On Line Bible Study - For the week July 27 - August 2, 2009

For the week July 27 - August 2, 2009

Mark 10: ¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴When 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. ¹⁵I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." ¹⁶And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

There are several themes we can pick up on in these verses:

1. First, the disciples still don't get it. We have discussed elsewhere the extent to which Mark presents the disciples in a negative light. We are in the midst of a section in which the disciples' quest for power and authority continually raises its head. (See, for example, Mark 8:14ff; 8:32; 9:32ff; 10:10; 10:24; 10:35ff ...)
2. "Little children ..." The word can mean a child from infancy to twelve years old. When Luke tells the story he will use the word that means specifically "infant" (see Luke 18:15.).
3. Children are the model because they are so receptive to receiving things as "gifts". The kingdom of God is not something that we can understand or conjure up. It is a reality that we either receive or we don't.
4. The "blessing" is believed to be of two kinds - that which is received when God's blessing is given to us, and that which confers power upon us enabling us to do the works of God. Jesus gives the children the fullness of God's blessing.
   

Something we might miss, and it's difficult to know if Mark had this specifically in mind - but the teaching of Jesus with regard to divorce and the children follow one another. As noted in the previous lesson, it was men who had the most to lose from Jesus' teaching about divorce. The kingdom of God is not something we access because we are powerful or deserving. It is something we receive with humility, as God's gift to us. It is interesting that women and children - those whom society continues to disenfranchise - are the ones Jesus protects, the ones he claims we must become like.

An article that might be of interest ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23Women-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&emc=eta1]