ChosenRebel's Blog

I was reading this morning in Mark and saw something that I had never seen before. Side note: Isn’t that remarkable in itself!  I have been a Bible reader for over 50 years, have read the Gospel of Mark at least 100, maybe 150 times, and I am still making new observations and discoveries in God’s eternally relevant word! The depth and mercy of this living, two-edged sword of the Word of God is amazing!

Okay, back to what I saw.

The passage is short but it gives a window into both the compassion of Jesus and the surliness of the early disciples in the beginning of their journey with Christ.

Jesus Blesses Little Children

¹³ And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” ¹⁶ And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.^[1]

Assumption:    Jesus does everything with both purpose and effect.

So, what was His purpose? Well, it seems that Jesus wanted to bless the children. He wanted to hold them, to lay hands on them, and speak a blessing over them. And it seems that the effect was that these children and their families were truly blessed. They received something from Jesus. There was an effect. This was not merely a symbol of something. No, something tangible was given to the small child (implied) that transferred to the child from Jesus through the laying on of hands. What that blessing was, we don’t know. But a blessing it was.

My point is that it wasn’t just a “right of passage” ceremony.
It wasn’t just a symbol of something else.
It wasn’t just a “pat on the head,” (“Good boy” or “Aren’t you a good girl?” like one might do with an infant or a pet.)
A real transaction took place between the blesser (Jesus) and blessed (the child).

The biblical scene reminds me of an experience I had years ago in a Calvary Chapel worship service in California. My wife and I were newly married and still childless. We had not yet selected a church to worship in together. Someone had recommended the Calvary Chapel Packing House, that met in a large “packing house” of a former orange grove. On this particular Sunday, a number of infants were being “dedicated” to God by their parents. One by one, the parents handed their infant son or daughter to one of the pastors of the church, who would then lay his hand on the child’s forehead, look up to heaven, close his eyes and speak a prayer of blessing over the child. The prayer expressed the hope of both the parents and the pastor for the child’s physical, emotional and, most of all, spiritual health in the future.

That particular Sunday, I confess, I did not obey the pastor when he invited us to bow with him in prayer. Instead, I peaked at the pastor as he prayed. One particular little boy, as I recall, was particularly challenging for the pastor to control. You know the kind. He was a bit squirmy and inquisitive. And as the pastor sought to pray and hold the young lad, he kept grabbing for the microphone. The pastor would lean forward to the microphone and the boy would grab it and twist it, and the pastor would try to adjust both the boy and microphone. It kept happening. It was quite comical. At least I found it so. Most of the congregation was oblivious to what was going on because unlike me, their heads were bowed in prayer. But for me, through my internal chuckle at the whole scene, I felt like I was experiencing something sacred.

A transaction was taking place and the child was oblivious to the importance of the moment. It was a snapshot in time where heaven was imprinted on a life. What was the significance of the blessing? What would God do as a result of two parents expressed faithfulness to God in the hope for blessing of their treasured child? I don’t know. None of us do. But the hope is real. Its ground is in nothing less than the practice of our Savior who was “indignant with” His own disciples for seeking to prevent the moment (see verse 14).

Parents, you who long for God’s blessing upon the treasured lives entrusted to you, remember these things. Your hope is valid. Keep entrusting your treasures to Him. He loves the little children. 

[Composed on the drive back from Chicago, while my beautiful and driving-loving wife was behind the wheel.]

^[1] Legacy Standard Bible (Mk 10:13–16). (2022). Three Sixteen Publishing.