Throughout the four Gospels we read about people coming to Jesus. A leper came to him to be cured of his awful, yucky skin disease. Four men came to him to heal their paralyzed friend. Large crowds came to him to be cured of every type of sickness. One day, some parents brought their children to him. Why? Were the children sick? No. Were they hungry? No. Were they dying? No. They brought their children to Jesus so he might lay his loving hands on them and give them a special blessing. How beautiful! It is beautiful that these parents wanted that. It is beautiful that Jesus wanted that too. Not many powerful people want little children around. Little children can be noisy, messy, and, well, sometimes stinky. None of that bothered our Lord, who “took them in his arms and blessed them” (Mark 10:16).

But it bothered his disciples. When they saw this, they told the parents to stop. They thought Jesus was too busy, too important, and too powerful to waste his precious time with children. But, boy, were they wrong. When Jesus saw what his disciples did, “he was indignant” (10:14). Indignant is a big word that means angry, upset, or furious. Why was Jesus so upset? There were two reasons: (1) Jesus welcomed children to be part of his kingdom, and (2) everyone (even an adult) needs to be like a child to be part of the kingdom. He put it this way: “Let the children come to me . . . for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (10:14–15). Jesus didn’t mean everyone should act like selfish, spoiled children crying for candy at the supermarket. Rather, he meant that we should come to Jesus knowing that we are small, helpless, weak (like a newborn baby), and in need of his blessing.