The Picture Tells a Story That Meets the Needs of Human Beings.
• The needs of parents
We are told that parents brought their little ones to Jesus. Luke tells us that they were even bringing infants for Jesus for to touch. In all of this we see a beautiful picture of our Lord ministering not only to the children but also to the parents, for they were lined up to get this blessing from Jesus.
It was common for parents to bring children to a rabbi for the touch, and we might suppose that this is what was happening, but there is also something deeper. Every one knows that parents want the best for their children. There is also a parental instinct that recognizes that so much of life is out of our control and we need God to protect and bless our children.
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A number of years ago in another church, I was seeking to share Christ with a family and to show them the importance of being in church and sitting under the teaching of the Word of God. I was altogether unsuccessful. Then they had a child, and almost immediately they recognized the need that I had put before them. My words could not persuade them, but that baby did. My beloved, Jesus is the one who will meet the need you have inside of you for your children.
A college-age young lady from our congregation told me about how her parents allowed her to go on several missions trips, one being for an extended stay in a tough environment. She told me that she was actually amazed at her parents’ faith. They told her that they would miss her, but that they had given her to Christ and serving Him was where they wanted her to be. She was in the will of the Lord—in the arms of Jesus, as it were—and so they were not worried.
Have you brought your children to Christ? Are you trusting your little ones to Christ? How do you do that? By prayer, and as we learn in Deuteronomy 6, by living your faith before them in genuine lifestyle ways.
We all know it is a dangerous world in so many ways—morally and even physically. There is so much that is out of our control as parents. So let us bring our children to the One who is in control, the Lord Jesus Christ.
• The needs of infants and children
This is truly amazing. In this passage we come to see that God welcomes little ones who cannot make decisions, cannot debate or enter into arguments about religion or even express faith. Yet, Christ touches these children as if they were to be included in His family, because they are. Everywhere in the Word of God, the children of believers are to be included until they can see for themselves their sin and need of Christ and can turn to Him.
Thus, Paul will say that the children of believers are even to be seen as holy:
