<p>10:14 <i>But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them: Permit the little children to come to me; forbid them not. For to such belongs the kingdom of God</i>-</p><p>The Lord rebuked the disciples for 'forbidding' John's disciples and the little ones to come to Him (Mk. 9:38); and yet He uses the same word to describe how the lawyers hindered s.w. 'forbad' people to enter the Kingdom. There's a very clear parallel here between the disciples and their Jewish teachers who had so influenced their thinking. But they finally got there- for Peter insisted that Gentiles should not be forbidden s.w. 'hinder' baptism (Acts 10:47); and he uses the same word again when he says that now, he will not &quot;withstand s.w. 'hinder' God in hindering people to come to Him (Acts 11:17). The awfulness of the disciples' attitude is brought out by the use of the word in 1 Thess. 2:16, where Paul says that the way the Jews 'forbad' or hindered the preaching of the Gospel was cause for the wrath of God to come upon them &quot;to the uppermost&quot;. And the disciples initially followed their Jewish elders in this kind of behaviour. In passing, there is a sober warning here to those who would likewise 'forbid' baptism to those who sincerely seek it, and who will not allow &lsquo;little ones&rsquo; to the Lord&rsquo;s table.</p><p>Mk. 10:15 adds: &ldquo;Whoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no way enter into it&rdquo;. This is exactly how the whole section began in Matthew (18:3). The Greek for &ldquo;receive&rdquo; is often used about people accepting the Gospel. The implication is that one can receive the Gospel of the Kingdom of God- and yet not enter it, because we didn&rsquo;t receive it as a child. We didn&rsquo;t accept that we are the &lsquo;little ones&rsquo;, accepting we know so little, and just marvelling at the special grace being shown us which we accept in awed wonder. The language of &lsquo;entering the Kingdom&rsquo; is used both of our final entry into the Kingdom when Christ returns (Mt. 25:10,21; Jn. 3:5), and of our current entering the Kingdom. The rich man can enter the Kingdom right now if he sheds the load of his wealth (Mt. 19:23,24). The Scribes stopped and hindered those who were entering the Kingdom from entering, locking the door through which the Kingdom could now be entered, all because they chose not to enter themselves (Mt. 23:13; Lk. 11:52). So it&rsquo;s a case of &lsquo;Now but not yet&rsquo;. We do&nbsp;<i>now&nbsp;</i>enter into God&rsquo;s rest, and yet we are promised that we&nbsp;<i>will</i>&nbsp;enter that rest at Christ&rsquo;s return (Heb. 4:1-11). The Lord had warned that our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes, or we will likewise not enter the Kingdom (Mt. 5:20); but that righteousness is in accepting the blessing of righteousness as a little child; for without&nbsp;<i>that</i>&nbsp;we shall not enter the kingdom. Those who do the will of the Father will enter the Kingdom (Mt. 7:21)- and that will is to be as little children and accept gifts without seeking to justify ourselves or earn them.</p><p>The value of persons felt by the Lord is made very obvious when we notice His attention to women, children, Gentiles and the mentally ill / deformed. These three groups often occur together in the Rabbis&rsquo; teaching. The very people who were not counted as persons, the Lord went out of His way to express value for. And in this He sets us an example. Children were counted as of little value- but the Lord spoke about salvation for children (Mk. 10:14), and of the need to become like a child if we are to enter His Kingdom (Mt. 18:3). This purposeful recognition of the value of <i>all</i> human persons was a radical and difficult thing in His surrounding culture. And so it can be in ours too.</p>