Let the Children Come

Matthew 19:13-14

The Little Children and Jesus

13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Mark 9:37

37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

In the first century, children were viewed as little more than property. Their place in society was often precarious. To elevate children and claim that they were children of God, loved by God, valued by God and to be put in a place of honour in society was a revolutionary concept, but this is exactly what Jesus did.

Psalm 104:16

16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,

    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

The Middle East is often an arid land. Large, lush forests are uncommon in the Holy Land and this makes the forested hills of Lebanon an exotic symbol of wealth. The Cedars of Lebanon, throughout the Bible, are the source of timber for the great temples and a symbol of God's limitless grace.

Psalm 27:16

16 May grain abound throughout the land;
    on the tops of the hills may it sway.
May the crops flourish like Lebanon
    and thrivea]">[a] like the grass of the field.

The Hills of Lebanon, a land of exotic wealth, are extolled throughout the Bible as a symbol of God's blessings.

1 Samuel 16:23

23 Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

King David was marked by God, from the beginning, to be the patriarch of the Throne of David, a line of Kings, that though broken very quickly, would be the ancestral family through which he would bring Jesus, the final King.

Saul was King of Judea when David was a boy. It was David, the boy soldier, who slew Goliath the fierce Philistine warrior and it was David of whom it was said, "He was a man after God's own heart."