SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/25/2023 10:28 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Jesus Loves the Little Children”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
19:13-15
Message of the verses: “13 Then some
children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray;
and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, "Let the children
alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven
belongs to such as these." 15 And after laying His hands on them, He
departed from there.”
We are not sure how long it was after Jesus finished
teaching about marriage, divorce, remarriage, and singleness that parents began
to bring their children to Jesus, for they knew that Jesus loved children. John MacArthur writes “Both Mark and Luke use
the imperfect tense (‘they were bringing’), indicating a continuing process and
likely an extended period of time (Mark 10:13; Luke 18:15). When word spread that Jesus was in the area,
parents were drawn to this Teacher whose love of children had become known
throughout Palestine (cf. 17:18; 18:2-3; John 4:50).”
The
Greek word for children used here was paidia,
and this was a term referring to young children from infancy through perhaps
toddler age. Let us look at the
companion verse Luke 18:15 “And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would
touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them.”
As we continue looking at these verses I see
something that has always bothered me, and that is that the disciples of Jesus
resented the intrusion into their private time with Jesus and so they rebuked
the parents. As I look at how the men of
this time actually treated their wives and were able to divorce them for any
reason as we have just spent a considerable amount of time looking at I wonder
if this was a part of the reason that the disciples rebuked the parents as they
brought their children to Jesus. I know
that for a long period of time we have been studying this part of Matthew where
Jesus was spending much time in teaching His disciples to prepare them for when
He would be gone, but like I say I don’t understand why the disciples acted
like they did when these parents brought their children to Jesus. John MacArthur writes on this subject: “As more and more parents brought their
children to Jesus, the disciples continued to try to repulse them. Obviously the Twelve, who had spent the
better part of two years living with Jesus and hearing every word He spoke and
observing everything He did, did not yet fully share His mind and heartbeat.” All I can say is “Obviously.”
MacArthur
goes on explain: “Only a few days
earlier Jesus had taken a young child in His arms in the disciples’
presence. Specifically for the sake of
the disciples, who were in the midst of a dispute about who was the greatest in
the kingdom, He had declared, ‘Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 18:1-4). No doubt at countless other times the Twelve
had witnessed similar expressions of Jesus’ tenderness and gentleness and His
great patience with those who came to Him for help. They had seen His compassion pour out in an
endless flow of healing, encouragement, and comfort.
“They
also knew that the Talmud taught Jewish parents to bring their children to
respected rabbis for blessings and prayer.
A father would customarily bring his infant child to the synagogue and
pray for the child himself. He would
then hand it to the elders, who would each hold it and pray for God’s blessing
on the young life. Many churches today
follow a somewhat similar pattern in prayerfully dedicating small children to
the Lord.”
Lord
willing we will continue looking at this subject in our next SD.
2/25/2023 10:56 AM
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