Like Little Children

“Then some people came to him bringing little children for him to touch. The disciples tried to discourage them.” Mark 10:13

The Pharisees had tried to corner Jesus with a question about marriage and divorce. Truly an adult topic, they wanted to trap Jesus once again with their questions. Following their dialogue the disciples ask Jesus for more explanation after they are back in the house. It is at this point that some people brought children to Him.

We can imagine the disciples. “Hush, now. We are having an important discussion. Jesus is talking about divorce and lots of other ‘adult’ things. Save the kid stuff for another time!” And they tried to discourage them from coming.

The Pharisees came to trick Jesus, the disciples were talking with Jesus, but the children wanted to touch Jesus. Understanding the nature of marriage and divorce is certainly important. No one would argue that the kingdom of God should affect the most important relationship most people will ever have.

Imagine a special speaker giving a marriage seminar. The crowd is made up of around 50 couples, the speaker is well-known, and everyone is taking notes or listening in rapt attention. You can hear the rustle of Bible pages turning he shares another passage. The Power Point is filled with clever graphics and logical bullet points. Participants hope and pray that God will have something to say to their mate that will change their marriage! It is a most serious affair.

The meeting is in a hall across from an elementary school. The third grade teacher, an acquaintance of the conference speaker, herds her young charges into the meeting and tells them, “Sure, you can run up there and say ‘Hi’, he’s an old friend of mine.” Immediately the ushers, primed to use their spiritual gifts to the utmost, spy the little annoyances and quickly begin to escort them out of the room. The couples are aghast anyone would let them in, let alone encourage them to disrupt the meeting by trying to walk up to the speaker. I don’t think we have changed much since Jesus’ time.

What if that is the very thing Jesus would have preferred? Instead of trying to catch Jesus in a dilemma, what if we, childlike, simple pulled on his pant leg, just to get Him to look at us? And what if, instead of talking it out at one more hour long Bible study to prove our preconceived understanding, we came running in to see Him like He was our favorite uncle from childhood?

Do you know that the very next verse says that Jesus was angry? He told them that people like those children are what the kingdom of God is all about. That makes me cringe, and makes me cry. You see, I love to study. I love reading. I love underlining. I love referencing and research and grasping the details of a subject. And I love studying Scripture with the same passion.

So, to hear Jesus say that the Kingdom is all about kids who run up to Him and just want Him to pat them on the head makes me cringe. Not because I see it as inappropriate, but because I think He really liked my studious mind. I learned to get the recognition I craved by excelling in school. If the guys wouldn’t pick me for teams and the girls wouldn’t look at me, at least I could get straight A’s to tell my young ego what I was worth.  

I would have been among those disciples asking Jesus question after question about marriage. I would follow it up with my most astute observations. “And you know, Jesus, if you assume x about who can be divorced, then it seems that y and z must be true. Am I right?” I would raise my hand, keep my head low, and wait for the “Yes” from His lips. Only then would I raise my head and look around at the rest of the disciples. I was worth something.

But, to think that my studies are not exactly what Jesus is looking for in Kingdom people almost makes me shiver. I cringe to think that the one thing I know I do well is not what He is looking for. And I am near tears.

Yes, I cry. But not because He has rejected my academic pursuits; in fact He has not rejected them. But He won’t let me go until I understand on what basis He does accept me, and what it is He is looking for. “I promise you that you cannot get into God’s kingdom, unless you accept it the way a child does.”

Children are messy. Children are disruptive. Children smell sometimes, and are unruly. Children have no idea how to whisper, sing loudly out of tune, and don’t mind making pies out of mud. It strikes me that I have too quickly outgrown most of those things. I tried so hard to be the good kid, the one who excelled, that I forgot the times of greatest joy.

Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom is full of people who act like children. And, yes, that perhaps includes all the nice, spiritual things we’ve said about them: they are accepting, trusting and believe easily. But what if Jesus doesn’t mind if they are also disruptive and all the other things we have already described? I think I’m going to put down my books for the day and enjoy a pat on the head from the Jesus who doesn’t mind hanging out with children, or adults who act like them.