CRITICAL NOTES
Matthew 19:13. Then.—The concurrence of St. Matthew and St. Mark seems to show that this occurrence is immediately connected in point of time with that narrated in the preceding verses. If so, it is worthy of notice that this action of our Lord, in blessing little children, and thus sanctifying the marriage-tie and its offspring, should have followed a saying which His disciples erroneously understood as involving the consequence that it is not good to marry, and in which the perverse ingenuity of a modern critic (see Strauss’ Life of Jesus, § 79) has attempted to discover a trace of the asceticism of the Essenes (Mansel). Little children (παιδία).—Not only little boys and girls, but also infants or babes, as is evident from the term βρἑφη of Luke 18:15 (Schaff). Put His hands on them, and pray.—It appears that it was customary for Jewish infants to be taken to the synagogue to be blessed by the Rabbi (Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, article “Synagogue,” note E). Rebuked them.—As also those who brought them (Mark 10:13). Bengel supposes the greater part of the disciples to have been unmarried.
Matthew 19:14. Of such is the kingdom of heaven.—That is, the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these, is theirs as by inheritance (Plumptre).
Matthew 19:15. Laid His hands on them.—No unmeaning act, therefore infants are capable of receiving a blessing, though not conscious of an obligation (Carr).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Matthew 19:13-15
The rights of infants.—We are not told why the disciples tried to prevent these little ones from being brought to the Saviour; but we have reason to believe that there were not a few others who shared in their views. It is certainly singular that this is the only occasion on which we read of any marked attempt of the kind, and that this occurred so late in the course of His ministry and on the other side of the Jordan. Nor does it seem easy to point to any other great teacher of men who showed himself so specially ready as the Saviour did here to teach and welcome the young. How this came to be so, therefore, in His case, is a very natural point of inquiry. How came He to be so seriously angry, as it is evident that He was, with those who would have kept these children away? (Mark 10:14). Partly, we think, because of that which is usually true of little children themselves, and partly because of that which is always true of the Saviour Himself.
I. About little children.—There is that, first, in their nature which makes them suitable for being brought to the Saviour. Far from being unfit for this, as the disciples seem to have considered, there are no others so fit, as a matter of fact. “Of such”—of such primarily—of such-like exclusively—“is the kingdom of heaven” (see Mark 10:15). This is true, on the one hand, with regard to the docility of their nature. Older persons too often think that they know; and so are unwilling to learn. The only thing little children do know is, that they require to be taught. True, also, in regard to the general trustfulness of their nature. They have not yet learned to believe only the half of what is told them. True, once more, in regard to the comparative innocence of their age. In many things they are not as yet committed to wrong; not “accustomed” yet “to do evil.” All these things make it a comparatively hopeful enterprise to bring infants to the Saviour. How few there are of them who do not smile upon those whom they find smiling upon them! How likely they are, therefore, to be at least “responsive” to the love of the Saviour Himself. Also, it may be, there was that in their age itself which drew the Saviour to these. When you have really gained a babe, you may hope that you have done so for the rest of its life. That you have “prevented” both evil and its consequences, therefore, in such a case, in an almost incalculable degree; and have shut the door against innumerable heart-aches and reproaches and pangs and approaches, at least, to despair. And you may also hope, therefore, that you have set up an influence for good which shall do the same, during its course, for many others beside. A saved infant, in short, may mean a saved nation; a rescued germ, a whole succession of harvests, in process of time. Well, therefore, may we understand the Saviour wishing to have such at His feet. Nothing more hopeful, nothing more probably helpful, could there very well be!
II. About the Saviour Himself.—The considerations we have named have had to do principally with the work of the Saviour. Humanly speaking, little children are the most likely to be gained; and the most likely, also, when so gained, to lead to other gains too. But even apart from this, there would be that in Himself, we think, which would make Him yearn over them much. His native holiness, for example, would make their comparative innocence especially attractive in His eyes. How charming to all of us is the absolute ignorance of the little ones about certain descriptions of evil! How delightful to see things which tempt more developed natures to what is vile and unworthy passing over their baby natures without a suggestion of wrong! And how especially delightful, therefore, to Him as the Holy One of God would be this sweet incapacity on their part even for thinking amiss in this way! In their childish company He would be away from much from which He was never far away among men. So, on the other hand, would it be in connection with the overflowing compassion of His nature. How touching a sight to all pitying eyes is the comparative helplessness of the little ones! How urgent an appeal to all feeling hearts is their cry for assistance! The very anger it sometimes arouses is itself a testimony to its potency. How deeply would it tell, therefore, though in an opposite direction, on the blessed Saviour Himself. Amongst the many famishing ones around Him on one memorable occasion, He specially remembered those who were probably most weary as having come “from afar” (Mark 8:3). Amongst the many weak ones at the Pool of Bethesda, He selected one who appears to have suffered most and longest of all (John 5:5-7). How would He be drawn, therefore, on similar grounds to the case of these babes. And how His every word, therefore, as well as every action recorded, showed the tenderness of His love in this case! (Mark 10:16).
