The Gospels are filled with examples of the disciples not “getting it,” and this ranks up near the top.
As the children were brought to Christ, the disciples attempted to stop them and those who brought them. In fact, the text states that the disciples chose to rebuke the people who brought the children.
Matthew uses the word ἐπετίμησαν on five other occasions, including the time Jesus rebuked the winds and calmed the storm (Matthew 8:26).
Also, according to Matthew, Peter rebuked Jesus for prophesying His own suffering and death (Matthew 16:22), and the crowd rebuked the blind man for begging for Jesus’ attention (Matthew 20:31).
A rebuke is not a gentle warning or an expression of slight concern.
Rebuke means to “strictly appraise someone, assess a penalty, charge someone as being blamable; hence rebuke, reprove (JU 9); warn, strongly admonish, threaten (MK 3.12; 8.30)”.
The disciples’ reaction was definitely direct: they were clear that they did not want the little children brought near to Jesus. But the language isn’t clear about whether the disciples were rebuking the children or the people bringing the children.
Whatever the case, the disciples’ reaction was strong and unequivocal: the Twelve believed it was a bad idea to bring little children to the Master.
The Disciples' Response to the Children's Presence
Why did the disciples regard the children’s presence as such a bad idea?
What the disciples were thinking isn’t clear, but we may surmise that it was one or a combination of the following reasons:
Jesus Christ was a famous teacher and a charismatic leader who was gaining in popularity. Someone this important did not spend time with children!
Even though children were considered members of the religious community in Roman society and certainly in Judaism, in neither culture’s history do we read of leaders focusing time or attention on children.
It would follow, then, that the disciples did not think spending time with children was a priority for Jesus and His kingdom work.
Jesus was busy and simply didn’t have time for children.
At this point in His ministry, Jesus was attracting large crowds. In fact, the word crowd or multitude (ὄχλοι) occurs 48 times in Matthew.
Apparently, Matthew wanted the reader to not miss that many, many people were interested in Jesus’ ministry, drawn to His compelling teaching, and intrigued by His miraculous healing power.
Of course, Jesus’ time was at a premium. Matthew reported other occasions—12:46-50; 15:21-28; 20:29-34—when the disciples thought that people were interrupting what they believed to be Jesus’ schedule.
In each case, Matthew showed that the disciples did not have a clear understanding of Jesus’ priorities.
Jesus was declaring the dawn of God’s kingdom, and ministry to children was not a strategic objective.
The active reign of God was at hand in the Person of Jesus Christ. His repeated talk about God’s kingdom resonated with His Jewish audience in very specific and profound ways.
To be specific, the disciples likely saw Jesus as a messianic figure akin to King David. As the Messiah, they thought, He would re-establish the monarchy, sit on the throne in Jerusalem, and vanquish the Romans.
After all, they reasoned, Jesus had declared that God’s kingdom was at hand. Kingdoms have a king, and Jesus was that.
For the disciples and the Jewish community, this statement meant the imminent end of the Roman occupation. That expectation was not some theological idea, but instead “was intimately bound up with the social and political hopes of the people."
The disciples naturally thought that Jesus’ political and social goals would not be realized by focusing on children.
In plain English, wasting time with two-year-olds and toddlers would not facilitate Jesus’ achieving His kingdom goals.
Jesus would bring in the kingdom by engaging the male-only power brokers of society, the men who were the religious leaders, political leaders, and people of influence.
Throughout human history, power has fueled the rise and fall of kingdoms. So, words about the dawn of a kingdom would naturally conjure up ideas of power struggles, political conflict, or even warfare.
After all, the Roman Empire did not gain its place in the world through prayer or fraternizing with infants and toddlers, but rather through military strength and its well-trained legions.
Similarly, the Greek Empire was led by Alexander the Great, a young general skilled in the exercise of military power. Julius Caesar, Hannibal, King David, Alexander the Great, Cyrus the Great, and other historic rulers were, in general, military leaders who built their kingdoms by the skillful and courageous use of power.
Not a single one of them was known for his focus on children, much less on infants and toddlers. The disciples expected Jesus to act in the same manner as these powerful, victorious leaders of the past.
In fact, the disciples were eager to get Jesus to Jerusalem where He could confront the occupying Roman forces.
They had seen Jesus demonstrate His control over nature itself, so surely, He would confront the evil of Rome by destroying the empire.
Of course, such a revolution is never facilitated by reaching out to infants and toddlers.
Jesus' Response to His Disciples
Although Jesus’ response to the disciples’ actions is absent from Matthew’s gospel, we find it in the gospel of Mark:
People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 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. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)
Jesus’ response is translated he was indignant (v. 14). With those three words, Mark set up a sharp contrast between Jesus’ attitude toward the children and the disciples’ attitude.
The Twelve rebuked the people bringing the children to Jesus and perhaps even irritated with the children themselves. Jesus, however, was indignant about the disciples’ response to the children.
Instead of going into a detailed Greek word study, I’ll simply say that the two words describing the disciples’ action and Jesus’ response are equally charged: the disciples rebuked, and Jesus was indignant.
Clearly, Jesus’ idea about children’s ministry was completely different from what the disciples were thinking.
Healthy Children Ministries Are Needed
We find people a lot like these disciples even today, people who are not especially interested in bringing children into the kingdom of God. In fact, many of those are the leaders in the very movement Jesus Himself founded.
To be specific, in my travels around the world and throughout the United States, I have sadly found many church leaders who have absolutely no vision for ministry to children.
After forty years of ministry, much of it internationally, our EGM ministry team has concluded that about half of the churches around the world have no active children’s ministry.
In far too many churches, working with children is considered merely glorified babysitting. In those churches people who are committed to working with children are often not supported, and they end up frustrated and exhausted.
Even when there is a children’s ministry, it’s often fueled by pragmatism. In other words, your church won’t grow if you don’t have something for the children.
In fact, the church growth movement in the United States identified a healthy children’s ministry as a key to church growth. So, churches too often have a children’s ministry only because they need to have something for children if they want the church to grow.
What seems to be lacking around the world is a genuine vision for ministry to children that is rooted in Christ’s absolute and profound love for little boys and girls.
Underlying this neglect of children’s ministry is the same mentality that bewitched the disciples: ministry to children is not a priority.