The Parents Who Asked Jesus to Pray for and Bless their Children

Matthew 19:13-15 (NLT)

13 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” 15 And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

Dear God,

I could be wrong, but I do not think I have ever looked at this story from the perspective of the parents before. In church, we usually take this as a story about the disciples and their short-sightedness. We also look at Jesus’s perspective on children. But what about these parents who didn’t really want anything specific from Jesus. No healings. No instruction even. I do not know if the laying on of hands and blessing someone was common for rabbis to do in that time. Maybe it was.

I was just reading a commentary to see if I could get an answer to that last question when I saw this point made: “Matthew chose to build this story in a way that shows Jesus’s attitude towards marriage and divorce as well as how he feels about the products of marriage—children. All is sacred. All is holy. All is worthy.”[1]

But going back to the parents, I wonder what drove them to do this. They were undoubtedly part of the crowd that was following Jesus around. Maybe some of them got the idea together. Maybe some of them just wanted their child to be touched by Jesus. Maybe it was an excuse for some of them to get that close to Jesus themselves. Whatever it was, I am sure this was an impactful event in their lives and the lives of their children. I would love to know how this blessing resonated through their individual lives. I would also love to know what Jesus said as he placed his hands on their heads.

Father, parenting is about doing the best you can at any given moment. In this moment these parents really did not have any idea what was going on. They had no idea that Jesus was the Messiah, and even if they did suspect it, they certainly did not know how it would all work out. What they saw that day was a great man teaching great things. He was seemingly of you and from you, and they brought their children to him so that he could touch them and pray for them.

Holy Spirit, pray for me now. Pray for my children. Pray for my and my wife’s siblings, nieces and nephews, and parents. I do not have Jesus here in the flesh for that, but he sent you, Holy Spirit. So please give to us what Jesus gave to those children and their parents that day.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

[1] Myron S. Augsburger, The Communicator’s Commentary: Matthew (Waco: Word Books, 1982), 226.