Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 19:13

"Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should lay his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them." — Matthew 19:13 (ASV)

From questions of marriage to the subject of children was an easy and natural step, and Providence so arranged events that our Lord was led to proceed from one to the other. We see how gentle our King was, in the fact that anyone thought of bringing boys and girls to Him. Their friends brought little children to him, so that he might put his hands on them, bestow a blessing, and also lift up His hands to God and pray for them.

This was a very natural desire on the part of devout parents, and it showed much faith in our Lord’s condescension. We feel sure that the mothers brought them, for holy women are still doing the same.

The disciples, jealous for their Lord’s honor, told the mothers and nurses to hold back. They judged that it was too childish an act on the mothers’ part, and that it was treating the great Teacher too familiarly. Were not the disciples the more childish of the two in imagining that their Lord would be unkind to babes?