The Lord Jesus and the little Children

THE attitude of the Lord Jesus to all classes and conditions of men whom He came to save must ever be of interest to the Church of Christ. The halt, the lame, the deaf, the blind, and the poor came under His notice while He tabernacled among men. Their helplessness, their need, their sickness, their sorrows made their appeal to His compassionate heart. No stage of human life was beyond the sphere of His benign mission; for He came into this world to seek and save the lost. This is seen in His great condescension noticing little children. He had watched them at their play in the market place, when He administered rebuke to His disciples for their self-seeking pride He placed a little child before them, when His disciples would have turned the little ones away He took them up in His arms and blessed them and when the scribes and the chief priests, sore displeased at the children crying in the temple, Hosanna to the Son of David, He rebuked their proud critics and recognized in the children’s tribute the fulfilment of an oracle of God. In considering the attitude of our Lord there are two extremes which we must avoid—(1) vapid sentimentalism and (2) the attitude assumed by the disciples and the chief priests to the little ones. There is a kind of religious sentimentalism rampant in our day which finds expression in some well known children’s hymns and in statements about the innocence of children which must be avoided if we are to walk in the ways of soberness and truth. The sentiment so widely accepted to-day that all children are innocent in their infancy runs right in the face of the teaching of Scripture; for of all the millions born into this world there was only One innocent babe. All others came into this world as sinners and if they are to be with Christ forever they will be with Him not because they are infants, not because of their alleged innocence, but because they were given Him by the Father and redeemed by His blood. On the other hand we are in danger of falling into the other extreme and not thinking of the children as we ought to think of them. We may not assume quite the same attitude as the Disciples and the Chief Priests but we go perilously near to excluding the children, in our thoughts at anyrate, from the place given them by our Lord and Master. We are so ready to think that because they cannot grasp many of the truths of revelation therefore they are getting no benefit by attendance at the means of grace. Now, when this attitude of mind is examined into we will find that it is the outcome of a very anti-scriptural fallacy. A careful examination will reveal to us that it is based on the erroneous view that knowledge of the truth is dependent on our natural faculties and if these are wanting or undeveloped the truth cannot be received. This would lead us to the dangerous position that the fuller a man’s mental faculties are developed the better he is equipped to receive the truth. The whole position is built on a purely naturalistic basis and runs right in the face of the apostolic statement (I. Cor. ii. 14) that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; neither can he know them. In the reception of saving truth the great Apostle of the Gentiles was as dependent on the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit as Ewen Cameron or Angus of the Hills. The words of our Lord Jesus settles this question forever—”I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Matt. xi. 25). With these preliminary remarks we now proceed to notice:

1. Christ’s attitude to the children in the temple-court.
2. The Lord’s gentle reception of the children when the Disciples would have turned them away.

3. Our Lord’s rebuke to the Disciples’ pride by placing a child in their midst.

4. Christ’s attitude to the children in the temple-court.
   Matthew is the only one of the Evangelists who mentions the hosannas of the children in the temple. The triumphal entry had just taken place—the multitude’s shout of “Hosanna to the Son of David” had but died down when Jesus entered the temple. He was followed by the blind and the lame and a company of little children who were still repeating the beautiful Hebrew words from Ps. cxviii.—“Hosanna to the Son of David.” Instead of this sight touching the hearts of the chief priests and the scribes we are told that when they saw “the wonderful things that He did and the children crying in the temple” they were “sore displeased.” And their displeasure found vent in the words: “Hearest thou what these say?” Jesus accepted the tribute of homage paid to Him by the little ones and found in it a fulfilment of a divine oracle—“Yea; have ye never read,” was His answer, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” The whole incident is fitted to stir up the deepest feelings of the heart—the tribute of the little children in the temple, the displeasure of the chief priests and the acceptance of the Lord of Glory of the tribute paid to Him by the children in His Father’s House. It was a sight to attract the attention of the angel and the heavenly host which sang at His advent: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke ii. 14).

