I enjoy reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John because they are written by 4 different men and are a description of many of the same events along the same time line. Even so, there are just slight changes or additions in detail. John spends time recounting the highest number of miracles that Jesus performed in his effort to define the character of Jesus while Luke has a much more personal rendition of Jesus’ life.
We are celebrating Easter, or Resurrection Day as my mother accurately calls it, early this year. As I watch the children prepare and the parents groom them for the upcoming festivities, I think about when Jesus was blessing the children on His way to Jerusalem. There are 3 renditions 0f this event and each one is just slightly different. They are found in Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16, and Luke 18:15-17.
All three say that the people were bringing the very small children to Jesus so He could pray for them and the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “ let the little children come to me for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth anyone who will not accept the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it.”
How does a child accept something new and exciting that they can’t see? They listen with rapt attention and sense of intrigue. They trust the deliverer of this explanation intrinsically! Think about when a child is told about the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus for the first time and the wide-eyed amazement that accompanies the excitement, anticipation and vision of this unknown new marvel! Children trust us to be telling them the honest truth and they have no reason to doubt us. So rather than give us excuses or rational about why they don’t think they should believe us, they gobble up the details and it becomes, then, a thread in their lives. At what point does skepticism overtake our innocent acceptance this clouding our clarity of thought? It is so simple a story and so simple a request for us to believe and be grateful for the precious gift of salvation. What a sermon it would be if we went as children, to sit at the feet of the teacher and learn what new and exciting things he had to share!
Can you tap into your child-like faith?!
We are celebrating Easter, or Resurrection Day as my mother accurately calls it, early this year. As I watch the children prepare and the parents groom them for the upcoming festivities, I think about when Jesus was blessing the children on His way to Jerusalem. There are 3 renditions 0f this event and each one is just slightly different. They are found in Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16, and Luke 18:15-17.
All three say that the people were bringing the very small children to Jesus so He could pray for them and the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “ let the little children come to me for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth anyone who will not accept the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it.”
How does a child accept something new and exciting that they can’t see? They listen with rapt attention and sense of intrigue. They trust the deliverer of this explanation intrinsically! Think about when a child is told about the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus for the first time and the wide-eyed amazement that accompanies the excitement, anticipation and vision of this unknown new marvel! Children trust us to be telling them the honest truth and they have no reason to doubt us. So rather than give us excuses or rational about why they don’t think they should believe us, they gobble up the details and it becomes, then, a thread in their lives. At what point does skepticism overtake our innocent acceptance this clouding our clarity of thought? It is so simple a story and so simple a request for us to believe and be grateful for the precious gift of salvation. What a sermon it would be if we went as children, to sit at the feet of the teacher and learn what new and exciting things he had to share!
Can you tap into your child-like faith?!
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