Mister Rogers on Jesus and Chldren

A rare example of Mister Rogers talking about his faith. I appreciate the comments I received thus far. And many of the comments point out the error in what Mr. Rogers said, where he incorrectly paraphrases Jesus in saying that Jesus said "I want to learn from them (the children)".

So, here is what was said, as it reads in the King James Bible...
Mark 10:13-16
13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer (allow) the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

So, rather than engaging in a debate as to whether Fred Rogers' comment was made out of ignorance or deceit, I would rather pray forgiveness and look at an opportunity to make the correction, then see what we can learn from this passage.

Could it be that Jesus wanted the children there because he knew his disciples needed to learn from them? Consider this verse, Matthew 18:3... And (Jesus) said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

What I take from this is we are being instructed to come to Christ with childlike humility, faith, and simplicity and to not complicate the process with our adult intellect. But what evidence is there that the disciples needed this lesson from Jesus and the children?
Consider the following...
The disciples consisted of ordinary men of that time... zealots, tax collectors, fisherman, craftsman, and even a turncoat... ordinary men with all the character defects common to us all. These were the men the Son of God chose to spread his word. Couldn't God in the flesh have selected his 12 Disciples from the vast pool of Chief Priests, Sadducees, Pharisees and Scribes - men of great power of the day - then blessed them of all the wisdom and knowledge of God and sent them out to spread the word? I believe the power of God is boundless, and that he could have done just that, yet he picked 12 ordinary men for his mission. And as it winds up, they had a great deal to learn through the missteps they made in their time with Jesus and perhaps the stories of their missteps and the lessons learned show all of us who care to seek God's will the way to salvation. Just a few examples of the Disciple's missteps can be found in:

Luke 22:24 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.

Matthew 16:21-23 From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”…

Luke 22:45 And when he (Jesus) rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow

And this one, I believe, illustrates perfectly what the disciples could learn from a child...

Luke 9:44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. 45 But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.

Wouldn't an innocent child have simply said, "father, I don't understand"?

Please feel free to post your comments below!

And here's another great clip from Mister Rogers...
https://youtu.be/qsblwip7qzs

And here's the song...
https://youtu.be/7b2bpOc4H-A

Видео Mister Rogers on Jesus and Chldren канала davekpghpa