Scripture Daily

Context No. 3773 of 4322 · Mark

Context · Reflection

Mark 10:10-16: in context

10In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter. 11He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12If a woman herself divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” 13They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. 14But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. 15Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” 16He took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Jesus first speaks soberly of the seriousness of marriage, that God intends it to be lasting, not lightly broken. Then, when people bring little children to him and the disciples try to turn them away, Jesus is indignant: let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

And he adds a searching word: whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. What is it about a child that Jesus holds up? Not innocence in some sentimental sense, but the way a small child receives, with empty hands, without any pretense of earning or deserving, simply trusting and depending on the one who loves them. That is how the kingdom must be received: not achieved by the competent and self-sufficient, but received as a gift by those humble enough to come with a child's open, trusting dependence. And Jesus takes them in his arms and blesses them, a picture of how he receives all who come to him so.

Do I come to God with the open hands and trusting dependence of a little child, receiving the kingdom as a gift, rather than approaching him as one who imagines he can earn or deserve it?

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