Reflecting on Mark 9 36-37, 42, Mark 10 13-16

This week we are studying two brief texts that mention children, Mark 9:36-37 and 42, and Mark 10:13-16.

Famously, coming to some conclusions about what Jesus meant by his object lessons and instructions has led people to ask themselves what children symbolized to people in the ancient world. Are they signs of humility, or trust, or vulnerability, or of completely unimportant people, or … what? Children have never meant just one thing, then or now.

We might want to spend some time thinking about what children mean to us, in our own world, and then see what similarities or differences we perceive as affecting their significance in the ancient world. And then, what clue or clues does this give us to what Jesus was saying to his disciples?

And then, what implications does that picture of the relationship of children to the kingdom of God have for our own attitude to the kingdom of God, and our own activity here in the world?

Some notes on the texts are here; here are a couple of additional questions we might want to think about, or to discuss in class:

Our lesson book has given us a picture of the scene in Mark 10:13-16 of mothers bringing infants and small children – vulnerable to “the evil eye,” and disease – to Jesus for blessing and protection, and the [male] disciples scolding them. What is our understanding of what is going on in that picture? What attitude(s) do we attribute to the disciples, what’s the message their behavior is sending, and why is Jesus indignant about it – do we think? Why? How does this reinforce, or challenge, our own attitudes towards the disciples? Towards Jesus? Towards the church? Towards others? Which others? What are the implications for how Christians, or “Jesus followers,” ought to behave today? In which circumstances? Why do we think that?

Jesus uses a little child as an emblem or object lesson of “greatness.” How do we ourselves understand that lesson? Why is that?

What does this mean, or should this mean, for our understanding of God’s greatness? Why do we think that?

What do we think Jesus means by “welcoming” or “receiving”? What might that look like, concretely, whether in our own personal lives, or our public life? What would change, or need to change, in our lives for that kind of welcoming or receiving to happen more regularly and reliably?

Image: Maler der Grabkammer des Nefferronpet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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