<p>18:15 <i>And they were bringing to him even their babies, that he should touch them- </i>His blessing was and is mediated without physical contact. The need for physical contact in order to receive blessing was embedded in the religious mentality of the time, and is seen to this day in so many rituals and traditions of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The sick woman thought to herself that if she could only&nbsp;<i>touch&nbsp;</i>Jesus, she would be made whole; but He responded that He made her whole because of&nbsp;<i>her faith</i>&nbsp;(Mt. 9:21,22). He was gently correcting her mistaken understanding of the power of touch. And yet the Lord made a concession to this misunderstanding by indeed touching the children as requested.</p><p>The touching was understood as a form of blessing. The implication is that the Lord agrees to the request, blessing little ones for the sake of the efforts of third parties who bring them to Him (as in Mk. 2:5 and so often in the work of saving and curing men). As the children &lsquo;received&rsquo; this blessing, so the Lord urges the disciples to &lsquo;receive&rsquo; the things of the Kingdom- for Mk. 10:15 records the Lord&rsquo;s further comment that &ldquo;whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no way enter into it&rdquo;. Those children receiving His grace and blessing, all the more gracious because they received it thanks to others bringing them to it, represent each disciple who receives the grace and blessing of the Kingdom.</p><p><i>But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them</i>- Just as they had turned away the little one in Matthew 18, as they sought to send away the hungry crowds, forbad John&rsquo;s disciples and tried to turn away the Syro-Phoenician woman. And they did this despite the Lord&rsquo;s sober warning that turning away little ones is making them stumble, and will lead to eternal rejection from God&rsquo;s Kingdom. The disciples in their preaching, of which the Gospels are transcripts, were stressing how they had so failed to grasp this vital teaching.&nbsp;</p>