KIDS AND CHRIST - FATHERHOOD AT ITS FINEST

KIDS AND CHRIST - FATHERHOOD AT ITS FINEST

   All men are children of the Son of Man, but no one could call Him father in the flesh. Among the disappointing joys of men perhaps the only joy which does not disappoint is to hold in one's arms or on one's knees a child whose face is rosy with blood which is also yours, who laughs at you with the dawning splendor of his eyes, who stammers out your name, who uncovers the springs of the lost tenderness of your child­hood; to feel against your adult flesh, hardened by winds and the sun, this fresh smooth young flesh where the blood seems still to have kept some of the sweetness of milk, flesh that seems made of warm, living petals. To feel that this flesh is yours, shaped in the flesh of your mate, to watch the birth and slow flowering of the soul in this flesh; to be the sole father of this unique creature, of this flower opening in the light of the world; to recognize your own aspect in his childish eyes, to hear your own voice through his fresh lips; to grow young again through this child in order to be worthy of him; to be nearer to him; to make yourself younger, better, purer; to forget all the years which bring us silently nearer to death, to forget the pride of manhood, the vanity of wisdom, the first wrinkles on the face, the apologies, the humiliations of life and to become a virgin again beside this virginity, calm beside this calmness, good with a goodness never known before; to be in short the father of a child of your own, this is certainly the highest human pleasure given to a man who has a soul within his frame.
  Jesus, whom no one called Father, was drawn to children as to sinners. Lover of the absolute, He loved only extremes. Complete innocence and complete downfall were for Him pledges of salvation. Innocence because it does not need to be cleansed; abject degradation because it feels more keenly the need to be cleansed. The people in danger are those mid­way; men half depraved and half intact; men who are foul within and wish to seem upright and just; those who have lost with their childhood their native purity and do not yet recognize the filthiness of their inner depravity.

"But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."  Mark 10:14

 Mark alone of the Evangelists gives us this revealing touch in connection with this story of the reception and blessing of the children. When we recite His words spoken on that occasion the tone of a great tenderness almost invariably finds its way into our voices. And that is natural, for the words are full of comfort for all those who love little children. It is nevertheless important, for our warning, that we should never forget that when our Lord uttered the words, He was angry. He was moved with indignation that any of His disciples should so misunderstand Him as to endeavour to prevent the children from getting to Him. There is no doubt whatever that these disciples meant well. They were on their way to Jerusalem, and His converse with them had been concerned with His coming sufferings. They were quite unable to understand Him in all this, but at least they knew that His mind was occupied with tremendous things, and they felt that He ought not to be disturbed by children.
The story reminds us, then, that it is possible to mean well, and to do ill; and it gives us forevermore to understand the place which the children occupy in His heart. In any way to hinder them from getting to Him is to cause Him to be moved with indignation. Conversely-to help them to Him is to give Him joy, The children are all about us, and so everywhere are opportunities for giving Him this joy.