Luke 18:15-17 – Faith as a child

The song “Everything is Beautiful," starts with these words:

Jesus loves the little children,

All the children of the world.

Red and yellow, black and white,

All are precious in His sight,

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Yes, Jesus does! We see it explicitly in Luke 18:15-17.  Hence in verse 15, we read that parents were bringing even their babies for Him to lay His hand and bless them. Any sensible parent would do so. There is nothing better than introducing a child, regardless of age, to the Lord. Those parents were doing a smart thing. And the Lord was just as pleased to receive them. But the same cannot be said of the disciples. They were annoyed by their disruption so they rebuked the parents.

Having traveled long, the disciples were probably tired and looking forward to some peace and quietness. The unscheduled intrusion disturbed their peace. However, the Lord responded differently. Despite His heavy schedule and commitment, He would receive anyone who come to Him, especially children. Seeing the situation, Jesus seized the moment to bring a lesson on developing childlike faith. The Lord called for those children to come to Him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Remember Jesus had just told a parable prior to this. In that parable we saw how the Publican entered into the Kingdom of God by casting himself on God's mercy. Whereas the Pharisee, by his self-proclaimed righteousness, was disqualified. Taking the children, Jesus showed us two things. Firstly, that the Kingdom of God must be entered in as a child. And secondly, that the Kingdom of God must be received as a child. In other words, to experience the Kingdom of God, we must come as a child and receive it as a child.

The first thing about children is their helplessness. Hence a child depends totally on the parents for its needs. The second thing about children is their innocence and guileless simplicity. A child trusts completely and accepts everything without question. If we are to experience the Kingdom of God in its entirety, we must come to Jesus with childlike dependence, as well as simple childlike faith and trust.

Have our journey with God become complicated? How often have we been confused by so many theological thoughts and jargons till faith in God becomes riddled and cluttered? Childlikeness is not childishness. Jesus is not asking us to be childish but to be childlike. Like children, we must be guileless, trustful, and completely open to Him. And we should. If not, how else can we experience all that He has purposed and planned for us?