DAY 17 of #100daysofJesus - Jesus Loves Children

 

DAY 17 of #100daysofJesus

Jesus loves children.

While in Judea teaching, some children were brought to Jesus in hopes that He would pray over and bless them. Picture in your mind the faith-filled parents, their hearts full of love and hope, bringing their precious sons and daughters to the Messiah for His holy blessing.

The beauty of the moment is interrupted by Jesus' well-meaning disciples trying to disperse the crowd and send them away. They may have said things like, "Our Master is busy and has no time for little children." Or perhaps they impatiently said, "Don't you know that little children are saved? They don't need His blessing. He's busy helping those who actually need His help."

Jesus seeing the children and their faithful parents was filled with compassion and love. He may have surprised the disciples when he said, "[Allow the] little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus then prayed over and blessed the children.

What a sacred experience for those children to receive a blessing at the hands of the Messiah! What a sacred experience for their parents to witness it!

In the Book of Mormon we read of a similar event when the resurrected Jesus is ministering to the Nephite people. Jesus is filled with compassion and asks "that their little children should be brought."

Full of hope and faith, I can envision the parents eagerly bringing their children to Him, and then taking a step back, watching with joyous anticipation.

Jesus, surrounded by the Nephite children, then offers a powerful prayer. An eye witness records, "the eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father... and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father."

After praying, Jesus said, "behold, my joy is full." He wept and then took "their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept again."

I'm sure these children never forgot this sacred experience, nor did their parents. It is obvious that children are worthy of Jesus' time and that He loves them.

As I imagine he did in Judea, Jesus blessed the Nephite children one by one. Jesus doesn't just love children collectively, but He loves each one individually. Similarly, He knows and loves each of us as individuals. He saves each of us as individuals.

(References: Matthew 19:13-15, 3 Nephi 17:6, 11-22)