Mark 10:13–16
Those who enter the kingdom must receive it with humble trust like a child.
13 They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them.
14 But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.
15 Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
16 He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
Those who enter the kingdom must receive it with humble trust like a child.
To demonstrate that entry into the kingdom requires humble, dependent faith illustrated by children.
This scene follows the teaching on covenant marriage and continues the theme of humility and receptivity introduced in Mark 9:33–37.
Children in first-century culture possessed little legal or social status. The disciples likely viewed them as distractions from serious ministry. Jesus reverses this assumption.
The Way of the Servant King: Marriage, Children, Wealth, Cross, Ransom, and Sight
Jesus forms disciples on the road to Jerusalem by restoring God's design, welcoming the dependent, exposing rival treasures, predicting his suffering, redefining greatness as service, giving his life as a ransom, and opening blind eyes to follow him.