What does it mean to receive the kingdom of God like a child?
Written by Sean Hill
Some resources borrowed from Newman University, Birmingham and Let’s Study Mark by Sinclair Ferguson
Mark 10:13-16
13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
P. Oxy 4.744 (Letter from Hilarion, 1 BC)
The piece of papyrus pictured here was written in 1 BC and was part of a large trove of papyri found at the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus. The letter is from June 17th is from a man named Hilarion, which means glad or cheerful, to his wife Alis who is pregnant. It’s a very tender letter; Hilarion is writing from Alexandria where he is away on business. He tells his wife that he is thinking of her, that she should not worry about him, and that, although he has not yet received his pay yet, he will send it to her as soon as he does. Then the letter ends like this:
“Above all, if you bear a child and it is male, let it [live], but if it is female, cast it out.”
The shocking reality of the ancient Roman world is that children, babies in particular, were commonly valued only for what they might contribute to the family. If a father thought his child would become a drain upon the household’s resources, infanticide was the solution. This practice wasn’t limited to cities near Rome.
Excavation at Ashkelon. Copyright Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon
This image shows an excavation at Ashkelon, a city in Israel, where the remains of over 100 infants were found underneath a bath house. Clearly, this heinous Roman practice extended to territories in Israel. The practice was finally outlawed in Roman law in AD 375, over 50 years after Constantine legalized Christianity, but 5 years before Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the empire. Herein, we can already see the positive influence of Christianity on the lives of the helpless even at such an early stage in Christian history. Though it was outlawed, infanticide continued in the Roman Empire. This is because, for centuries, Roman law had given the father absolute power (patria potestas, [Latin students]) over his family; a power that extended even to life and death. The gospels themselves point to the nature of the patria potesta: we are reminded of Herod’s command to slaughter all male infants (Matthew 2:16-20).
That is the cultural context from which our text comes to us today. At the core of this text is a conflict in mindset toward God and his word. The disciples display a disordered mindset toward Jesus’ grace - they are trying to guard Jesus’ grace through their authority. They don’t just turn the young families away, but actually rebuke them in v 13.
The word for Jesus’ response only appears once in the New Testament. It is a combination of two Greek words: “much” and “to grieve”. Spend a moment meditating on the fact that Jesus was much grieved! The things that grieve us or make us indignant reveal much about the kind of people we are, and what Jesus said and did here tells us volumes about him. In this state of grief, Jesus admonishes his followers to become like children. V. 16: “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” What does he mean by this?
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon (the preacher who said he wouldn’t even sit down to a meal with someone who owned slaves at the height of slavery in the US) once said:
I will say broadly that I have more confidence in the spiritual life of the children that I have received into this church than I have in the spiritual condition of the adults thus received. I will go even further than that, and say that I have usually found a clearer knowledge of the gospel and a warmer love to Christ in the child-converts than in the man-converts. I will even astonish you still more by saying that I have sometimes met with a deeper spiritual experience in children of ten and twelve than I have in certain persons of fifty and sixty.
Many of you have read works by the famous fantasy author George MacDonald here at Summit; 8th and 9th graders are going to be reading him this year. He is famous for once saying that he doubted a man’s Christianity if children were never found playing around his door. It’s not that everyone needs to be a person that loves being around kids all the time, but it’s true that we are near the heart of Christ when we can appreciate the joy and total trust of children.
But why is this? What does Jesus mean when he says: “to such belongs the kingdom of God”? First, Jesus is talking about children whose parents were sufficiently committed to Jesus to take their children to him in public for his blessing. Parents normally would have taken their children to a recognized rabbi for blessing. He is speaking of children whose parents are already disciples and who will, in turn, disciple them. The blessing of being in a family who is part of the new covenant in Jesus’ blood. Young people in a school context like ours can sometimes take for granted the fact that we have been, from a young age, introduced to the gospel by a family that loves Christ and loves us. I know this was true of me growing up.
But I’m still getting at the question of what it means. Why does Jesus say: “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it”?
Sometimes these words are misunderstood as though we must be willing, submissive, or whatever other quality often ascribed to children if we are to enter the kingdom. However, these things don’t always accurately describe small children, (as those who have raised children or those with younger brothers and sisters can attest). Thinking that children have certain attributes in and of themselves that qualify them for the kingdom would be to say that we can become deserving of the kingdom on our own through our behavior or temperaments or personal qualities. This idea is contrary to the gospel of God’s grace.
It’s important to remember that children had no standing in Jesus’ society. And here is a key point: If children were to receive anything, it was not on the basis of any rights they had in their society, but only as a gift. Similarly, if any of us are to receive the kingdom of God, we must realize that it is as a completely unmerited gift of God. If we do not receive the kingdom this way, “like a little child”, it will never belong to us. As Ephesians 2:8 reminds us, faith is a gift of God, not of our own.
The passage immediately following this one tells of the rich young ruler whose mindset flies in the face of Jesus’ teaching here. We’ll see next time that the young ruler attempts to show Jesus that his obedience and inner qualities are what qualify him for the kingdom. The common thread between these two stories of Jesus blessing the children and challenging the young ruler is this idea of whether the kingdom of God is attainable based on our own qualifications or whether we must receive it based on no merits of our own.
We might notice that the juxtaposition of the rich young ruler next to our text today clues us in to Jesus’ main point in saying that to “such belongs the kingdom of God”: Why does Jesus say this? It is because the kingdom of God is a gift, not a right. It is given by grace, not earned by qualifications. We do not need to guard the gift of God as the Pharisees did and as the disciples do in this passage. It will guard itself through the new life it produces in us.
Realizing that we are helpless as children should naturally foster a sense of humility in us. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus speaks again of children when he says “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” The connection Jesus makes between children and the kingdom is the fact that children are unable to contribute to the gifts they receive, but rather they receive them in humility.
It’s fitting that scripture describes our relationship to God as like a Father to his children. But even more than this, we are instructed to call out to God in the language that a toddler would use. Romans 8:15 says that we “have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”” Galatians 4:6: “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”” The linguistic connection is clear when one says the words aloud: Abba = Papa. It’s the first word little kids used in Jesus’ day to call for their dad. What a beautiful invitation that we are to depend on God in the same total, helpless, all-encompassing way that a toddler would!
Today, brothers and sisters, rejoice that you have been adopted into God’s family, that your inability to contribute to your own salvation has not only been solved, but that you are invited to embrace it through receiving the free gift that Christ has given. Remember that heaven is always earned - but not by you. You look forward to the one who has perfectly fulfilled the whole point of the law and the prophets and earned salvation for us. Remember the importance of humility as you receive it, for to “such belong the kingdom of heaven.”
