GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:15
Come as Little Children
I had a difficult experience while completing a calculus assignment. I went through the textbook explanation, reading carefully—at least I thought I had—and noted each step the author described. After several unsuccessful attempts at the assignment, as the hour grew late and other chores remained, I resolved to take the issue to the instructor. Sitting beside her desk, I explained my difficulty completing the assignment. She examined my work and patiently pointed to a statement in the textbook where the author explained the importance of a formula and its role in the problem. Aha! I worked the problem again with the new insight—and succeeded.
According to Mark, Jesus was on his last journey to Jerusalem. He tried to explain to his disciples what lay ahead. Some critical Pharisees attempted to discredit him with a question about divorce. As the calculus professor had done for me, Jesus pointed them to a vital principle of Yahweh’s original creation—the divine pattern they should follow, rather than the practice of hard-hearted people who violated it. After the exchange, he retired to a house, answered the disciples’ question about it, and the disciples tried to forbid parents from bringing their little children for him to touch. Jesus saw this and indignantly told the disciples to stop and allow the children to come to him, for, as he said, “of such is the Kingdom of God.” Then he added, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he will certainly not enter into it.” (Mark 10:15)
Undoubtedly, Jesus referred to the openness, trust, submission, simplicity, humility, love, teachability, and willingness of the little children (παιδίον, paidion—a diminutive meaning an infant or little child) who came to him. In the background of this scene were also the parents, guardians, or nurses who brought the children to Jesus; their importance must not be overlooked. Just as the calculus professor emphasized to the importance of the formula for solving the problem, Jesus emphasized the importance of coming to the Father as little children—the only way of entering the Kingdom of God. Not as argumentative Pharisees, not as even the loyal disciples, but as the little children.
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