Let us take care, therefore, if we would be His disciples indeed, that there is a like tenderness in ourselves. Let us love the little ones both for their own sake and for that of the church. Let us love them for His sake as well as their own. It is one of the marks of the true gospel that it is preached to the poor (Matthew 11:5; Luke 4:18). It is another mark that it has a special welcome for the lambs of the flock (Isaiah 40:11; Matthew 20:15-16). Happy those on whose hearts this double attestation is found!
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Matthew 19:13-15. Christ blessing the children.—A picture:—
I. Of Godly parents.
II. Of narrow religionists.
III. Of a loving Christ.
IV. Of a beautiful heaven.—D. Thomas, D.D.
Love of children.—I am fond of children. I think them the poetry of the world, the fresh flowers of our hearths and homes, little conjurers with their natural magic, evoking by their spells what delights and enriches all ranks.—Thomas Binney, D.D.
Matthew 19:13. The relation of children to the history of Jesus Christ.—
1. There were children in the time of Christ.
2. These children heard and saw Christ.
3. Children were the objects of His merciful and miraculous interposition.
4. Children were the objects of His sincere affection.
5. The Saviour employed children to illustrate great principles.
6. Christ uttered concerning children great and important truths.—J. Viney.
Matthew 19:14. The children’s Christ.—Jean Paul Richter is said to have summed up his creed in the words: “I love God and every little child.” Such words are but a faint echo of a greater than Richter, who said: “Suffer little children,” etc. Christ threw a glorious halo around the head of childhood, and threw wide open to them the gates of His kingdom. There is no incident in the life of Christ so tender and beautiful as that of blessing the children on His last journey.
I. Christ’s conception of the capacity of children for religion.—His words are as wonderful as the act was beautiful. He declares that instead of these being shut out, the very kingdom is made up only of such. And if grown-up people enter, it is only by being converted, and made again as little children. All children are born in the kingdom. By a strange perversity we have been taught the reverse: that all children were the children of wrath and corruption until the saving grace of God made them of the household of faith. Original sin has loomed so largely, that original grace has been quite forgotten. Yet we are plainly told that “as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Romans 5:18). And because of Christ’s atonement, no child is ever born a child of the devil. The taint of sin has entered our soul, and we inherit terrible tendencies and possibilities of evil. But there is also given a measure of the Spirit to every man born into the world, and all are born under the covenant of reconciliation and grace. Some will ask, where then comes the need of conversion? In children conversion is the voluntary acceptance of the relationship into which the death of Christ has placed them. There is no condemnation where there is no power of choice. Sin is in the will. And there comes a time when the will must assert itself—on one side or the other. Then the choice is made; and when made for righteousness the child puts its name to the covenant in Christ Jesus. There may or may not be excitement. The great point is the surrender of the will to Christ. Convulsion is no necessary part of conversion.
II. Their place in the church.—Christ’s rebuke in the temple declares their right to a place in His church. If His kingdom is “of such,” surely they cannot be shut out of the privileges of His church. And I take it they have a place all their own, both in its worship and its service. Having underestimated their capacity, it was only to be expected their claims would be overlooked. A little while ago the students of a theological college sent to every church of their denomination a neat little card to be hung in the pulpit, in a place likely to catch the preacher’s eye, with the exhortation, “Remember the children,” a request by no means uncalled for. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children might find ample scope for its mission in many of our churches.
III. In the teaching of Christ the child-life is the ideal life.—(Matthew 18:3; Luke 9:46, etc.) Such a standard is unique. The world exalts strength, bravery, majesty, wisdom, wealth. Gentleness is the truest strength; humility the path to exaltation; simplicity the truest wisdom; trust the greatest safeguard; and love the key that opens the treasures of the world.—S. Chadwick.
The claims of children.—I. Christian economy calls upon us to expend the greater part of our time and attention on the young, under the consideration that there is a higher probability that our efforts shall be successful.—Comparatively few persons are converted after twenty years of age. The vast majority of those in our churches, in whom we have any confidence, were subjects of serious impression by the time they were fifteen years of age; many of them before they were twelve.
II. Christian economy counsels us to expend our principal exertions on the young, under the consideration that we shall obtain a better piety out of them, for the glory of God.
III. The church is more dependent for prosperity on the conversion of the young than on that of the aged.
IV. The education of children is both more agreeable and more profitable to the teacher himself.—Win. Anderson, LL.D.
Childhood and youth.—An inference from these precious words of Christ is the importance of seeking to win the children for Christ while yet they are children, ere the evil days come, or the years draw nigh, when they will be apt to say they have no pleasure in Him. It is a sad thing to think how soon the susceptibility of the child-nature may harden into the impenetrability which is sometimes found even in youth. Is there not a suggestion of this in the story of the young man which immediately follows?—J. M. Gibson, D.D.
Tenderness to children.—Dr. Stalker, in his lectures on preaching, tells us that when Dr. Wilson, of Edinburgh, was leaving home for the work of the ministry, a ministry which has been greatly blessed to the young, his mother told him she had not much advice to give him, but, said she, remember this—“Whenever you put your hand on a child’s head you put it on a mother’s heart.”
Children’s voices in heaven.—In “Women Workers of the Past in Bristol,” Mrs. Marshall writes that when Mrs. Schimmelpenninck was dying, she exclaimed, as if listening with delight to music, “Do you not hear the voices? and the children’s are the loudest.”