A Thought

“[Jesus said], Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.  Assuredly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”  Mark 10:14, 15

Children have a special way about them.  Everything we want and everything we hope for is invested in our children (and not only our biological ones!).  As Jesus points out, the ideal – the very best of faith – is perfected in the praise of children because they have not been so tainted by the world that they learn to doubt and to suspect.  They simply believe.  They trust.  They are the very portrait of innocence.  I think this is why the sight and sound of a young one crying as if with a broken heart is what breaks the heart of even the hardest of men – because the beauty and perfection of that Divine image and innocence have been violated. 

This perfection of faith is the absolute standard in the Kingdom of Heaven and is the reason why Jesus obviously has a soft spot for the little ones.  We mistreat them or harm their innocence in any way, and we will stand before the Lord.  I don’t know that anything can save us at that point with that kind of stain because the One who will save us on the Last Day is the One who also said “it would be better if a millstone were tied to your neck and you were dropped into the depth of the sea”.

This is the reason why the Church must always pay attention to the community’s children.  If these little ones have need, the Church is on the hook; but we need not look to such a thing as a “threat” of judgment but rather as an opportunity to do something wonderful for the little ones and to fulfill that to which the Church is called.  It is a Divine Compliment that such an awesome task has been so entrusted to the Lord’s people.  It is the perfect portrait of the Body of Christ, the Church, to which the little children must never be forbidden to come and must never be withheld.

Blessings,

Michael