Experiencing the Kingdom as a Little Child: A Rereading of Mark 10:13-16

THE TASK OF INTERPRETING THE BIBLE NEVER ENDS. ALTHOUGH THE SCRIPTURES do not change, our interpretation and appropriation of them do. Often Christians have to rethink their understanding of a specific text or set of texts. For me this has occurred with regard to Mark 10:13-16, the familiar scene that depicts Jesus’ reception of the little children brought to him despite his disciples’ objection. When I was a theological student in the 1960s, the standard Englishlanguage commentary on the Gospel of Mark was that of Vincent Taylor. In introducing Mark 10:13-16 Taylor declared that Jesus announced God’s reign coming as a gift and “as an experience into which, if they have the receptiveness of a child, man [sic] may enter here and now.” For him “the receptiveness of a child” was the key for understanding the analogy between the phrase “as a little child” and receiving the kingdom of God. Another British scholar, D. E. Nineham, suggested a similar interpretation when he wrote: “The point of the comparison is not so much the innocence and humility [or obedience] of children; it is rather the fact that children are unselfconscious, receptive, and content to be dependent upon others’ care and bounty.” In both cases, the commentators focused on the characteristic or characteristics of children as the key to the meaning of the passage.