Bring the Children To Me

By Mary Vee
Mark 9, Matthew 18, Luke 17

Peter

Photo by Mary Vee,
Jerusalem, Israel

I am a disciple of Jesus.

The other disciples and I had been listening to Jesus teach. There were some children who edged close to where we stood. We told them to go away. Our reasoning was we didn't want them to bother Jesus.

Apparently, we were wrong.






Jesus invited the children to come closer. He turned to us and said, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me. When you welcome me you are welcoming the one who sent me. Do you understand?"

I guess we did.

Photo by Mary Vee
Olive wood carving at a Palestinian Christian
Woodshop, Jerusalem

Jesus then said, "If anyone causes these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Jesus looked at the children standing by him and continued speaking to us, "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. Their angels who are in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven."

Jesus must have seen the confusion on our face because he then said, "If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, wouldn't you agree he would be happier about having the one sheep back than about the ninety-nine safe in the fold?

He smiled at the children, "In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any one of these little ones should be lost.

 Come back to read the next story.

*Author of blog's note: If you have questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section. I will see them and will answer as best I can or direct you to a source.


*********************************************************************************************

sources: 
*A Harmony of the Gospels for Historical Study, An Analytical Synopsis of the Four Gospels by William Arnold Stevens and Ernest DeWitt Burton, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1932
*New International Version, New King James Version. 
*My Bible College training.
*My notes and walk through classes I've taught in Children's church. Answers to student questions, etc.
*Pastoral sermons on this time
*Matthew Henry Commentary
*F. LaGard Smith Commentary
*My notes from my trip to Israel.
*Photos from my trip to Israel.