The stigma of, "of little value and importance"; looked down upon and who would want to bother with them.
So saying, what is this?!
People with babies converging upon Jesus!
What ever for?
Well, they wanted Jesus to "place His hands on their babies and children," of all things! Perhaps they wanted His blessing or Jesus' healing touch upon them.
That seemed rather presumptuous to the disciples.
Why?
Some clues could be that the infant/child mortality rate was high and a significant majority of the young didn't make it to adulthood. There were precious few, if any, vaccines back then and it's well-known antibiotics were not available, as yet, for eras. Consequently, death rates were high. Therefore, if a wee person wasn't going to make it to adulthood--the child would be seen to have minimal value. A dim view, I know.
Thus, the disciples scolding the parents, telling them not to bother Jesus. Their attitudes had imbibed societies' outlook; the young and slaves (also termed "children") were not to be taken notice of nor to be entertained. Why bother Jesus and take up His time. Couldn't the people see Jesus was busy with "more important" work?
It takes you aback some seeing as how the disciples had already spent considerable time on the road with Jesus by this time and should have guessed, at least, Jesus' take on the matter. After all, they'd recently heard His parables about the persistent widow and the praying tax collector; two other categories of people looked down upon, where Jesus is more or less making a pointed point that they are, indeed, of worth.
My feeling is, the disciples should have hesitated to shoo the people and children away from Jesus. Strange that they did not.
Remember Luke 17:1-4 where Jesus talks about rebuking, repentance and forgiving? Here's an occasion for rebuking. Jesus rebukes His disciples for barring the young from Him. Jesus then called the children to Himself and announced,
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Luke 18:16 NIV).
He punches that on further by making extra note of them, using this as a teaching moment for another good lesson, and vilifying the peoples' desire for Jesus to place His hands on their children.
Jesus goes on to say that the Kingdom of God belongs to
"...such as these..."
So called, "helpless and frail" children, have wholehearted trust, were in a humble position, and were therefore more ready to receive the Kingdom of God as a gift from Him.
Children can think, but compared to adults, their reasoning power has not yet been honed to ask more questions or make excuses to hinder themselves from coming into the Kingdom of God. They have the tendency for greater dependency upon their parents and accepting hearts to receive what they are told.
Yes, that could be tricky, especially with con artists around, yet, Jesus' point was that adults could and should take note that they too, need to have that kind of total dependence upon God, their Heavenly Father.
After all, salvation is totally the work of God. Any merits or achievements we think we might have can't help even one iota! It's...
"...by God's grace we are saved, through faith (Ephesians 2:8).
A gift spawned from God's grace.
What a wonderful "object" lesson Jesus unfolded to the disciples, and to the milling, listening crowds. Don't underestimate the child, widow, nor the tax collector segment of society, either. No discrimination.
Taking a breather, step back and review what we've learned the past while about the Kingdom of God before pressing on to the next segment of verses.
So what do we know?
The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which can grow from the tiniest of seeds into a tree capable of sheltering birds who favor building their nests therein. This is symbolic in that people from all nations: North, South, East and West, will come and shelter in the Kingdom of God through God's grace and salvation, and that through Jesus Christ.
No one can say, "Here it is," or "There it is," yet it's influence is noticed, similarly to how you can see the effects of the wind against the trees, grass and our wind-blown hair. The influence is also akin to yeast in bread; again, it can't be seen but the evidence of raising bread, tells you of its presence.
Life within people of faith gives evidence of the Kingdom of God within them, in the way their attitudes and character are shaped and sculpted by their obedience to God's will and ways as learned from His Word.
The Kingdom of God comes suddenly. Before they know it, faith has done its work and one here and one there come to Christ. Of course, in the end, the Kingdom of God, with Jesus the King, will reign and rule on earth in a millennium to come.
Now we have learned that a person must humbly enter the Kingdom of God, as a child, with wholehearted trust, openly receptive and by God's grace, in full dependency upon Him. What more could there be?
Enter the rich Jewish leader into Jesus' space. He calls Jesus "good"; "good Teacher".
Was he trying to flatter or gain favor from Jesus? Did he truly believe Jesus to be "good"? Did he believe Jesus to be God? Apparently, back then, the term "good" was reserved for addressing God and God, alone, designating one of His attributes (info gleaned from SPM book footnotes).
