What comes next in the message is about the children. We have just read about children in chapter 9, and with the same teaching, in that children are very dear to God.
Now they are brought up again because when a divorce occurs, women and children are the most vulnerable ones and we see Yeshua pouring out His heart for them.
At first the disciples rebuked the parents. Most likely those mothers who brought their children wanted a blessing from Yeshua and the disciples’ rebuke brought out Yeshua’s anger. We read in vs.14 that when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Indignant, means very angry, because the children were rebuked. But this is when He reminded them that these children were in fact an illustration of who they themselves were as believers, the new believers in Israel. He tells them;
15 “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
The word truly here in the Greek is the Hebrew word Amen, thus emphasizing this truth. Like a child, expresses the attitude that a believer must always adopt, as a child who fully relies on his parents. Where does a child go when he is hurt? Usually to their mommy and/or their daddy. In this sense we ought to be like a child and always rely on God first.
And so, Yeshua concludes His talk on marriage with these powerful words,
16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.
That is a very tender image we are given here of the measure to which Yeshua loves the children, and all believers. If you are ever depressed or sad, remember this beautiful image. And let me close with this story which really touched my heart.
Last week my 5-year-old grandson was watching a YouTube video about bees making honey. They were showing a very busy hive from the outside of a tree, with the bees swarming the entrance way into the hive. The commentator asked the viewer, “How can we ever get inside that hive to know how the bees make honey? We’ll get stung just putting our arm inside there”. My wife, who was watching the video as well, turned to our grandson and repeated the question, “How can we know what’s inside?” Our grandson turned to my wife and said, “We have to become a bee!”
This is exactly what God did for us. He came to us as Yeshua, He became like us to demonstrate how much He loves us, so that He may take our sins from us and be our ever present intercessor in heaven. He came so that we may enter into His divine resting place.