(Audio)
Let the children come to me; do not prevent them,
for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Why prevent children from coming to Jesus? Is it not because we assume that Jesus has more important things to do? We expect Jesus to be more interested into intellectual discourse or moral merit or really any quality of deserving on the part of those who approach him. We expect him to be willing to engage with adversaries or even to heal the broken. But aren't children a waste of time? This shows how in our broken ways of thinking we are wont to place doing over being. It is a short path from there to trying to justify ourselves by our works.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.
We are called to more than any specific action. We are called to come near to Jesus and to be with him. All the things which we might do for Jesus or which he might do for us have specific endings. But all of those specific endings are meant to draw us toward relationship with him.
Then he embraced the children and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.
We do not simply seek wisdom, healing, or forgiveness for their own sake. We want all of those good things so that we can then simply be with Jesus, embraced by him, and blessed as he places his hands upon us.
He put the fear of himself upon their hearts,
and showed them his mighty works,
That they might glory in the wonder of his deeds
and praise his holy name.
We might worry that little children don't have the fear of the LORD and therefore ought not approach Jesus. But clearly this isn't a problem for Jesus. From the lips of children and of babes he finds perfect praise. We consider fear more in relation to ourselves and our actions. The fear that children have is the correct one. The fear of not being with Jesus is a healthy fear that Jesus honors by giving them first class access to his presence.
But the kindness of the LORD is from eternity
to eternity toward those who fear him,
And his justice toward children's children
among those who keep his covenant.
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