GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:13
Dedication
There is a popular idiom,“the straw that broke the camel’s back,” referring to a minor action that causes a disproportionate reaction. Similar phrases include “the tipping point,” “the final straw,” “the drop that overflows the cup,” or “the small spark that starts a large fire.” Everyone has experienced reaching such a tipping point, and it often elicits responses like: “I can’t do that now,” “not another,” or “not again.”
Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem. He warned the disciples about what awaited him, though they had not fully grasped his meaning. A group of Pharisees confronted him, and then he explained his view of divorce to them. Following these events—predictions of suffering, an acrimonious debate, and a teaching—people brought their little children to him so he could touch them.
Mark then turns his attention to this tender scene: “And they brought little children to him in order that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.” (Mark 10:13) The word “children” here is in the diminutive case, meaning little children. Luke, in a similar scene, refers to them as babies. (Luke 18:15) Matthew records that the parents desired Jesus to touch the children and pray for them. (Matthew 19:13)
Hebrew parents were accustomed to bringing their babies to respected teachers for their blessing. For example, the Talmud records, “After the father of the child had laid his hands on his child’s head, he led him to the elders one by one, and they also blessed him, and prayed that he might grow up famous in the Law, faithful in marriage, and abundant in good works.”
In some liturgical traditions, children—usually babies—are baptized. In our tradition, Alice and I placed each of our newborns in the hands of a minister in an act of dedication: Erick and Paul by Pastor R. D. Shaw; David by Pastor Jeff Smith. The liturgy of dedication is twofold: it affirms that we are dedicating to the Father what He has entrusted to us, and it expresses our commitment as new parents to foster and nurture the Father’s gift both physically and spiritually. We view this as reflecting the same motive as the parents who brought their little children to Jesus for him to lay his hands on them and pray—a parental obligation to protect and nurture God’s gift.
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