One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so He could touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the parents for bothering Him. Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples,”Let the children come to Me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
Luke 18:15-17
I am frequently torn between launching into the passage and exposing gems for you, or giving you hints to point out questions which need answering or suggesting places to dig. But of course that takes time and extends the time we spend. Over the last weeks, I have asked for your input on the pace of Gems and the depth I should go on passages. Also, the degree to which I should ask questions and then leave you the time to dig for yourself. The ones who responded were the ones who are putting Gems into practice and doing the digging for themselves. The input I received is that the pace is good and you like the opportunity to search things out for yourself. I know there are others too, who find getting a Gem a day is too much and you can’t keep up. My suggestion is that you keep getting them daily and store them up to do when you have time. Alternatively, you could ask me to put you on the weekly list, which means I send you one Gem a week, which means of course you don’t get the others sent through the week.
But then again, you can follow up if you wish through this website.
However, for this segment I am going to take the lead from those who responded and give you some things to look at before we dig into this passage. The other reason I chose to do this was that over the last days I have given you some rather long and complicated Gems. So time now for a gentle, easy one. Time to spend with the children. Many view this passage as one that substantiates the action of baby blessing or blessing infants. Some even take is as far as infant baptism. You decide what this passage teaches about those practices. That’s the end of today’s Gem. There, that surprises you doesn’t it! Well, this is not the shortest Gem I have ever written. But that is where I will leave it for today. We will dig into the answers to these questions and some other features in the next Gem.
In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.
Friedrich Nietzche
The great man is he who does not lose his child’s-heart.
Mencius
Adults are obsolete children.
Dr Seuss
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
Heraclitus
Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re looking for ideas.
Paula Poundstone