“Do not hinder them”
28th March 2006
There are quite a number of occasions when the Scriptural narratives tell of times when Jesus got upset, irritated or angry with the people around Him.
Previously, I meditated on one of the more well known incidents, and uncovered what I think was the real issue with that particular incident: that an institution designed to draw people to God became a purveyor of injustice to those who were deemed to be further away from the commonwealth of the people of God. As it turned out it became a hindrance to those who sought to foster a relationship with God. That enraged the Savior so much that He lashed out at the people who were perpetrating the injustice.
At another occasion the Lord was incited to anger by people who became barriers to those who were seeking to come to Him. As the Scriptures put it, He was indignant. It inflamed His sense of justice. This was recorded in Mark’s gospel, chapter 10. Recently, I heard Chap Clark’s sermon on this passage.
I would like to explore some of Clark’s remarks as he introduced his message about the need for all of us to recognize that the Kingdom belongs to such as these and that if we are to enter it, then we must receive it like a little child. He says that it is instructive to note that Jesus was indignant when He saw that the disciples’ were forbidding the crowd from bringing the children to Him. He says, “Do not hinder them!” Clark says it is interesting that so often disciples have this misconception that Jesus needs to be protected or shielded from people. They think that somehow the Savior must be protected from the common people and that in order for people to come to Him, they must have either first satisfied some prior conditions cognitively, morally or spiritually.
When Clark says that, I was reminded of the many times people judged those who are working in the forefront of bringing the masses to Christ. Specifically, it seems that there are many who oppose the work of people such as Rick Warren, Brian MacLaren and Joel Osteen. Many are wary of the work of Rick Warren and the “Purpose Driven Movement.” For instance, many criticize Warren for his supposed unorthodox message and his use of a mixture of modern translations and paraphrases that together “water down” the gospel message. It appears to me that those who object to Warren’s book, and his work generally, seem to have missed that he is introducing thousands to Christ.
This passage further illumines another aspect of bringing people to Christ. The Savior is utterly displeased when we hinder people from coming to God. There was another occasion when such behavior caught His ire. He lashed out at the Pharisees and the teachers of the law for they “shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces” by adding artificial obstacles and conditions for people to enter God’s presence.
May we never do that!
Technorati Tags: angry, coming to Christ, kingdom, disciples, justice, hindrance, Chap Clark, Rick Warren, Brian MacLaren, Joel Osteen, Pharisees, teachers of the law
March 30th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
[...] The disciples prevented the little ones from coming to Jesus. We note in the scripture this displeased the Lord. He didn’t like that the disciples were preventing others from coming to Him. Do we, as a church today, prevent others from coming to Christ? This idea is explored in the outer and gives us something to think about. [...]