This week's devotion is from Dcn. Bob Lewis.

Mark 10:13-16

13  People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14  When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15  Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16  And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

In this passage from Mark, we see Jesus welcoming little children to him so they could be shown love and be blessed by him. The disciples didn’t agree with what Jesus was doing and wanted this to stop, but Jesus rebuked them and told them to bring the children to him. The disciples were under the mistaken belief that children were, let’s say, lesser beings, and not worthy of Jesus’ time.

This passage shows us that in God’s kingdom ALL are worthy and loved. A person’s age, sex, status doesn’t matter, everyone is a child of God. And everyone receives the love of God. The passage also shows us what Martin Luther explains to us decades later when he writes about justification by faith (sola fide), which is that God freely declares a person righteous, not because of anything they can do (good works), and it can’t be earned, but it is solely as a gift received through trust in Jesus. It’s a gift to everyone, man, woman and yes, even a child.