I had a few extra hours with my grandson, Calum, this week

He could not go to school, because he was running a temperature

– I get nervous about fevers – two of our sons, when very small, had febrile seizures

• so it makes sense to me that parents wanted Jesus to touch their children

• what doesn’t make sense is that the disciples would block them

– Jesus’ message, from his first spoken words in chapter 1,

• has been the kingdom of God (Mk. 1:15)

• now he places children in the center of God’s kingdom

◦ it belongs to them,

◦ and the only way to enter the kingdom is to receive it as a child