Children’s Kingdom

Jonathan Swift, in 1729, wrote a sad but profound political satire, A Modest Proposal. It suggested that the poor Irish might ease their poverty by selling their children as food to rich people. That sentiment, unfortunately, still persist – some find children a nuisance or inconvenience. If they could get rid of them, they would. Nearly 600,000 children are aborted in the United States yearly (according to CDC).

Jesus’s disciples were no exception. They wouldn’t allow Jesus to touch the children whom the parents brought to him (10:13a). They dishonored, i.e., humiliated, the children (10:13b). Jesus saw that and he was in agony, i.e., angry, frustrated, and upset (The Greek word agon has a wide range of meaning, all full of emotion). He said to the disciples,

“Release the children to come to me; don’t hinder them. God’s rule is for such as them. Unless one receives God’s rule as children receive, they shall not enter it.” (10:15)

The disciples’ actions seem ruthless, especially when some of them might have been fathers themselves until we understand the concepts of bar (for male children) and bat (for female children) mitzvah (“covenant”). The Hebrews believed that children (pedia) were not responsible for keeping the covenant until they entered bar/bat mitzvah and became a “son of the covenant” or a “daughter of the covenant.” Daughters celebrated bat mitzvahs at twelve, as they matured earlier than boys, who celebrated their bar mitzvahs at thirteen. After that, they were not children but sons and daughters and were responsible for keeping the covenant. In the Hebrew disciples’ minds, then, the children didn’t need Jesus’s teaching or attention. Only when they became sons/daughters of the covenant did they need Jesus’s covenantal teachings.

Jesus, however, revised their thinking. God’s kingdom belonged to non-covenantal children who received God’s rule gladly, as did those children. If someone were to ask children to pray with them, they would do so gladly without debating. But after they turn teenagers or adults, they debate God’s existence, the validity of prayer, the effectiveness of prayer, etc. God’s rule wasn’t any longer limited to people of the covenant but to anyone willing to accept it.

Saying these, Jesus picked the children in his arms and said good words (eu “good” logia “words”) to them while laying his hands on them (10:16). Although he might have blessed them, Mark’s words imply he taught them good words. Perhaps he told them to obey their parents and keep loving God.

Jesus’s teaching set an important precedent for Paul’s ministry of sharing the gospel with the non-covenantal people, the Gentiles/nations. Once, God’s rule belonged to the covenantal people, the Hebrews, the sons and daughters of the covenant. That is no longer true. God’s rule belongs to anyone who accepts it gladly, as did the pre-covenantal children. When they did, the Lord Jesus shared good lessons/teachings with them to be God’s children in God’s family.

Sometimes, our churches can become like Jesus’s disciples and shun children. We might send them off to children’s Sunday school while we enjoy the service. We might think teaching them isn’t essential (that women – who are forbidden to teach adults – can teach them!). We must prioritize children’s ministry because they represent us – non-covenantal or pre-covenantal people who believed in God’s rule and accepted it. They are under God’s rule long before us, the adults.