SUMMARY
JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More must teach his disciples a lesson about accepting children again.
ANALYSIS
A persistent theme in the Gospel of Mark is the lack of understanding displayed by Jesus’ disciples. He often must explain things to them multiple times and sometimes shows exasperation at their stubbornness. Jesus blessingBlessing is the asking for or the giving of God's favor. Isaac was tricked into blessing Jacob instead of his firstborn Esau. At the Last Supper Jesus offered a blessing over bread and wine. To be blessed is to be favored by God. More the little children displays this unfortunate side of the disciples. This is the disciples’ second encounter with a child and they seem not to have learned from it (see Mark 9:33-37 Who is the Greatest?). The disciples reflect the cultural attitudes of their time in seeing children as less important and not worthy of attention. Jesus, however, has instructed them to welcome children, and so he becomes angry at them. He reminds them that his kingdom is an upside down kingdom in which the least are the greatest, and reiterates children as people to accept and emulate.
