A Word in Season A child In Christ's Arms (Mark 9:36)

The Beauty of Christ’s Holiness and Compassion

The character of our Lord Jesus Christ is quite lovely. To be sure, there are times when there's a clearer, brighter, perhaps sharper light, some of those more severe demonstrations of his righteousness and his integrity, but even then it's the beauty of holiness.

Perhaps most precious to us will be those instances of compassion and kindness that shine through again and again in the gospel records. One in particular is found in Mark's gospel in chapter 9. The disciples have been arguing with one another on the road about who's going to be the greatest, and that's sadly too typical of them and of us.

And you can perhaps imagine the antagonism that there would have been and the crackle in the air between these men with strong personalities and vigorous opinions. And they're not pathetic individuals either.

They're not lily-livered in that sense. They're robust men. They're men who know how to take care of themselves. It's quite possible that the antagonism between them became quite heated. They want to know who's going to be the greatest.

Jesus Takes a Child in His Arms

And the Lord Jesus goes in amongst them in order to deal with that attitude. And he calls them and he says to them, if anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. And to emphasize his point, he calls a little child and puts that little child in the midst of them and took the child in his arm.

And he spoke to them and said, whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. Now, the point there, I think, lies fairly close to the surface.

But I want you just to notice how the Lord demonstrates his point. You perhaps know a little child, maybe a toddler or somebody not of a great age and probably fairly timid. Can you imagine calling that child into a place of prominence?

Perhaps dad or mum are not too far away. But to bring that child and to put them in a position where they feel perhaps exposed or they're not quite sure of themselves. And yet when the Lord Jesus takes that little child and takes the child in his arms, there's no indication of any real difficulty.

This child knows or in some way trusts this man, Jesus Christ. Whatever his gentleness, whatever the firmness with which he's dealing with this situation, whatever his disposition, this child is happy in the arms of the Lord Jesus and becomes a beautiful demonstration of the kind of faith that we need to exercise and the humble disposition that we need to cultivate if we are to serve in the kingdom of God.

The Humble Disposition Required for the Kingdom of God

And I wonder how many of us are like Christ in that way. I'm not saying it's the only test and I'm not saying it's an absolute test, but do our characters shine forth in such a way that if we were to take a little child under these kinds of circumstances, it would feel safe and content and happy in our arms.

I think it's a beautiful demonstration of the kind of person that we are dealing with when we're dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ. It might seem simple to you, it might seem a little childish to you, but when I see a Christ who can take a child like that, hold him in his arms and comfort him and use him without this child becoming fearful or distressed, I am glad that I have a saviour who is marked by such compassion and such kindness.

I'm grateful for his strength. I love his holiness. I tremble before his proper righteousness, but I delight in his merciful kindness towards sinners like us. And if I can only learn to be more like the little child, and you too, then perhaps I'll be able to attract others and deal with others in the way that Christ himself did.