Mark 10 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

1630(...continued)eastern North Carolina, or to our Christmount camp near Black Mountain, in the SmokyMountains of Western North Carolina. Many of them later became church members.Those of us who served as counselors and leaders in those camps gladly confessed thatwe were the real gainers, finding that our own lives had been enriched and broadened bythe new friendships and learning that had taken place in that way. Can Central ChristianChurch do something like that for the youth of our Frisco and Collin County? What usecan we make of our facilities in order to reach and serve little children in the name ofJesus? If we take this teaching seriously, how soon will we take steps to call a “Minister ofChristian Nurture of Children” to work in our midst? I ask all of this as an open question,and as a challenge to all of us.1631Taylor comments that Jesus transformed those views of the Kingdom of God whichsee it exclusively as something far out in the future, at the "end of time" into something thatis "a gift of God and...an experience into which, if people have the receptiveness of a child,they may enter here and now." (P. 422) Do you agree with Taylor in this statement?Where do you think the Kingdom of God is located? When do you think we canenter into it? If we don't enter into it here and now, do you think we will have any real hopeof entering into it far off in the future? Does Mark mean that the Church of Jesus is theKingdom of God? If not, why not?Taylor also notes that "Of great interest and importance is the concurrence of thestatement that the Kingdom belongs to children with the command [‘Permit the littlechildren to come to me!’]. The implication is not far distant that in a true sense JesusHimself is the Kingdom; to use the word of Origen of Alexandria (who died 254 A.D.)...Heis auvtobasilei,a, autobasileia [‘the kingdom itself’]." (P. 423)We think Origen is right, and that, as this passage shows, to come to Jesus is theequivalent of receiving the Kingdom, and of entering into the Kingdom. Of course this istrue--for Jesus is the Anointed High Priest and King of God's Kingdom, and to follow theKing is to enter the Kingdom.Schweizer comments that "Jesus can speak in this way because he knows that inhimself the future Kingdom is already encountering [humanity] and taking possession of[them]...Jesus exercises an authority here which properly belongs to God alone. Hepromises fellowship with God; he promises to give the future Kingdom of God immediatelyto those who have nothing to show for themselves." (P. 207)The Kingdom of God isn't the exclusive possession of the high and the mighty; itdoesn't belong only to the folks in authority, to the people with money and influence. God'sKingdom is made up of lowly, insignificant, humble people--of little children, and of thosewho become like little children, coming to Jesus in their deep need, calling upon him for hishealing, teaching, forgiveness, and guidance.If we think we are so good, and so wise, that we can guide our own footsteps aright;(continued...)923