Children were brought to Jesus
that he might lay his hands on them and pray.
It is noteworthy that this incident is told immediately after Jesus restored marriage to its original dignity and permanence. Just after speaking of how the two who were married were to become one flesh in an indissoluble union the fruit of such unions was brought to him. We can gather from the hardness of the hearts of the Pharisees and the fear of the disciples in regard to the prospect of permanent marriage that they would not be well disposed to such fruit either. Had they really seen how the heart of God was revealed in marriage they would have been ready to welcome these children.
The disciples rebuked them
No doubt the disciples thought Jesus had more important things to do, useful things, things with tangible results and obvious and apparent success. Children, from such a point of view, seemed useless and burdensome, not only unable to contribute themselves, but even tying up the resources of potential contributions of others. From the point of view that measured others by what they could do and achieve children were certainly never going to measure up. But such an attitude that prioritized doing over being would also be a problem in marriage and even for intimate friendship. The inevitable failures of others would always make one wonder if there wasn't somewhere a more perfect individual who might replace them. The inevitable failures of the individual himself would naturally make him insecure and concerned that others might feel the same way about him, ready to replace him when his next mistake finally became too much to tolerate. In short, this perspective produced a world that was equivalent to walking on eggshells, a world in which children could provide no value, and in which marriage was such a fearful enterprise as to not be worth undertaking.
"Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;
for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
It must be hard for us to understand that degree to which a statement like this might have turned the world upside down. When we see art based on this passage we see Jesus embracing the children and perhaps enjoy it or find it to saccharine or sentimental. But nevertheless it feels to us as though Jesus himself has been sidetracked. Or perhaps we think how nice it was for him to be able to take a break from his mission. What we miss is that his mission was in fact being accomplished at that very moment, that being to reveal the love of God for us, to reestablish the broken relationship between God and man. These children, obviously unable to earn any merit through their efforts, were the perfect examples for the love Jesus wanted everyone, even we jaded adults, to learn to receive. Their moment of being with Jesus was not to be taken from them, since they had found the one thing necessary.
By giving the privileged place to children Jesus in fact "made foolish the wisdom of the world" (see First Corinthians 1:20). It was by such means that things that were hidden from the wise and the learned were revealed to little children (see Matthew 11:25), not in philosophical discourse, but in the experience of the primacy of relationship, of being over doing, of the love that created and sustained their existence over their ability to earn or merit. The cynic within us might ask, 'Can a world really be built on that premise? Don't we need our desperation, our need for validation, in order to keep things moving, to keep the train of progress from going off the rails?' It is interesting to imagine what might happen if we were all able to rest securely in the knowledge of God's love for us. The Kingdom is more like that world than this one, hard as that may be for us to believe.
"Now, therefore, put away the strange gods that are among you
and turn your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."
We too must put away the strange gods we serve and embrace the living God. The strange gods are in fact too small, too needy, too much made in our own image and afflicted with our own disordered desires. The true God is jealous of these false idols because of how they keep us from the blessedness that he desires for us. The enslave us to work for that which we can never achieve on our own and prevent us from turning to God to receive what he would freely give.
"We will serve the LORD, our God, and obey his voice."
The premise for this statement is the recognition of how much God has already done for us, how much he has already demonstrated his love and compassion for his people. Thus we respond not to earn such love, but rather to repay love with love, as faithful children should.
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