The Greatest Blessing – Jesus

Jesus Blesses the Children

Scripture Reference: Mark 10:13-16

Suggested Emphasis: Jesus loved little children and that we too should take special care of the children we are around.

Story Overview:

When mothers brought their small children to Jesus to be blessed by him, the disciples tried to hold them back. Jesus told the disciples to let the children come to him.

Background Study:

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 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, NIV

You can read other accounts of this story in Matthew 19:13-15 and Luke 18:15-17. This is one of those stories that children love because it is about children!

Other than what we can learn through his actions we do not know a lot about Jesus’ demeanour. He definitely had strong emotions. He was indignant when the disciples tried to keep the children away. He was not afraid to rebuke them.

This controlled strength along with a genuine attitude and openness drew people to Jesus.

Mothers want what is best for their children. They had seen Jesus do wonderful things. He had healed people and brought comfort to even the lowliest people in society.

It was the custom for mothers to bring their children to a rabbi or synagogue leader before their first birthday. In this story the children were very young.

Luke says they were babies (Luke 18:15) and all three passages refer to them as “little”. They were old enough to be “called to him.”

Matthew and Mark both record this story immediately following Jesus’ discussion on divorce. It was appropriate that these mothers and children come to him at this time. If women were mistreated and lacked power in the society of the time then children were even more so. Their innocence and sense of humility and hope were attributes that Jesus wanted his disciples to notice.

Jesus wants his followers to be children. In Matthew 18:2-6 he drew a child onto his knee and told the listeners that they should be the child. In that instance he was referring to a child’s humility.

The idea becomes “I’ll do something for you (or feel good towards you) if it benefits me”.

In that same passage Jesus makes it clear how we should treat children. By treating children well we are treating Jesus well. Giving children opportunities to sin (by neglecting them or withholding the care they need) is strongly condemned by Jesus (Matthew 18:5-6).

Jesus’ words concerning children were extremely important and contrasted with practices of pagans of the day.  It was common practice in both Greece and Rome to abandon unwanted children by the road to let them die.  Later, early Christians were known for taking in these orphans.

Another passage where Jesus speaks about adults being children is 1 Peter 2:2-3. We should crave pure spiritual milk a baby craves milk.

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Way to Introduce the Story:

Bring a doll to class and talk to the children about ways we take care of a baby. Talk about how much babies and children need affection and love. Discuss child safety and the foods babies and children need and .

A young mother might be willing to bring her baby to class and talk about how she cares for her baby. Perhaps she could show the contents of her nappy bag and explain the use of each item. “Babies need special care.

In today’s story we are going to learn what Jesus said about babies and children.”

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The Story:

One day, after Jesus had been teaching people about God, some mothers started bringing their babies and little children to Jesus.

“Jesus,” one of the mothers asked, “you are such a good teacher. Will you please place your hand on my child’s head and give her a blessing?”

Jesus was very happy to bless the little children. He loved children.

But the disciples saw all of the mothers and children around Jesus and they thought they were bothering him. They knew that Jesus must have been very tired from teaching all the adults. Surely he wouldn’t want to spend time with all of these children! So the disciples began telling the mothers and children to go away and leave Jesus alone.

Jesus saw what the disciples were doing and he did not it. That just wasn’t fair to the children! Jesus told the disciples to stop, “Shame on you, stop telling the children they cannot come to me.”

After Jesus spent time with the children, he told the disciples something very important. “See these little children? See how they love me? They don’t brag or try to hurt anyone some adults do. The kingdom of heaven is made for people who have hearts little children.”

The disciples were very surprised. They were sorry they had kept the children away from Jesus. Now they knew that Jesus thought children were very important. If Jesus loved the little children then so would they.

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Review Questions:

1. What did the mothers want Jesus to give their children? A blessing.
2. What did the disciples do when mothers brought their children to Jesus? They tried to keep the children away.
3. When Jesus saw the disciples keeping the children away, what did he say? “Let the little children come to me”

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Learning Activities and Crafts:

(How to choose the best learning activities for my teaching situation)

Activities:

