1 M. G. Tearso.
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234 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
the service of song, for the sake of the other sleepers. There was silence for a brief moment. Then it was broken again by the child's voice. "Father." "Yes, little lad." "Is your face turned this way ? " And, with his heart strangely stirred and warmed, the father tenderly said, " Yes, laddie." And the night shined as the light for the boy because of his father's face.^
2. The Affection of Jesus for the Little Ones. — As to the fact of the deep affection — it shines on the face of this whole narrative. Whatever may have been the precise motive of the disciples in rebuking the parents who brought their children to Jesus, it is out of the question to suppose that they were characterised by any positive or peculiar indifference to the little children. No ; but Jesus was characterised by a very peculiar, gloriously affectionate, concern for them and their welfare. Mark the deep contrast here between the Master and even His truest disciples. See His positive displeasure, pain of soul (the original word is a very strong one), at their unkind rebuke. See how He hastens to assure the parents that His followers had miserably misread, misinterpreted, the mind of their Master. See His emphatic and impassioned welcome to the children in the injunction He lays on the disciples, "Suffer them to come unto me ; forbid them not." See how He takes them up in His arms, frowns on the disciples, smiles on the children, places His hands gently and lovingly upon them, and blesses them. And this is not the only place where we find Jesus taking up little children in His arms. In the previous chapter we read, " He took a child and set him in the midst of them ; and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me." Again and again we find Him speaking of the little ones — " It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." And near the close of the Gospel history we read the following words : " When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosannah to the son of David, they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say ? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea, have ye never read " — •
1 S. D. Gordon.
ST. MARK 235
behold how He welcomes the children's songs ! — " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise,"
^ I remember long ago being very much pleased to read of the French general who was sent to fight along with the English against the Eussians in the time of the Crimean War — General St. Arnaud. When he landed at the Crimea, he lifted up the first pebble on which his foot trod, and plucked the first flower on which his eye lighted, and sent them to his only child, a daughter living far away. He was very ill when he landed; indeed, he died soon afterwards — and at that time he had a great deal to think of, and yet you see there was room in his heart for thoughts of his daughter, and he showed in this striking way his love for her.^
^ There is a significant story of the great sculptor, Dannecker, that, when he was working at his statue of Christ, he took a little girl into his studio, and placing her before the figure asked her what she thought of it. For a moment the little one hesitated, and then replied, "He was a great Man." The sculptor was disappointed : that was not the ideal he had set before himself. But again he went bravely to work, toning down this line, throwing more expression into this feature, until at length it seemed to him that he had succeeded. And so it proved. For when again the child was permitted to gaze upon the wonderful figure, there was no longer any hesitancy in her words as she sxclaimed, " That was the Christ who said, ' Suffer the little children to come unto me ! ' " ^
When God with us was dwelling here, In little babes He took delight.
Such innocents as thou, my dear, Are ever precious in His sight.
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my babe; sweet baby, sleep.^
ii. The Invitation to come to Him.
1. It was an invitation to their parents to bring them. — If we take the total number of miracles in the Gospels, the individual details of which are given (and the number is not large), we notice that of these, four concern children : the son of the nobleman, the daughter of Jairus, the daughter of the Syrophenician woman, and the lad belonging to the unknown father. These children did not come ; they were brought. They ^ W. H. Gray. ' G. Milligan. » George "Wither.
236 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
were all indebted to parental intercession, and of these parents three were fathers, one a mother. For the good of the children in body and soul the father should always take the lead. If he does not the mother may — how often with wonderful success. The joy of joys is when both are united and resolved. How various were these people ! One was a nobleman ; but in suffering, noblemen cannot do without the Healer, Jairus was a man of education and station and means, with the additional advantage of being a leader in religious worship. The unde- scribed or unnamed father seems to have been poor, untaught, little heeded, possessing no influence ; while the woman was a heathen, a castaway, spurned as a dog. But they all had love, and yearned for the welfare of a child ; they all had faith, and each brought a child to Jesus.