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1. Jesus and the Children (Luk_18:15-17)
Luk_18:15. Their babes, ôὰ âñÝöç , little children, therefore sucklings, Luk_2:16; while Matthew and Mark only speak in general of ðáéäßá . They are in any case children of the Saviour’s auditors, who, not content with having received a blessing for themselves, entreat this now for their little ones also. This scene is the more touching, since it was at the same time a scene of farewell, and this act of the parents appears to have had its ground in the obscure presentiment that they should not again see the Saviour in Galilee. The mothers desire that He might leave for these young souls a parting blessing behind. It was, it is true, quite customary in Israel to entreat Rabbins and rulers of synagogues for such a benefit; but that this was desired from Jesus even yet in the last period of His public life, in spite of the continually increasing opposition to Him, is an unequivocal evidence of the deep and favorable impression which His activity had left behind in these regions.
Luk_18:16. Called them.— ÁὐôÜ , the children themselves. Comi voce et nutu, Bengel. The opposition between the friendly countenance of the Master, and the contracted brow of the disciples, is indescribably beautiful. The disciples rebuked the mothers, in the serious belief that it was incongruous to molest the Great Prophet with such trifling affairs, while they now especially desire that He may continue the interesting elucidation respecting marriage and divorce. But scarcely has Jesus learned who it is that wished to approach Him, and who it is that wished to keep these back, than He takes it very ill, and rebukes His disciples therefor; while they had thought that children belonged less than any one in His vicinity, He gives them on the contrary to know that He wishes to have, more than many others, precisely these around Him. If the Twelve thought that these children must first become like them, in order to attract the interest of the Saviour to them, our Lord, on the other hand, gives them the assurance that they must first become like children, if they would become the participants of His complacent regard.
Luk_18:17. Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child.—Comp. Mat_18:3, and Lange, ad loc. Mark also speaks, Luk_10:15, of this utterance of the Saviour on this occasion; while Luke, Luk_9:47-48, had passed it over, and therefore brings it in afterwards here. With the requirement to receive the kingdom of God as a little child ( äÝ÷åóèáé ), the Saviour directs attention to the receptivity for the Gospel which is found in the child’s disposition. This temper of mind the disciples would soon lose, if they gave ear to the voice of pride and self-seeking, by which they had just before allowed themselves to be influenced to repel these little ones. In this way they might even incur the danger of forfeiting the blessing of the kingdom of heaven, whose subjects they had already begun to be. As to the rest, we are not to overlook the fact that, at least according to Luke, the warning ïὐ ìὴ åἰóÝëèῃ , ê . ô . ë ., can be interpreted as addressed to the wider circle of the auditors, parents, &c., who with the disciples at this moment surrounded the Saviour.
2. Precisely when Christ appears surrounded by the little ones, and moves in the world of children, is He the image of the invisible God, whose majesty never shines more gloriously than when He condescends to that which is least and last, Psa_113:5-6. Such a High-priest we needed, who bears a whole world on His loving heart, and yet also presses children to His heart and blesses them. In the Prosopography of the Redeemer, the trait must not remain unconsidered, that the only thing of which we read that He took it ill, was precisely this repelling of the children. After all which had just before been uttered about the sins and the wretchedness in wedded life (see in Matthew and Mark), this whole scene makes the impression of a friendly sunbeam which breaks through on a thickly-clouded sky.
3. As for the subjects, so also for the King of the kingdom of God, did the way to true greatness lie precisely in this His deep humiliation. He who requires the childlike temper, has shown Himself also the most perfect Son, Heb_5:8.
4. The becoming like children, and the ἄíùèåí ãåííçèῆíáé , Joh_3:3, are correlative ideas. How completely indispensable the requirement of humility and the childlike temper was, could not appear more evidently than on this occasion. Scarcely do the children retire from the hallowed scene, when a rich young man enters, who, only for the reason that he is lacking in this childlike humility, does not find the entrance to the kingdom of heaven.
5. See the parallels in Matthew and Mark, and observe the intimate connection of this occurrence with the immediately preceding parable.
Starke:—The hasty and precipitate character even yet cleaves strongly to beginners in religion.—Hedinger:—The child’s state a blessed state!—Ah, few become like children, therefore we may well suppose more children than grown people enter into the kingdom of heaven.—Brentius:—The children, as it were, constitute the heart and the noblest part of the kingdom of Christ on earth. Who would not count them dear and precious, and gladly be conversant with them? Mark this, ye parents and schoolmasters!—Heubner:—Even love can out of love become indignant; but this is no selfish displeasure, but a holy one.—Love of children a trait in the character of every Christianly religious man.—Whomsoever Jesus presses to His heart, such an one will certainly be warmed by love.—Arndt’s sermons upon the life of Jesus. Jesus, the children’s Friend without compare. See farther on Luk_9:46-48.
Footnotes:
[Luk_18:16.—Revised Version of the American Bible Union.—C. C. S.]