• Make arrangements with the teacher in a younger bible class and let the children visit today (or next week). Perhaps your class could act out today’s story for them or teach them a song.
• Discuss how Children learn at different age levels.
• Collect names and addresses of children who live in other places and send them cards.
• A nice bulletin board idea is to place a picture of Jesus in the centre of the board and then put children’s pictures all around. These could be pictures from magazines or even photos of the children in your class. You could entitle the board “Who does Jesus Love” or “Jesus Loves the Children”.
• Help the children plan a picnic, party or other activity for younger children in the congregation. If your class is old enough then they might arrange a free babysitting night so that parents of young children could have a night out.
• Encourage the class to sit by a family with small children in worship today. They should only do this if they can be a good example for the child. Parents will not want another child to be a distraction.
• If your congregation has a crèche or childcare during worship then your class could sign up to help in there one Sunday.
• Find out about characteristics of children younger than the children in your class and discuss them.  Children love to know how much they have grown and are often eager to help younger children.  There are many online resources but here is one at //urbanext.illinois.edu/babysitting/section2.cfm
• Song Suggestions:
  • Jesus Loves the Little Children
  • Jesus Loves Me
  • 1,2,3 Jesus Loves Me

   Crafts:

• Help the children collect items to take to the local hospital for the children there. You could make parcels and decorate them. Some ideas might be colouring sheets and crayons, puzzles, books, hand or finger puppets, etc. If you put food or lollies in the parcels then be sure and label them. Some children in hospitals have strict diets.
• Help the children make parcels similar to the ones above to hand to younger children in your congregation.
• Help the children make paper doll chains of children and decorate them to look children.

Check the Teaching Ideas page on this website for ideas that are adaptable to any lesson.

Click here “Jesus Blesses the Children” printables to print on A4 size paper
Click here for “Jesus Blesses the Children” to print on Letter size paper (USA)

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Other Online Resources:

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Источник: //missionbibleclass.org/new-testament/part1/life-of-christ-late/jesus-blesses-the-children/

Seeking the Blessing, but not the Blesser

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy.

– Isaiah 35:5–6

And Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the multitude, in order that they might not crowd Him; for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed about Him in order to touch Him.

– Mark 3:7–10

News of Jesus spread quickly throughout the land.

Hundreds of years earlier, a Hebrew prophet wrote that with the coming of God’s promised Deliverer, the blind would see, the deaf would hear, the lame would leap a deer, those who could not speak would shout for joy, and good news would be proclaimed! Some, whose hope was set on God’s promised Deliverer, were asking, “Is Jesus the One?” Many were not as concerned with who He was as with what He could do for them.

– The HOPE, Chapter 9

Observe & Consider

As Jesus traveled about the land teaching and doing miracles, the word about Him quickly spread. From Mark 3:7-10 we read that a great multitude from many different regions had heard what Jesus was doing and came to Him. But after further consideration of this verse, notice what is revealed about their motives.

They wanted something from Him. They came for healing, but Jesus wanted to teach them who He was. He did heal many, as the verse reads, but Jesus was not primarily interested in healing physical ailments.

According to Bible teacher Ray Stedman, “He had a greater mission – to teach and preach the Word to them so as to heal the hurt of the heart and the spirit.”1 The crowd was making this very difficult because of their focus upon the physical.

This is still happening today, as crowds clamor for the power, but not the person of Jesus. Anticipating this would happen, Jesus instructed His disciples to prepare for Him a way of escape.

When the people pressed in to touch Him, making it impossible for Him to continue teaching, He would withdraw by boat. In Matthew 13:1-5, Mark 4:1 and Luke 5:3, we read that Jesus actually taught from a boat.

Notice what is actually taking place in this story. The people wanted something from Jesus: their physical healing. It wasn’t wrong for them to seek physical healing, but they made it such a priority, pressing in on Jesus, that they ultimately failed to get what they were after. They sought after the blessing more than the Blesser.

Ask & Reflect

• Do you imagine you would have been any different than the people who sought after Jesus for healing? Why or why not?
• Do you see any parallels between this story and the way people approach Jesus in our time? Explain.
• Read and meditate on the verses below. What do they say about those who would seek God and the gifts He gives?

Decide & Do

It is not wrong to seek help, healing or blessing from God.

In Matthew 7:9-11 we read, “Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

As our heavenly Father, God loves to bless. In fact, He receives glory when He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. The main question we should ask after today’s lesson isn’t whether or not it is good to seek blessing from God. The main question we should ask is whether we are seeking the blessing over the One who blesses.

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”
– Matthew 6:33

“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
– Psalm 37:4

1Ray Stedman, The Dimming of the Light, from his sermon series The Servant Who Rules. (© Ray Stedman Ministries, 2010). (//www.raystedman.org/new-testament/mark/the-dimming-of-the-light). Retrieved August 2013.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB

Источник: //www.thehopeproject.com/en/study-guide/9-the-ministry-of-jesus/seeking-the-blessing-but-not-the-blesser