So which was the man's perspective?
It seems to be the flatter rather than the latter, judging from Jesus' confronting him. Jesus, knew the man's heart and goes for it. The man says he has kept all those commandments, yet Jesus knows he lacks one thing which was of utmost essential need.
Did the man hear correctly?
"Sell all you possess and give to the poor and you will have riches in Heaven; then come follow Me"! (vs 22 NIV)
What?
"Sell all!?"
The man could not take it. He became "very sad" because he was "very rich" (vs 23). This man was attempting to save his life.
Hearken back to Luke 11:33 (NIV), which tell us,
"Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it."
The man had counted the cost, found it too great, and that he could not "spend" his earthly wealth and possessions for heavenly riches. No wonder his heavy sadness.
If he had used his wealth to buy treasure in heaven he would have been able to go on his way blessed and rejoicing. His wealth was his 'god'.
Truly,
"...no man can serve two masters...you cannot serve both God and money" (Luke 16:13 NIV).
Isn't it great that Jesus didn't say it was "impossible" for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God? He just said it was "hard" (vs 24). There is allowance, and praise God for those brothers and sisters in Christ, who our Heavenly Father has endowed with over and above finances, and who use it generously for His glory and honor, and furthering the Kingdom of God, buying treasure in Heaven.
Jesus loved to tell mini-stories from every day life, to illustrate His point. He talks about the camel having difficulties going through the eye of the needle. Likely this reference was NOT the sewing needle, rather a place in Jerusalem where there was a very small passage, which, in order for camels to get through, they had to some how kneel down and crawl through. Their heavy burdens removed in aid of that. All round, an awkward, difficult manoeuvre.
The incredulous listeners exclaimed,
"Who then can be saved?"
Who then, indeed!
Human beings bump up against many obstacles in becoming "like a child" and simply accepting Jesus Christ, the Door into the kingdom of God or even to living the God-honoring life once they are in the Kingdom.
What are your obstacles? Think about it. Pray and seek God's help to overcome. Don't make the tragic decision as the rich Jewish leader did. Only our full dependence on Christ leads us to, and through "The Door" into His Kingdom.
Riches or anything else we've achieved, are God's sign of blessing and we need to use them for Him, exercising accountable stewardship thereof. Don't allow riches to be an obstacle, rather, turn them into an asset, serving you, and more importantly, God and His purposes.
Peter's boast makes you chuckle. In Luke chapter 18 and verse 28 he declares,
"We have left all we had to follow You."
Oh my, he was so pleased with himself and his cohorts.
Talk about patting yourself on the back. Yes, he and his brother Andrew; their partners, James and John, and the others truly, "left all". In Peter's case his source of income: fishing boat and nets. This is a huge thing, no doubt about it. They had counted the cost but sounded a bit proud about it.
God's Word says,
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."
We need to watch out for pride.
I know of a brother, who had had a very good paying job, and who did leave all. He and his wife had had six children, all of them, as yet still underfoot, therefore they had eight mouths to feed, bodies to clothe, and heads to cover with a roof. All this without confirmed income, except that God's Word had said He'd supply all their needs.
They left father, mother and country to "follow Jesus" in the call the parents had had on their lives in the service of the King to 'buy" treasure for heaven and the Kingdom of God. Yet, in all the decades of humble, faithful following, not once did they go without a meal except, by choice. They were always clothed, and always protected by a roof.
Many others have faithfully and sincerely done likewise, also minus the pride.
Yet, this boast of 'goodness" could be an obstacle. The Jewish leader was not a bad man; in fact, he must have been very righteous if he'd truly kept all of God's commandments. Perhaps he thought he was "good enough" and the "lack" Jesus pinpointed was not really so crucial--he could have philosophized.
Let us beware of pride and any other hindrance that could set in and hold us back from full dependence on our Heavenly Father. Don't depend on self. Our hearts can deceive us if we're not careful (Jeremiah 17:9). Examine your hearts and minds; count the cost and humbly, wholeheartedly, put your hand in the hand of Jesus, and come, follow Him, unswervingly onward, till He comes.
Follow, "like a child".
~ERC June 2020~
Based on Luke 18:15-17 and 18-30.
Song, as sung by Johnny Cash and an appearance of others, like Anne Murray, singing, Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man
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