Luke 18:15-17--Let the Children Come to Me

Luke 18:15-17
English Standard Version
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Let the Children Come to Me
15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

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The scene shifts now as we are stop focusing on Jesus' parables that seem to condemn the Pharisees and the focus shifts back to the regular people in the crowds.  They start bringing their children to Him so that He might bless them (something common for Rabbis to do).

The disciples saw these children as an annoyance and hinderance to what Jesus was trying to do, and they tried to keep the children away from Him.  Jesus commanded them not to forbid the children from coming to Him because the kingdom of heaven (the main theme of Jesus' recent parables) is made up of such as these.  What did He mean by that?

Did Jesus mean that all children under a certain age go to heaven?  Many believe that, but I don't think that's what Jesus was saying here.  I think Jesus is saying that we are to God like these little children were to their parents and these disciples.  We are totally dependent on Him and we are trying to reach Him so that He might bless us, and He desires to do so, even though it may seem like an inconvenience to do so.

I think there's also something being said here about that fact that we need to start early with teaching our children about Jesus and the truth of the gospel so that they might be a part of the kingdom of heaven.  The older generation was already set in their ways and we see that they heard the truth but resisted it.  These children still had hearts and minds that were pliable and malleable, and they were eager to learn about God and His plan for them.  Some of these children were probably too young to fall into that category yet, but we should not prevent the little children from learning about spiritual things saying "You'll learn about that when you're older" because by the time they are "older," they may already have their worldview set in stone and it will be much harder to reach them.  Many, many people who become Christians do so before the age of 12, or at least, they have a story where that's where they first understood that Jesus dies for their sins and that they needed to repent and believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus to receive eternal life.  Some of these children though don't understand the Lordship of Jesus and the transformation that is to take place as Jesus makes all things new--that is what discipleship is about, and too often, children are cut out of this process until they are much older (if they ever receive it) and they have a second "come to Jesus" moment when they realize they are still living their life according to the flesh and need to make Jesus Lord and not just Savior.  This is the story of my father and myself and many others that I know.  However, the fact that someone cared to take us to church or vacation Bible school, or read the Bible to us as a child was a huge part of our coming to Jesus.  If God has put it within a child's heart to be curious and ask questions about God and the Bible, take the time to treat those questions seriously, and give the questions the same kind of serious attention you would if an adult asked you that question because it's going to make an impression on the child if you don't that either you don't care about them (that feeling doesn't go away when they grow up) or that you don't really care about God or the Bible (that feeling also doesn't go away when they grow up).  They may not understand everything now, but if you treat their questions seriously when they are young, they will know they can come to you when they get older and their questions get more serious or they have reached a point where they will remember something you talked about and they are ready to ask the question again so that they can better understand it.  If you do not disciple the children in your church to help them form a proper worldview, the world will be happy to do that for you through public schools, TV, movies, music, video games, the internet, and much, much more.  So, do not prevent the children from coming to Jesus because you just might be sending a message to them that you don't care if they go to heaven or not (or that you really don't want them there).  Jesus welcomed them with open arms and we should too.