When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:14)
As I pointed out in the preceding meditation, the author of Mark’s gospel invited children to the core of faith. (Mark 9:36, 37) The above verse, we meditate today, confirms it once again that the kingdom of God belongs to such children as these.
Who are ‘children’ here? As mentioned the preceding medication, the children of those days were treated badly. They were the minority isolated from main stream of society. However, they were accepted by God though they were isolated from people. These were tax collectors and sinners around Jesus.
However, the above explanation does not seem to explain the entire meaning of ‘these’. Practically it is not easy to say that such anti-social people also belong to ‘these’. People like terrorist and child kidnappers do not belong to the kingdom of heaven. Then are those people who keep their conscience among the isolated people in their society ‘these? How can we distinguish it?
We have to know that the Bible is not a social science book. We cannot analyze the entire problems of society and suggest its solution with the lesson of the Bible. It means we cannot confirm one by one who really ‘these’ are. The text of today suggests one point. Those who are neglected by their society are ‘these’. In this connection, we can conclude that kingdom of God is rebelling against the world. Those who are neglected from this world can be dignified in the kingdom of God.
The church that depends on such kingdom of God should function against the world. It does not mean that we have to be humanists. We have to emulate Jesus. No one in this world has ever been despised more severely than Jesus who was executed on the cross. Remember, we are the people who believe him as our Messiah.
As I pointed out in the preceding meditation, the author of Mark’s gospel invited children to the core of faith. (Mark 9:36, 37) The above verse, we meditate today, confirms it once again that the kingdom of God belongs to such children as these.
Who are ‘children’ here? As mentioned the preceding medication, the children of those days were treated badly. They were the minority isolated from main stream of society. However, they were accepted by God though they were isolated from people. These were tax collectors and sinners around Jesus.
However, the above explanation does not seem to explain the entire meaning of ‘these’. Practically it is not easy to say that such anti-social people also belong to ‘these’. People like terrorist and child kidnappers do not belong to the kingdom of heaven. Then are those people who keep their conscience among the isolated people in their society ‘these? How can we distinguish it?
We have to know that the Bible is not a social science book. We cannot analyze the entire problems of society and suggest its solution with the lesson of the Bible. It means we cannot confirm one by one who really ‘these’ are. The text of today suggests one point. Those who are neglected by their society are ‘these’. In this connection, we can conclude that kingdom of God is rebelling against the world. Those who are neglected from this world can be dignified in the kingdom of God.
The church that depends on such kingdom of God should function against the world. It does not mean that we have to be humanists. We have to emulate Jesus. No one in this world has ever been despised more severely than Jesus who was executed on the cross. Remember, we are the people who believe him as our Messiah.
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