The Mystery of a Child

Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." And He laid His hands on them and departed from there (Matthew 19:13-15).

Richard C. H. Lenski (1864 - 1936) was a noted German Lutheran pastor, scholar, and author. Regarding children and their response to the knowledge of God, he wrote,  “As the flower in the garden stretches toward the light of the sun, so there is in the child a mysterious inclination toward the eternal light. Have you ever noticed this mysterious thing that, when you tell the smallest child about God, it never asks with strangeness and wonder, ‘What or who is God? I have never seen Him’ - but listens with shining face to the words as though they were soft loving sounds from the land of home? Or when you teach a child to fold its little hands in prayer, it does this as though it were a matter of course, as though there were opening for it that world of which it had been dreaming with longing and anticipation. Or tell them, these little ones, the stories of the Savior, show them the pictures with scenes and personages of the Bible (and) see how their pure eyes shine, how their little hearts beat.”

While this observation may be somewhat sentimental, it is none-the-less true for the vast majority of small children. For parents not to capitalize on this by not teaching their children the ways of God is to not only disregard their God-given responsibility as parents to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, it is to disregard their children who have a God-given right to know about Him. And it is to disregard the Lord God who desires every person, including children, to know Him personally through Jesus Christ. 

The response of Jesus to the disciples was one of anger and utter frustration. He loved the little children with great affection. He understood the sinful, hateful, painful, and corrupt world they would grow up in. He felt compassion toward the parents of the little children, knowing their desires and concerns for their children. He was angry because He knew no child is beyond the love and compassion of God, yet the actions of His disciples was to marginalize them. Furthermore, who were these disciples to decide who could and could not have access to Jesus? When did they become His gate-keeper? We need to be mindful of our Lord’s response to His disciples that we won’t make the same mistake in our homes and in our churches.

“Lord Jesus, give us opportunity to teach the little children to love You as You love them. May we never shirk our responsibility to You and to them by ignoring their openness to You and Your love for them. Teach us how to open their understanding to You and Your ways so they may ultimately find their way to You as Lord and Savior. To their salvation and to Your glory I ask, Amen.”

Pastor