In biblical times children seldom interacted with adults in general and were never to be heard. But Jesus turned that cultural practice on its head when He went to Jerusalem with His earthy parents to celebrate Passover months before His bar mitzvah.
When Mary and Joseph departed from the hustle and bustle of the holy days they didn't recognize Jesus was left behind in Jerusalem. A whole day later they discovered His absence. After a frantic return and search of Jerusalem, they found the pre-teen Jesus speaking to the sages and teachers of the Temple. Scripture records all in the Temple who heard Jesus were astonished at the understanding and answers of the twelve-year-old (Luke 2:49).
Jesus not only taught as a child; He encouraged other children to speak words of praise openly. Matthew 21:14-16 records of the time when Jesus returned to the same Temple He visited in His youth. Just after Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He healed the lame and blind gathered at the Temple. Seeing these miracles, the children who followed Christ continued to shout "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Many of those same rabbis and religious leaders from twenty-one years earlier saw the spectacle of praise and were indignant.
With piercing conviction, Christ asked those pious leaders, most of whom were parents, if they had ever read Psalm 8:2.
"Out of the mouth of babes...thou hast perfected praise."
What Jesus was teaching the most self-righteous people of His day is a lesson we should learn as well. Children are a gift from God, and the brief journey we share with them from birth to adulthood is humbling and enlightening.
Child rearing is a life lesson in the grace of our Heavenly Father towards His children. Jesus drew this application when He asked, "If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11).
Our children are often teaching us, and they don't even realize it. And if we are not paying attention, we may miss it too. As we relate to our child in the daily path we call parenthood we learn about our Heavenly Father and how He loves us as His child, with far greater love.
