A QUESTION OF FAITH
With Rev Malcolm Clarke of the Vine Coffee and Book Shop in Hinckley `PEOPLE were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ (from Mark’s Gospel Chapter 10)
The image of the children being prevented from coming to Jesus by well meaning but over enthusiastic disciples still gets our backs up. We are likely to overlook the closing comments to the effect that it’s more likely to be the simplicity of the child’s acceptance of The Kingdom of God rather than our adult cynicism about faith and God that will access that Kingdom; but the obstructive actions of the disciples doesn’t go unnoticed.
But surely the most important thing of all is in the opening few words; namely that `people were bringing little children to Jesus`. That’s a very outdated concept, sadly, today. When I was a child I was taken to Sunday School along with next door’s family. I stayed and later my Mum and Dad joined me at Church. But being brought to Jesus is something I have always been grateful for. And at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries hereabouts the Sunday Schools were packed and the Bible was used as a learning tool for reading and writing. Sunday School treats and so on. All long since gone.
Isn’t it time we brought the children to Jesus again? Knowing that times have changed and that not only will today’s disciples NOT be obstructive but they will be thrilled to bits to see the young coming for Jesus’ touch upon their lives again? Your families, your neighbourhoods? A place to benefit from moral instruction, all age encounters, and to learn the route to heaven for sure. But more than that. A place to receive the blessing of God and to know the Jesus who will go with us through all the twists and turns of life and then with us into glory. I see the negative reports on TV about lost and lonely individuals and groups of young people; and one longs for them to hear Good News and to know that there is a God in heaven who loves them and who will give them Life.
Who could you bring to Jesus? In your prayers? And to any of the weekday or weekend activities where Jesus has promised to be present? It may change someone’s life. It may change yours too.