Jesus Prays for the Little Children

One of the characteristics that attracted people to Jesus must have been His love for children. In 17:18 He healed a boy that had been sometime possessed of a devil. In 18:2-3 He called a child unto Himself and picked the child up in His arms using him as a sermon illustration. In John 4:50 Jesus healed the Roman officials son. Jesus used the qualities of children to provoke people to righteous behavior (18:3). He became known as a Teacher that loved children. So it is not surprising that the people would bring their children to Jesus. The language used to describe this event in Mark 10:13 and Luke 18:15 suggests that the people continued to bring their children to Jesus. In other words, it wasn’t an isolated incident. It was a normal ongoing occurrence for people to bring their children to Jesus.

The word used for children here is “paida” which would describe children from infancy to toddler. The word Luke uses in Luke 18:15 describes babies. Luke says they were bringing infants to Jesus. So we see from Scripture that children of all ages were being brought to Jesus. We can only imagine the stress that so many children could add to the daily routine of the disciples. We see in verse 13 that the disciples were rebuking the parents that were bringing their children to Jesus. The disciples wanted the people to stop bringing their children to Jesus. You would have thought that the disciples would have remembered what Jesus said in 18:1-4 and welcomed the children. But obviously, they did not.

I think the disciples just felt that Jesus was too busy to deal with children. We shouldn’t assume that the disciples did not love children. They just figured they had too much going on to be dealing with them. It is clear from the text that these children were not suffering from birth defects, demon possession or illness. Jesus did not heal these children because they did not need healing. These children were brought to Jesus for a different reason. It was a common thing for parents to bring their children to the synagogue and have elders pray for them. As well, they would pray for their own children at the synagogue. It was a gesture that suggested they would be teaching their child to live by God’s laws. We see a type of that in many Protestant denominations today. Some call it baby dedication. People bring their children to church and have the pastor/elders pray for the child and they make a commitment to raise the child for the Lord. I think this is a wonderful custom. The people saw Jesus as a religious leader, although He was not operating in the synagogue. They saw that it would be beneficial if this great Man prayed for their children. You have to admire their love for their children.

I can almost see Jesus praying one at a time for these children while a line of parents wait their turn. From the corner of His eye He notices that the disciples are speaking with the families and telling them that the Master does not have time for them today. The disciples were probably succeeding in convincing some of the parents to leave Jesus alone. That is probably what prompted this rebuke from the Lord. Look at verse 14 and you will see that Jesus gets a little upset with the disciples. In fact Mark 10:14 tells us that Jesus got angry with the disciples over this matter.

Jesus responds with “Suffer little children to come unto Me and forbid them not”. Jesus is telling the disciples to quit hindering the children from being brought to Him and to allow them to come to Him. The disciples were placing a type of stumbling block before these children hindering them from coming to the Lord (18:6). We could also say that they were looking down on (despising) these little children. Jesus warned against that in 18:10. They should have known better after hearing the discourse that Jesus gave in chapter 18. Christ is making it clear that the children that are being brought to Him are not a burden. He desires that they be brought to Him.

Jesus says “of such is the kingdom of heaven”. We have already noted that Jesus teaches that certain qualities of children are necessary for us to enter the kingdom. We mentioned that they are humble in their trust, humble in their response to discipline and that they are teachable. We could list many more traits that children have and kingdom people need. But the point, I think, is clear enough. I think Jesus is also saying “these little children are going to heaven”. He is certainly not saying that children are sinless; we know that we are all born sinners (Psalm 51:5). Nor is He teaching that these children are saved because they have good parents that believe in Him. Scripture teaches that faith must be personal (Eph. 2:8-10). I think Jesus is just letting us know that these children are going to heaven. I believe there is an age which children reach when they must put their faith in Christ or perish. But I think that these children were not that old yet. These were very small children. The truth that God takes little children to heaven when they die encouraged David when his child died (2 Sam. 12:23). But we should also remember that even those children that die in fancy are saved by the grace of God through the sacrifice in which Christ had made for all of humanity. Those children in heaven would be aware of that and eternally grateful to Christ for atoning for their sins.

After Jesus rebukes the disciples He lays His hands on them and prays for them. Notice the text tells us that Jesus did not leave until He had prayed for the children. I wish it would have told us what He prayed. That is a prayer that I would have like to hear. We are left to deduce His desires for children from the rest of His teachings. Let us think of how we ought to respond to children.

