GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:24
Amazing
There are statements that amaze us and linger with us long after they are spoken. June 17, 1961, I heard Rev. R.D. Shaw say, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” This was no sudden event. Alice and I had dated through most of our high school years. We had planned for this moment for nearly a year and even practiced the ceremony the night before. However, hearing those words brought the realization that my—our—world had changed. I remember the internal shift; it was as if someone had turned on a light in a dark room. I wasn’t prepared for the rush of emotion—the realization, the awareness of a new state of affairs. It was amazing. I had to, as they say, wrap my head around this new reality.
According to Mark, after Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler, his departure, and Jesus’ statement that it was difficult for one with riches to enter the Kingdom of God, the disciples were amazed. Their culture taught that material prosperity was a sign of God’s blessing—the more one prospered, the greater the blessing. “And the disciples were amazed at his words. But answering again, Jesus said to them, ‘Children, how difficult it is to enter into the Kingdom of God.’” (Mark 10:24) (The King James Version includes the phrase “those who trust in riches,” but that phrase does not appear in most early manuscripts; Jesus had already expressed that idea.)
This is the only place in the Gospels where Jesus refers to his followers as “children.” According to the writers, the disciples were shocked when Jesus told the young man to sell all his possessions and then come follow him. They were even more astonished when he told them it was difficult to enter the Kingdom of God.
Some writers believe Jesus’ use of the term “children” suggested the disciples were immature in their thinking. More likely, however, he used it as a term of endearment. They had already abandoned all possessions to follow him and were still learning. Earlier, Jesus had taken children in his arms and taught that one must be like them to enter the Kingdom. After all, the disciples were letting nothing stand between themselves and the Kingdom of God.
Jesus was not advocating poverty but warning against allowing anything to come between the believer and the Father. Thus, it would have been comforting to be called “children.”
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