“Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” These are the words Jesus speaks to the disciples in this morning’s gospel reading. I’ve often wondered about these words and what Jesus intended to teach the disciples, and us, about the kingdom of heaven.

Often we think that Jesus is blessing the children because of their innocence but if you’ve read anything about a high school or even an elementary school lately you will note that children do not display innocence – they are all too aware of the world around us, of the violence and the prejudice, of the hate and the war, of the struggles for success and superiority – and sometimes our children even act on those feeling themselves. While I did not live in first century Palestine, I am fairly sure that observant children saw the state of the world then as well. They knew the petty disagreements, the struggle for power and influence, the selfishness they witnessed in the world, and the oppression of a system and culture which placed no value on them as children, that almost saw them as disposable.

This morning we encounter two stories of eating life-giving bread. The first is a story of David, seeking to be nourished, by the Bread of Presence, that bread reserved for the priests of the faith to share, the bread said to contain the very presence of God. David eats this bread to fill his bodily hunger and to sustain his earthly life. The second is the proclamation of Jesus, that he indeed is the bread of life, the bread from heaven sent so that we will never be spiritually hungry and will never be spiritually thirsty.