(13) And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
(14) But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Allow the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
(15) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
(16) And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
Have you ever asked a baseball player for an autograph? We all have the feeling that, somehow, something of another's "greatness" will rub off on us if we can make physical contact. Something of that is seen here in these mothers who brought their children to Jesus.
The drama comes from the disciples. They try to hold the children back. The great man is busy, there are huge demands on his time, children this small are unimportant, he can't be bothered with such things. It is not respectable!
And it isn't respectable. It's righteous. The Creator of time itself has time for these little ones; who more? He does what polite society thinks unreasonable: he loves the least. In their society children were not possessed of "high marginal incomes," and thus courted by advertisers. They had nothing, and therefore the world considered them as nothing.
Consider the least of our society today. Take, for a specific example, a young woman who is addicted to drugs, has a baby, no job and is single. How does the body of Christ, the church, treat her?
Do we shoo her away lest her terrible example rub off on decent Christian teenagers?
Or do we take her in our arms with the love of Christ?
Such a person resembles a child of that time. Spiritually, they are often completely uneducated. Economically, they're at the bottom of the heap. Their burdens are greater than they can bear, and like children they need a lot of help, encouragement, counsel and even wisdom.
Christ tells us that "of such" is the kingdom of heaven! Why would God welcome "such" into his kingdom? Is it not so that his mighty power and great love might be displayed?
Power? Yes, even the worst of sinners can be redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
Love? Yes, no matter how undeserving, God looks upon the sinners of this world as his children, and has compassion on them.
Christ does not just "put up with" these children—he welcomes them into his arms. He blesses them so that we might see that no one is too low to enter the kingdom. We, the church, need to open our arms to the wayward children of this world, so that we might bring his blessing to them, too.
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