Reading 29
Let the children come
The reading
Mark 10:13-16
They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
The companions
Psalm 131
LORD, my heart isn’t haughty, nor my eyes lofty; nor do I concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me. Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. Israel, hope in the LORD, from this time forward and forever more.
Isaiah 40:11
He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
The note
The disciples are running access control. They decide who is worth his time and turn away the people with nothing to offer. It looks like protecting him. Jesus is angry about it, and we are told so directly, which is rare.
Then he takes the ones they filtered out and makes them the example. Whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child will not enter it.
A small child has no record. No history of good decisions, no standing, nothing to trade. Everything else you deal with runs on record: your credit, your reputation, your years in the job, the account of yourself you have been building since you were twenty.
This does not. You arrive with nothing and are held anyway.
That is easy to hear and hard to accept, particularly if you are competent. Competence is the exact thing that does not help here.
This week
Find the person you have been filtering out. Someone whose message you have not answered because they want something and can give you nothing back: a beginner, a stranger, someone junior, someone asking for more of your time than you planned to give.
Answer one of them properly this week. Not a holding reply. Then notice how the sorting works in you, how fast it runs, and on what basis.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” in the Psalm.
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