{"id":"01KFXVAZHSAD5MJADCRJ8QJG7D","cid":"bafkreia5rtactadytqwcggndlun23f2n3kk6dhs5fbph5d5fub3olz274q","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# Chapter on Jesus and the Children\n\n## Overview\nThis entity is a chapter extracted from a religious text, spanning lines 1036 to 1091 of the source document. It was processed on January 26, 2026, by an automated structure extraction system and later manually edited. The chapter focuses on the biblical episode in which Jesus blesses children, emphasizing themes of innocence, faith, and divine love for the young. It forms part of the larger collection [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS), which includes works from the Western religious and literary canon.\n\n## Context\nThe chapter originates from a scanned PDF file titled *childrensbeststo00unse.pdf*, included in the [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS) collection. It was processed through a series of automated workflows—OCR, text assembly, and structure extraction—before being segmented into discrete chunks for archival and retrieval purposes. The chapter is divided into three [chunks](arke:01KFXVBZ8AA5V4B8WA6YXWS96Q), each preserving portions of the original text and page references.\n\n## Contents\nThe chapter recounts the story of mothers bringing their children to Jesus, despite objections from His disciples. It highlights Jesus’ compassionate response—“Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven”—and reflects on the spiritual significance of childlike trust and dependence. The narrative connects this moment to Jesus’ later triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, where children again cry “Hosanna.” The text asserts that Jesus’ blessing on children endures, and that His call extends metaphorically to all people, urging them to adopt the simplicity and faith of children to enter the kingdom of heaven. The passage also explains the meaning of “Christ” as “Anointed King” and reaffirms His ongoing spiritual presence. Page references link to [Page 160](arke:01KFXV1NM5E1XC59TBYA1R8F67), [Page 161](arke:01KFXV1NMZ4DPFQTZP977J2DB7), [Page 162](arke:01KFXV1NM76Q96H7WTM8RJAMYX), [Page 163](arke:01KFXV1NN2PZJK518F7PYNKJEV), [Page 164](arke:01KFXV1NM7AYPAQA2VNKTSA174), and [Page 165](arke:01KFXV1NXCKQ6QHB6DC96X18HW).","description_generated_at":"2026-01-26T19:11:02.264Z","description_model":"Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507","description_title":"Chapter on Jesus and the Children","end_line":1091,"extracted_at":"2026-01-26T19:08:53.936Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"","source_file":"01KFXVA454RTKCJEQJMP0QKNKY","start_line":1036,"text":" 719\tNow and then a thoughtful person, ly-\n\n\n 720\t146\n 721\t\n 722\ting down at night, and remembering all that had been told of Jesus, would whisper, “I wonder, oh, I wonder if He could make bad people good? That would be still harder to do.”\n 723\t\n 724\tMothers, you know, always desire the best things for their children. So when it chanced one day that in the crowd going towards Jerusalem there was a rumor that Jesus the Prophet was near, talking in His own sweet way, wise and comforting and commanding, a few dark-eyed Judean women, holding babies in their arms, and with older children clinging to their gowns, pressed out of the throng and came close to the Master. This was the name they had begun to call Him now.\n 725\t\n 726\tThey wanted Him to touch their children. Some of the children were ill, some were fretful and tired, some were bubbling over with health and fun. All were very dear to their mothers, and the mothers thought that a touch of those hands that had done so much good would\n\n\n 727\t147\n 728\t\n 729\tkeep off all evil, and ward off all danger from their darlings in days to come.\n 730\t\n 731\tAround the Master and between Him and the crowd were gathered His disciples, a group of strong, dark faces, some of them seafaring men, others keen-eyed men from the cities. These were very impatient with the women and children, and rebuked them. We can hear their lifted voices saying:\n 732\t\n 733\t“Go away! Take those children where they belong! Trouble not the Master. He has other work to do, and cannot be bothered with you and your babies!”\n 734\t\n 735\tBut the mothers were not to be daunted, and held their ground, and very likely some of the little ones cried, or the sturdy little Jewish laddies may even have pressed close enough to the Master to catch hold of His garment.\n 736\t\n 737\tPresently He turned round, saw the commotion, and then, just as might have been expected, He rebuked the disciples. He looked very encouragingly at the women, and held out His arms to take a\n\n\n 738\t148\n 739\t\n 740\tdimpled baby from the mother who stood nearest, saying,\n 741\t\n 742\t“Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”\n 743\t\n 744\tWe do not know anything of the lives of these dear little children on whom Jesus laid His hands, and whom He blessed. We think that some of them may have been in the great crowd who thronged His pathway when He took His last journey to Jerusalem that He might “lay down His life for His sheep.”\n 745\t\n 746\tThen the children cried, “Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!” as over the palm-strewn road the King went into Jerusalem. Over the cross of His agony His enemies wrote, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews,” writing it in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, for the whole world to read.\n 747\t\n 748\tBut before He came to the cross He had that day of triumph which the Church remembers on Palm Sunday, and then the children, in their glad young voices, shouted “Hosanna!”\n\n\n 749\t149\n 750\tNobody could ever make me believe that little children on whom our blessed Lord laid His hands grew up to be bad men and women. I am sure the blessing abided upon them through their lives, and as they have now been many centuries in heaven, I think that there they love Him very dearly, and as they see His face remember that He said to them first, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not.”\n 751\t\n 752\tBut those words were spoken to the children of all ages. Though we do not now see Jesus in the flesh, He is not far away from us. He is our Christ, our Anointed King. Formerly, when kings were crowned, part of the ceremonial consisted in the pouring of oil (chrism) on the royal head. Jesus is called Christ because He is a King.\n 753\t\n 754\tA King who is as strong and loving in heaven as He was on earth, He still loves little children, and wants them for His own. Another very sweet word that He said was this, a word said to grown peo-\n 755\t9\n\n\n 756\t150\n 757\t\n 758\tple, by-the-bye, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.”\n 759\t\n 760\tNot that children are always good. Christ does not love people for goodness, but because He is good, and they need Him. But children have no care about to-morrow, and nothing to worry them. Children depend on their parents for food and for clothing; children know little of the great evils that are in the world. In every city and town, in every school and home, wherever there is a baby in a little crib, wherever there is a child’s hospital, yes, wherever there is a child’s little grave, Jesus Christ is still saying, as of old,\n 761\t\n 762\t“Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”\n\n","title":""},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFXVBZ8AA5V4B8WA6YXWS96Q","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"contains"},{"peer":"01KFXVBZ8E32JNK5F66BCKCJ0S","peer_label":"Chunk 2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"contains"},{"peer":"01KFXVBZ8717TTDQQAT50DZYAW","peer_label":"Chunk 3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"contains"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-26T19:08:54.558Z","ts":"2026-01-26T19:11:02.644Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}