. If he chose not to adopt the child, "it was considered stillborn" and the "the midwife would leave the child in an open field to declare it eligible for adoption by another household" (Matthews and Benjamin, pp. 10-11). Practically, this meant that unwanted children were left to die. Infanticide was a way for families to be able to afford their children (Ferguson, p. 73). Until the 2nd Century, the pagan attitude that leaving unwanted children to die was perfectly legal (Ferguson, p. 73). Indeed, a papyrus dated Alexandria, June 17, 1 B.C., contains a letter of instruction from a husband to his expectant wife, saying, "if it was a male child, let it live; if it was a female, cast it out" (Lane, William L, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Mark Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974. p. 361).
Childhood, as a recognized developmental stage, is a recent discovery; it was certainly not considered as such in Bible times (Barton, Stephen C., "Child, Children" Green, Joel B., Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marshall (eds), Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1992. p. 100). We sentimentalize childhood to huge levels, but the truth is, childhood was seen simply as a time for preparation for adult life (Ferguson, p. 70). In fact, in those times, women and children only had status as defined by the man to whom they were related (Barton, p. 100).
I say all of this to tell you that this snapshot captured by Mark is not simply a cute picture of Jesus surrounded by children. Indeed, it’s a lot more than that.
Think of this in Ancient Near-East terms. A respected Rabbi was teaching. Though there were doubtlessly women and children present, they were of little consequence, because it was men who learned from Rabbis. While the Rabbi was teaching, some people brought children for the Rabbi to bless. Based on research, my hunch is that they wanted some sort of assurance that these children would live to adulthood so they would perpetuate the family name. Clearly this was a breach of etiquette.
Jesus’ reaction was surprising – extremely surprising. Not only did he interrupt their important meeting, but he did so for the most insignificant reason. This wasn’t like when I was a kid and the local weatherman, who happened to be in our congregation, interrupted and said, "We’d better take cover; a tornado has been spotted and it’s headed our way." No, these were children – the least of all.
I guess a good way to understand the vast social difference between Jesus and those around him and the children would be to imagine that the bishop showed up here to preach this morning, and as he was in the middle of his sermon, little kids started coming in. I’m not talking about my kids or your kids – these kids are dirty. Their clothes are tattered and torn. They stink. And they’re not from around here. Perhaps they’re even of a different race. And they don’t just come in to listen, but their parents bring them right up front to the bishop and ask him for some money. "Just enough to get by" they say, or maybe they have a sad story about a doctor’s appointment, and they need some cash to get them to wherever it is that they say they’re going to.
What would we do?
It’s easy to get all indignant about the disciples’ treatment of the children, but if it were any of us in that situation, we’d have done the exact same thing.
But Jesus was awesome at using interruptions for his own purposes. Instead of letting this break his stride, he made it a teaching moment. "The Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children," he said. "Anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."
What exactly does that mean?
The crowd would have seen a child as utterly helpless. Remember that it wasn’t even considered to be alive until it was adopted. The child was the least of the least, and this was lifted up as the standard by which people might receive the Kingdom of God.
What does this mean for us today?
Well, how would you answer if you were asked, "Why do you deserve a part of the Kingdom of God?" If your answer has anything to do with you, Jesus’ words make it clear that you’ve missed the boat. In fact, he says that you won’t enter the Kingdom at all. If you, however, admit that you are helpless to do anything about your state, then God is willing to adopt you as one of His children – as recipients of the Kingdom.
A child, especially a really small one, is completely dependent upon its parent for everything. In ANE terminology, it even depends on its parent for life itself. If you are depending on yourself for anything at all, then you are missing the Kingdom.
The point is that Jesus used those children as an object lesson to demonstrate true discipleship. Through these children we see Jesus’ power revealed in weakness. We see true greatness attained by becoming last of all for Jesus’ sake. The Kingdom of God is not gained by requiring and demanding your own way. And for any of us, men, women, and children, the only status we have comes from the Man to whom we are related. It doesn’t matter what your name is. It doesn’t matter how long your family name has been on the church rolls. It doesn’t matter what your status is in this community. All that matters is whose NAME you have. I have been adopted by God, and I have the name Christian. How about you?
When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
Mark 10:13-16
You see, we are so immersed in our own culture that we miss the weight of Jesus’ words in this passage. When we miss the weight of his words, we thus miss out on what they mean, and in this case, he’s talking about the Kingdom of God; we risk missing out on the Kingdom altogether when we superimpose our 21st century ideas about children upon the text.
To have a coherent discussion about children in Bible times, you need to know several things. First of all, the mortality rate of children was extremely high (Ferguson, Everett, Backgrounds of Early Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993. p. 69). Many, many children died young. Certainly a factor in the high mortality rate was the attitude about children. Anyone who has children knows that the more children you have, the more money they cost you. That’s a fact that hasn’t changed since Bible times!
