Entering the Kingdom of God Like a Child

Entering the Kingdom of God like a child

Some Gospel passages get heard so often, used so readily at child-dedication services, that we eventually slide right past them without letting them reach us anymore. Mark 10:13-16 is one of them. Pastor Yoshida Tadashi, invited one Sunday to preach in Numazu, opened this text not as a passage about children, but as a passage about you. About the way you enter, or don't, the Kingdom of God.

The title he gave his sermon is direct enough to shake you awake: "Those who can enter the Kingdom of God." In other words, there is a door, and Jesus himself describes who walks through it. The passage in Mark 10 shows us both what must be given up to pass through it, and what is enough to cross it.

1. A text we think we know, yet one that still stings

Here is the passage read that Sunday (Mark 10:13-16): "And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.' And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them."

The pastor draws attention to a detail that softer translations dilute: Jesus was indignant. He doesn't simply give his disciples a gentle correction. This scene takes place after Jesus has already begun speaking openly about his cross and his resurrection. He is on his way up to Jerusalem. Humanly speaking, he is exhausted. The disciples are probably thinking: "Not now, he's worn out, he's walking toward his death, we don't have time for these children."

And that is exactly when Jesus rises up. This is not a small pastoral detail. It's a matter of the Kingdom. Turning away a child who comes to him means blocking the road for someone God himself is sending. And when Jesus says "truly," it's a signal that he's laying down something enormous: no one enters the Kingdom any other way than like a little child.

2. What Jesus sees in a child (and what we'd rather forget)

Pastor Yoshida has spent decades serving children. His wife trained in children's ministry at CEF in Okinawa before they married. He himself was called as a young married man to Otaru, in Hokkaido, and since then he has never stopped teaching Sunday school. He speaks about it with a lot of honesty: children aren't some cute backdrop. They are lives that move, that shout, that fight, that kick.

He tells the story of a little girl in his Sunday school, very cute on the outside, who kicked everyone. A little boy who couldn't sit still during games, who followed no rules whatsoever. Every week, the pastor would end up drained before the service even started. He even wondered how much longer he could keep going.

It was in that context that God reminded him of Jesus's words: "Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them." That wasn't a slogan on a poster. It was an order. Those children, difficult as they were, had been sent to the service by God. They came of their own accord. They were looking for something. Turning them away, even out of exhaustion, would be repeating what the disciples had tried to do.

3. The turning point: when a girl bursts into tears

One day at Sunday school, that difficult little girl listened to a message. She burst into tears. She said "I'm sorry." She believed in Jesus. Could a child that young really repent? The pastor admits he had that doubt tucked away somewhere in his mind. Then he understood: yes, she could. The Holy Spirit was working in her, exactly as he works in an adult, perhaps with fewer obstacles.

From then on, Yoshida changed the way he looked at things. It didn't matter if the child shouted, ran around, disobeyed, kicked, God had sent that child. The Spirit could reach them. And the adult who accompanies them, that's the pastor, the Sunday school teacher, but also you, in your family, at church, on your street: your role is to not close the door.

4. What "receiving like a child" really means

The contrast becomes striking when you read the passage that comes right after it in Mark 10: the rich young man (Mark 10:17-22). He too comes to Jesus. But he doesn't throw himself into Jesus's arms. He arrives with a carefully built question: "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He comes with a moral résumé: "I have kept all these commandments since my youth."

A child, on the other hand, doesn't come with a résumé. He comes empty-handed. He comes because someone brought him, or because he doesn't know where else to go. He knows how to say three simple words: "thank you," "I'm sorry," "please." And those three words, in the mouth of a child who understood he had done wrong, are worth more than the moral speech of the rich young man.

The Kingdom of God is received, it is not earned, it is not negotiated, it is not won through a record of religious achievements. It is received the way a small child receives a gift: with open hands, no calculating, full of surprise and gratitude.

5. The little boy transformed by three words

The pastor also tells of an unbearable little boy in his Sunday school. One day, this boy learned to say "thank you," "I'm sorry," "please." Those three words changed his everyday life. The children who used to bother him no longer had any hold on him. The adults wondered what had happened. This little boy came to faith. And through him, an adult close to him also came to Jesus.

The pastor draws this application for himself, and hands it back to you: "Do I, as a Christian, as a pastor, know how to simply say 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry'? Does my life have the simplicity of a child's three words?"

6. Jesus takes the child into his arms

The scene doesn't stop at a teaching. The text says that Jesus "took them in his arms and blessed them." This exhausted Jesus, on his way up to the cross, still takes the time to hold each child close. This is the image the pastor wants to leave you with: Jesus never turned away anyone who came to him. Nor will he turn away the weary adult, a believer for years, who comes back to him empty-handed, simply saying "I'm sorry, thank you."

Key takeaways

• The Kingdom of God belongs to those who come to Jesus like little children: empty-handed, with no moral résumé.
• The disciples wanted to block the children. Jesus was indignant. Blocking the way of someone God is sending to Christ is a serious matter.
• A child can truly repent and believe. The Holy Spirit works no less in a child than in an adult.
• Three words are often enough to voice a living faith: "thank you," "I'm sorry," "please."
• The rich young man (Mark 10:17-22) came to Jesus with a résumé. He left sad. The child came with nothing. He left blessed.

For personal application

• Today, do you come to Jesus like a child, or more like the rich young man, with your list of good deeds to show for yourself?
• What keeps you from simply saying "I'm sorry" to God, or to a brother, a parent, a child?
• Which children is God placing around you today, in your family or in your church? Are you opening the door of Christ to them, or closing it out of exhaustion?
• In the week ahead, what action or word could leave someone with a taste of Jesus's blessing?
• Do you take the time to simply receive what God wants to give you, instead of always wanting to earn it?

Verses cited

• Mark 10:13-16 · Jesus and the little children
• Mark 10:17-22 · The rich young man
• Mark 10:19 · The commandments recalled to the young man

FAQ

Can a child really repent and believe in Jesus?

Yes. Pastor Yoshida testifies to this from his own ministry. A little girl in his Sunday school cried, said "I'm sorry," and believed. The Holy Spirit works in a child's heart just as much as in an adult's, perhaps with fewer obstacles. Jesus himself says the Kingdom belongs to those who receive it like children.

What does "receiving the Kingdom like a little child" mean?

It doesn't mean being naive or immature. It means coming to Jesus empty-handed, with no moral résumé, with no negotiating. It means accepting that salvation is a gift, not a wage. A child knows how to say "thank you" and "I'm sorry." He doesn't say "I earned this."

Why was Jesus indignant with his disciples?

Because blocking the way of someone who comes to him (especially a little one), is no small matter. It's blocking access to the Kingdom. The disciples thought they were protecting an exhausted Jesus. They were in fact betraying his mission.