"And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein."
Todays lesson is a subtle one that is very profound in it's meaning and often misinterpreted.
When some of the people brought their children to Jesus for His blessing, the Apostles were offended that they would seemingly waste Jesus' time by bringing children when all things religious were discussed only by adult men.
Jesus, seeing an opportunity to teach a very important lesson, scolded them and said; "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." This meant the the Church would be made up of people who were young in the knowledge of the saving power of Jesus Christ, or the spiritually young. The actual children were only examples of the youth of His Church.
This lesson is not so much about children, in the literal sense, as it is about the ignorance of those early Christian adults concerning the new law of grace. Jesus was telling them they would have to learn the whole plan from the very beginning as a child learns about life with every step he/she takes.
The ignorance of those first members of the Church is very easily understood since the full plan of salvation could not possibly be understood until Jesus had completed His sacrificial ordeal and ascended back to heaven.Those who brought the children to Jesus were simply following Jewish the tradition of having their children blessed by a rabbi at a certain age. Jesus took advantage of the situation to teach today's lesson.
The final sentence in today's quote says; "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." This means that anyone attempting to mix any other religion with Christianity would be barred for entry into Christ's Church. A person must put away all other religious beliefs and isms and allow the spirit of the inner being to be as innocent as a Child as he/she accepts God's amazing grace through Jesus Christ.
Sadly, the vast majority of today's "Christianity" is a mixture of all manner of religions, including and most specifically, Roman Paganism, Hellenism and ancient Judaism.
The Catholic tradition of worshiping Mary as a coequal with Jesus and the requirement of water baptism as necessary to salvation come directly from the mixture of Judaism, Hellenism and Roman Paganism.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY guide to eternal salvation and entry into the Church and it must be approached with the open mind of a child.~
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY guide to eternal salvation and entry into the Church and it must be approached with the open mind of a child.~
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