Today one of the big arguments is if life begins at conception or at birth. In the ancient near-east, life was considered to begin not at conception or at birth, but at adoption (Matthews, Victor H., and Don C. Benjamin, Social World of Ancient Israel 1250-587 BCE. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993. p. 10). You see, the father, as head of the household, had the authority to determine whether or not to adopt a child into his family. If he chose not to adopt the child, "it was considered stillborn" and the "the midwife would leave the child in an open field to declare it eligible for adoption by another household" (Matthews and Benjamin, pp. 10-11). Practically, this meant that unwanted children were left to die. Infanticide was a way for families to be able to afford their children (Ferguson, p. 73). Until the 2nd Century, the pagan attitude that leaving unwanted children to die was perfectly legal (Ferguson, p. 73). Indeed, a papyrus dated Alexandria, June 17, 1 B.C., contains a letter of instruction from a husband to his expectant wife, saying, "if it was a male child, let it live; if it was a female, cast it out" (Lane, William L, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Mark Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974. p. 361).
Childhood, as a recognized developmental stage, is a recent discovery; it was certainly not considered as such in Bible times (Barton, Stephen C., "Child, Children" Green, Joel B., Scot McKnight, I. Howard Marshall (eds), Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1992. p. 100). We sentimentalize childhood to huge levels, but the truth is, childhood was seen simply as a time for preparation for adult life (Ferguson, p. 70). In fact, in those times, women and children only had status as defined by the man to whom they were related (Barton, p. 100).
I say all of this to tell you that this snapshot captured by Mark is not simply a cute picture of Jesus surrounded by children. Indeed, it’s a lot more than that.
Think of this in Ancient Near-East terms. A respected Rabbi was teaching. Though there were doubtlessly women and children present, they were of little consequence, because it was men who learned from Rabbis. While the Rabbi was teaching, some people brought children for the Rabbi to bless. Based on research, my hunch is that they wanted some sort of assurance that these children would live to adulthood so they would perpetuate the family name. Clearly this was a breach of etiquette.
Jesus’ reaction was surprising – extremely surprising. Not only did he interrupt their important meeting, but he did so for the most insignificant reason. This wasn’t like when I was a kid and the local weatherman, who happened to be in our congregation, interrupted and said, "We’d better take cover; a tornado has been spotted and it’s headed our way." No, these were children – the least of all.
I guess a good way to understand the vast social difference between Jesus and those around him and the children would be to imagine that the bishop showed up here to preach this morning, and as he was in the middle of his sermon, little kids started coming in. I’m not talking about my kids or your kids – these kids are dirty. Their clothes are tattered and torn. They stink. And they’re not from around here. Perhaps they’re even of a different race. And they don’t just come in to listen, but their parents bring them right up front to the bishop and ask him for some money. "Just enough to get by" they say, or maybe they have a sad story about a doctor’s appointment, and they need some cash to get them to wherever it is that they say they’re going to.
What would we do?
It’s easy to get all indignant about the disciples’ treatment of the children, but if it were any of us in that situation, we’d have done the exact same thing.
But Jesus was awesome at using interruptions for his own purposes. Instead of letting this break his stride, he made it a teaching moment. "The Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children," he said. "Anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."
What exactly does that mean?
The crowd would have seen a child as utterly helpless. Remember that it wasn’t even considered to be alive until it was adopted. The child was the least of the least, and this was lifted up as the standard by which people might receive the Kingdom of God.
What does this mean for us today?
Well, how would you answer if you were asked, "Why do you deserve a part of the Kingdom of God?" If your answer has anything to do with you, Jesus’ words make it clear that you’ve missed the boat. In fact, he says that you won’t enter the Kingdom at all. If you, however, admit that you are helpless to do anything about your state, then God is willing to adopt you as one of His children – as recipients of the Kingdom.
A child, especially a really small one, is completely dependent upon its parent for everything. In ANE terminology, it even depends on its parent for life itself. If you are depending on yourself for anything at all, then you are missing the Kingdom.
The point is that Jesus used those children as an object lesson to demonstrate true discipleship. Through these children we see Jesus’ power revealed in weakness. We see true greatness attained by becoming last of all for Jesus’ sake. The Kingdom of God is not gained by requiring and demanding your own way. And for any of us, men, women, and children, the only status we have comes from the Man to whom we are related. It doesn’t matter what your name is. It doesn’t matter how long your family name has been on the church rolls. It doesn’t matter what your status is in this community. All that matters is whose NAME you have. I have been adopted by God, and I have the name Christian. How about you?
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