Is it coincidence or design that children are joining in the marches this day before Palm Sunday?

There was another crowd marching on that spring day long ago when Jesus led them up the arduous 15 miles climb from Jericho to Jerusalem.  In Jericho he gave sight to blind men. One named Bartimaeus, cried, “Have pity on us, Son of David,” and though people urged them to shut up, they would not.  Jesus touched their blind eyes and they saw.  They joined the march.  Jesus had also invited himself to eat in the home of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, one of the lost ones he came to seek out.

Reaching the crest of the climb up to Jerusalem, he rode a donkey down into the city.  The crowds stripped the palm trees of branches and welcomed him as “Son of David.”  “Hosanna,” that is, save us now.

This irritated some people, but Jesus responded that if these don’t shout, the stones themselves will cry out (there are a lot of stones in Israel).

If there weren’t children in the welcoming crowds, they were in the temple when Jesus kicked out the marketers and money changers.  Children, whom Jesus always welcomed, joined in the cry, “Lord, save us now, Son of David.” And when told to keep the children quiet, Jesus responded, “(The Lord) has made little children and infants sing your praises.”

We do well to welcome the voice of children today, as Jesus welcomed it long ago.