Let the children come

Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence. – Matthew 19.13-15

I am noticing a lot more this time through my reading the relationship that Jesus had with children. We have always worked with and ministered to children and teens. I love working with them. Even outside of church I enjoy working with kids. The help be stay young

Jesus loved them too. We see that over and over. Here Jesus is speaking and a bunch of children want to come see Him. The disciples are appalled. ‘Jesus has more important things to do than deal with those kids!’

But Jesus was having none of it. ‘Let the children come to Me,’ He said, ‘because the kingdom of God is made up of folks like these.’ Then He called them, they came to Him, and He laid His hands on them.’

I have this wonderful image of bunch of dusty dirty little children gathered around Jesus has He draws them to Himself. I’d say He must have been a blast because children aren’t going to be drawn to an adult who doesn’t like them.  

My point is this – Jesus set the example of loving children. Ministering to children should be more than a tack-on or an afterthought. It is part of our focus and part of following Jesus. I can’t vouch for its veracity, but the story goes that there was an evangelist who was asked how many people were saved in a meeting. He said that 2 ½ people we saved. ‘Oh, so tow adults and one child?’ ‘No,’ the preacher said, ‘two children and one adult. The adult has lived has lived a half a life and the children have a whole life to live for Christ.’

Let the children come means as much today as it did then.