5. The Lord’s gentle reception of the children when the Disciples would have turned them away.
   In the Gospel according to Mark (x. 13-16) we are told that “they brought young children [Luke says infants] to Him, that He should touch them; and His disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased, and said unto them, “Suffer the 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, he shall not enter therein. And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them.” What a place He gave to the little children (infants)! Here two extremes meet—infinite might and human helplessness. Into His almighty arms the helpless infants are taken and receive His blessing—thrice happy little ones taken into the Saviour’s arms to receive the blessing of God’s dear Son! How different is His attitude from that of the Disciples—they rebuked those who brought the children. What an infinite mercy it is that admission into the kingdom of grace is not placed in the hands of even the best of men. Even the disciples were displeased with those who brought the infants in their arms to Jesus. When He saw this He was “much displeased” and said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” He, who is the great God, did not think it beneath Him to take notice of the little children. He met the children of the race to which we belong at the first stage of their journey in life for they too needed Him as a Saviour and He announced to all “that of such is the kingdom of God” and that this kingdom is to be received as a little child. We must carefully guard against a wrong interpretation of these words. They do not mean (1) that all that are in heaven are little children nor (2) that it is only little children who can receive the kingdom of God. It is the outstanding characteristics of the little child to which our attention is called in the Saviour’s words—a characteristic which holds true of children (infants) the wide world over. Teachableness, docility, readiness to accept instruction, it has been said by some is this characteristic but it is scarcely necessary to point out that this is not universally so. What then is the characteristic that holds true of infants throughout the earth? It is their weakness, their utter helplessness, as Dr. Warfield has so truly pointed out. The heir to the British throne in his infancy was no more capable of doing anything for himself than the infant of the poorest cottager in the King’s vast dominions. This helplessness applies to the children of all the races of the world—Black or White, Yellow or Red. The helplessness of the infant or little child is seen particularly in its inability to walk, to feed itself, or to clothe itself; all an infant can do is to cry. Now, the kingdom of God is of such—a people who could not walk, who could not feed themselves and who could not clothe themselves. The kingdom of God was not prepared for men and women who could walk in their own strength to heaven, who could feed themselves and clothe themselves spiritually. It was prepared for those who required that all this should be done for them. Furthermore the disposition which must characterise all that receive the kingdom of God is the helplessness of a little child. God’s salvation was not a salvation prepared for those who needed a little or even much help but it was prepared for a people who were totally ruined by sin and rendered hopelessly helpless as far as human power was concerned. He did it all and with Samuel Rutherford the Church of God can take its stand in saying: “I stand upon His merits; I know no other stand.”

6. Our Lord’s rebuke to the Disciples’ pride by placing a child in their midst.
   The incident as recorded in Mark is as follows: “And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them, and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but Him that sent me” (Mark ix. 36, 37). In the parallel passage of the Gospel according to Matthew it is further added: “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. xviii. 3-6). The occasion which gave rise to this discourse was the dispute among the Disciples who should be the greatest. The shadow of the cross was already thrown across the way. Our Lord told the Disciples plainly that “the Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day” (Mark ix. 31) but they understood not what He meant and they were afraid to ask Him. But the mystery of impending events did not so sober them that all question of pre-eminence was buried for the time being. The contentions of the disciples in which Self had such a prominent place is a humbling spectacle and gives cause to God’s people in all ages for deep searchings of heart. Self-seeking is one of those shortcomings into which God’s people are so prone to fall at all times. It is all the more dangerous because it is so easily seen and hated in others while it has such a prominent place in our own hearts. When Zebedee’s children (James and John) asked that one might sit at the Lord’s right hand and the other on His left (Mark x. 35) we see to what a length this self-seeking had gone in the little band. It is a common infirmity among the best of God’s people, even James and John were not free from it. Another hateful feature of it is brought to light in the Evangelist’s words “and when the ten heard it they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.” Was it because they thought it wrong? It may be, but we are rather inclined to think their indignation was due to the fact that the request if granted would have supplanted them and that James and John would have thus stolen a march on them. This view seems to fall in with the words addressed to the Disciples by our Lord. Why should this indignation go out against James and John when they all had given ample proof of their own self-seeking and why should the indignation be reserved for the shortcomings of others while none was reserved for themselves? If we take this view of it the indignation was not very heavenly to say the least of it; but we will not be too dogmatic on the interpretation offered. How did their Lord and Master deal with this spirit of self-seeking?—He set a little child in their midst and told them that whosoever would humble himself as this little child the same would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. A new standard is brought before them of what constitutes greatness in His kingdom and the Disciples must have heard of it with amazement—they must humble themselves before they can attain to the only greatness that is really worthy of the name. What a revolution the Lord made in the standards which He set before men. How different they were from their standards and how hard for flesh and blood to measure itself by these heavenly standards! Nevertheless by these standards we must stand or fall.