Saturday in the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time, May 25, 2024

Mark 10, 13-16

People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

Psalm 8, 2: “Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings you have perfected praise.”  From this well-known passage we learn that Almighty God perfects his praise which comes from even the mouths of “infants and sucklings”.  He “perfects” it in that he bestows grace upon the children so that they might praise him perfectly, that is, with their whole hearts.  But how do such small children, even those still nursing, praise God?  The newly baptized do so simply by living.  Their innocence, their beauty, all testify to the greatness and love of the God who created them.

“People were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.”  The disciples acted as though they thought the touch of the children might render their Teacher unclean.  They evidently thought that this amounted to an affront to his dignity and so they acted on their own without waiting for direction from him.  It is not clear as to whether the people with the children came as a group or as individual families, nor is it clear whether Jesus was trying to teach at the time.  St. Mark does not inform us as to the site of this episode, if it took place in a town or in the countryside.  The people may have come a little distance to see him and brought their children with them.

“When Jesus saw this he became indignant.”  The Greek word translated here as “indignant” really means “to be angry”.  Jesus was angered by the interference of the disciples.  He shows anger in order to teach how strongly he feels about letting the little children come to him: “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them.”  The Lord makes no distinction between the adults who come to him for healing and these children, just as he makes no distinction in dying for both the Gentiles and the Jews.  All of us stand in need of him and he opens his arms to all who come to him.  “For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”  He uses the occasion to teach about who will inherit the Kingdom of God.  He does not say that these particular children will go to heaven but that we must become as “such as these” — we must become child-like — in order to enter heaven.  Without romanticizing children or childhood we can certainly say that the Lord has in mind innocence and simple love.  

But how do we attain or regain innocence?  We do so through prayer, fasting, and alms-giving.  Many people today seek to look and feel younger than they are and they pursue all sorts of (usually expensive) remedies.  But  we can recover innocence and also the virtue of loving simply through these means.  This enables us to gain heaven: “Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”  The Greek word translated here as “accept” can also be translated as “to welcome”: Whoever does not welcome the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.  That is, with excitement and joy.

“Then he embraced the children and blessed them, placing his hands on them.”  This is how the Lord will welcome each of us should we live our lives in love with him.