Jesus Welcomes Children^(A)

¹³ People brought their small children to Jesus so that he could lay his hands on them to bless them. But the followers told the people to stop bringing their children to him. ¹⁴ Jesus saw what happened. He did not like his followers telling the children not to come. So he said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people who are like these little children. ¹⁵ The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom like a little child accepts things, or you will never enter it.”