CHILDREN
arms (Mk 10'«, c£. Q'"). His allusions to children in His teaching reflect the closeness of His ob- servation of them. He celebrates the delight of the mother m her baby, obliterating even the
Eangs of birth {Jn 16-') ; the fostering love of the ither who cuddles his children up with him in bed (Lk 11') ; the parental affection which listens eagerly to the child's every request, and knows how to grant it only things that are good (Mt 7°, Lk 11"' ''). He notes the wayward impulses of children at play (Mt IV^ Lk 7^=). He feels the weight of woe that is added to calamities in which the children also are involved (Mt 18^) ; and places among the sujiremest tests of loyalty to Him, the
£ reference of Him even to one's children (Mt 19-", ,k W 182" . cf. Mk 10=3).
A number of His miracles, worked for the benefit of the young, illustrate His compassion for their sufferings and ills. The nobleman's son at Caper- naum, whose healing Jesus wrought as a second sign when He came out of Judsea into Galilee (Jn 446-«4)^ was at least a ' child ' (irair, 4'>'), for so the servants call him in cold sobriety ; and probably was a ' little child ' (4*^), although it is, of course, possible that on the lips of the father the diminu- tive expresses tenderness of affection rather than of age. The possessed ' boy ' (Trarj, Mt 17'", Lk 9*=) — the only son of his father (Lk 9^*) — whom Jesus healed as He came down from the Mount of Trans- figuration (Mt 17'^-2i, Mk 9»-2', Lk9^'-«), and whose affliction had dated from his earliest infancy {^k vaiSidffei', Mk 9='), was more certainly distinctively a ' little child ' (Mk 9-*). Jairus' ' little daughter ' {evydTpiov, Mk 5'-^)— also an only one— whom Jesus raised from the dead in such dramatic circum- stances (Mt 918-2', Mk 52=-«, Lk 8"-^) and who is spoken of in the narratives indifferently as ' child ' (irars, Lk 8='- "), ' little child ' {ira^Sio,', Mk 5=»- <"• •") and ' maiden ' or ' girl ' {Kopdaiov, Mt 9=^- ", Mk 5*' ; TaXtBd, Mk 5^'), we know to have been about twelve years old (Lk S''^). We are not told the exact age of the 'little daughter' {evydTpiov, Mk 7^— here probably the word is the diminutive of age, not of aff'ection, as it occurs in the narrative, not the conversation) of the Syrophceniciau woman ; but we note that St. Mark calls her also distinctively a ' little child ' (TraiSiW, 7»»). The only son of the widow of Nain (Lk 7"-"), the desolate state of whose bereft mother roused so deeply the pity of our Lord 1(7"), is addressed indeed as a 'young man ' {vcavliTKc, 7"), a term so broatl that it need imply no more than that he was in liis prime ; but the suggestion of the narrative certainly seems to be that he was in his youthful prime (7"). Thus is rounded out a series of miracles in which our Lord shows His pity to the growing youth of every stage of development.
When on that great day on the shores of Gen- nesaret Jesus appeared to His disciples and gave to His repentant Apostle His last exhortation. He commanded him not merely ' Feed ray sheep,' but also ' Feed my lambs.' Though the language, doubtless, rather expresses His love for His flock than distributes it into constituent classes, we may be permitted to see in it also the richness of our Lord's sympathy for the literal lambs of His fold. Certainly He provided in His kingdom a place for every a^e. and met the spiritual needs of each. Touchmg illustrations of this are offered us at the two end stages of youthful development (Lk 18'= ^p^0os ; Mt ir-" yia'j'taKos), in the blessing of little children and the probing of the rich young ruler's heart, which are brought into immediate contiguity in all three of the Synoptics as if they were intended to be taken together as a picture of our Lord's dealing with youth as a whole, perhaps even as together illustrating the great truth that in the kingdom of God the question is not of the
hour of entrance, — first or eleventh,— but of tlie will of the Master, who doeth what He will witli His own (Mt 20'=).
What is particularly to be borne in mind with respect to the blessing of the little children (Mt 19'3-'=, Mk 10"-'«, Lk 18'=-"), is that these 'little children ' (TraiSio, Mt 19''- '^ Mk lO'^- '*, Lk 18'«) were distinctively ' babies ' {^pitpv, Lk 18'=). There- fore they needed to be received by Jesus ' in his arms ' (Mk 10'") ; and only from this circumstance, indeed, can all the details of the narrative be understood. It is from this, for example, that the interference of the disciples, which called out the Master's rebuke, ' Let tlie little children come to me ; forbid them not,' receives its explanation. The disciples, to speak briefly, had misapprehended the nature of the Lord's mission : they were re- garding Him fundamentally as a teacher sent from God, who also healed the afflicted ; and they con- ceived it to be their duty in the overstrain to which He was subjected to protect Him from needless drafts on His time and strength by the intrusion of those needing no healing and incapable of in- struction. It seemed to them out of the question that 'even the babies' (Lk 18'=) should be thrust upon His jaded attention. They should have known better ; and Jesus was indignant that they did not know better (Mk 10'^), and took this oc- casion to manifest Himself as the Saviour of infants also. Taking them in His arms and fervently invoking a blessing upon tliem (Mk 10'" KaTevXdyei), He not only asserted for them a part in His mission, but even constituted them the type of the cliildren Let the little children