Why are you turning the children away? Why are you shoveling them off into some far away corner of society as though you are ashamed of them? Why do you filter out the ones that would serve your purpose, and throw the majority, unwilling to conform to your traditions (dress, denomination, and dance) back into the vast sea of suffering? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? Why are you giving the children to Satan? “How?” you ask. Let’s keep it simple. Jesus our Christ said to some of His most decorated disciples”Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The key word being suffer. But, what does it mean to suffer? Webster defines it in this manner, ‘To feel pain or distress; to sustain injury, loss, or damage.” So simply put, Jesus was informing/instructing His disciples at the same time. Informing them that it would take suffering on their part for them to allow the children to come to him, that they would suffer injury, loss, or damage for allowing them to come. At the same time, He was instructing them to suffer it, that He expected them to suffer it. The Disciples believed He had a more important work to perform. Some type of healing miracle maybe. Boy, if the Disciples could have seen into the future and visited our reality, they would have understood the necessity of the Savior’s sideline pep rally. They would have realized that Jesus was stopping to show the children His interest in them. Jesus wanted the children to know that coming to this earth to save the world included saving them. Our all-knowing Messiah gave the author’s of the Gospels something for the children, so when the Gospels were preached throughout the ages, the children would have the capacity to identify themselves as important to Him, that they were on the Messiah’s mind. Jesus often detoured along the way to free a needy man or woman, but I believe that to Him this was a special treat. He had left Heaven’s purity to come to this mean, cruel world. He had spent 33 years away from the innocence of eternity and now was finally in an atmosphere familiar to Him, so familiar He wasn’t about to allow it to be disturbed “Forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of Heaven!” He commanded. How can you confuse this with “Suffer the ones you think are ready,” which is your version? On the other hand, suffer the ones who are willing to put on a suit coat and tie. Dare I say to you as David said to Saul, “We cannot go with these, for we have not proved them.”