We ought to encourage them to come to Jesus. I think that is the most clear of all Jesus desires. He wants the children to come to Him. They cannot come to Him if they grow up rejecting Him. It is our responsibility to do everything we can to ensure that children are not hindered from coming to Christ. Every church should have a ministry to children. Not only the children that belong to the parishioners of the church. The church should also reach out to the community of children around them that do not have parents that will bring them to Church. Some have developed the mindset that if the parents will not come then we should not bring the children. After all someone has to pick up the children, watch the children while they are at church and then take the children home. That can get to be a burden. But it shouldn’t. We resemble the disciples in this text when we think that way. The church should encourage children to come to Jesus. We can do that by developing age appropriate ministries and reaching out to the spiritual orphans in our community.

There is another more subtle way that I think we hinder children from coming to Jesus. Sometimes we act as if they are too young to know what they are doing. If we are not careful we will turn children away by continually second guessing their desire to come to Christ. When a child voices their desire to be saved we should take it seriously. Too often we do not. We will allow them to pray a prayer but then forbid them from following through with baptism. I certainly understand that parents/teachers want to be sure that children understand the gospel. But we should also beware of being too critical about a child’s desire to obey the command of Scripture. Jesus says let the children come to Him and part of that is obviously being baptized.

We ought to teach them how to follow Christ. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is a beautiful portion of Scripture that commands God’s people to teach God’s word to their children. The implication is that teaching children God’s Word ensures a godly seed for the next generation. Much of discipleship is to be done in the church. We mentioned that already. But most of discipleship is to be done in the home. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:4 to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Certainly we are to teach by example. Our words mean nothing if we do not live them. But there is to be instruction in the home about Christ as well. Children should learn basic things such as prayer, giving, forgiveness in the home. But they should also learn truths about God in the home. The home is to be a place in which children are taught sound doctrine. In doing this we are teaching our children to come to Christ and to stay with Him. We are ensuring that long after we are gone that our grandchildren and great grandchildren will be coming to Jesus as well. Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it”.

We ought to minister to orphans. James 1:27 says that to do so is to practice pure religion. We sing “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world…” and He obviously does. But we should do more that sing it, we ought to show it. There are many places where children are treated as animals. They are left to wander the streets, starved, abused, etc. many of these countries are underdeveloped and the people feel they cannot afford to raise the children. Therefore children are left to fend for themselves. In many of these countries there is also not a strong presence of churches and Christians. I think one of the best ways to reach these nations is to go into them and open orphanages. Christian orphanages do more than take care of children. They have the opportunity to raise up an army of teachers, missionaries, pastors, etc for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is much easier to raise a child for Christ than reach an adult for Him. Therefore, ministering to orphans accomplishes two very important things: meeting the needs of hurting children and developing missionaries in unreached countries.

So in these few verses we see the love that Christ has for children. We also see what He wants the world to do with its children. Jesus wants all children brought to Him. Obviously we cannot travel to Jerusalem and take our children physically y to Jesus. But we can bring our children to Jesus spiritually speaking. And if we succeed we do know that they will eventually be brought to Jesus physically someday. As a parent it is very sobering to me to know that my children will probably follow me wherever I go. What I mean is that my example, my lifestyle is more important than anything else. It is not enough for me to say “Go to Jesus” if I do not go to Jesus myself. If I love Christ and if I love my children I will bring them to the Lord through my doctrine and my deeds. If we do not do all we can to bring our children to Christ we should be concerned. If we have children we should understand they are a steward. God has given them to us. And He expects us to give them back to Him. We do that by bringing them to Jesus. Where are we taking our kids? To an education, a vacation, a career, a sport, to indulge in pleasure…We are taking them somewhere. We ought to be bringing them to Jesus. I don’t think it is hard to discover if we are or not. All we have to do is listen to them, watch them or perhaps even ask them. Let us do that and if we find we are leading them away from Christ let’s turn them back to Him.

Thoughts to Consider

1. Thank God for parents that see the worth in bringing their children to Jesus.

2. Sometimes adults do immature things when dealing with children.

3. It angers Christ to keep a child from coming to Him.

4. Parents and the church have a responsibility to do all they can to bring children to Christ.